How much does it cost to start a company in the Netherlands?

Two costs are fixed and public. According to KVK, the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, registering a new company in the Dutch Business Register costs a one-off EUR 85.15, and the minimum share capital of a BV is one eurocent. The notarial deed is not fixed: Dutch notaries set their own rates.

Most pages that answer this question give you one total. We give you three groups instead, because they behave differently: what the state charges and publishes, what a private professional charges and does not have to publish, and what comes back every year once the company is alive. Only the first group has a fixed answer.

Everything below is for a BV, the Dutch private limited company, which is what nearly every foreign founder ends up with. The alternatives, and what they cost in obligations rather than euros, are in which company forms a foreign founder can use.

Sources:
KVK, Registration fee
Business.gov.nl, Private limited company (bv)

What the state charges

One fee, once. KVK charges a one-off EUR 85.15 to register a new company or organisation in the Dutch Business Register, and it says the amount is updated every year in line with inflation. There is no annual contribution to the Chamber of Commerce on top of it.

The share capital is not really a cost either. Business.gov.nl gives the minimum as EUR 0.01, paid into the company in cash or in goods with a value in money. That figure surprises founders who expect a Dutch equivalent of a fixed capital requirement, and it is the main reason a BV is cheap to create and expensive to run well.

Sources:
KVK, Registration fee
Business.gov.nl, Private limited company (bv)

What the notary charges

Whatever the notary decides. Rijksoverheid, the Dutch central government, states the rule plainly: notary rates are free, which means every notary sets its own. There is no published tariff, no cap and no standard fee, so a quotation from one office tells you nothing about the next.

KVK does publish an indication for the deed of a BV, which it puts at a minimum of EUR 500 to EUR 1,500. Treat that as the range for a straightforward case, and expect the number to move when the file is not straightforward: a parent company abroad as the shareholder, documents to be translated, a holding structure, or articles that deviate from the notary's model. Ask two or three offices for a written quotation and for their document list at the same time, because the document list is what drives the work.

Sources:
Rijksoverheid, Wat kost een notaris?
KVK, De besloten vennootschap

What comes back every year

Setting up is the cheap part. These are the recurring items a Dutch company carries, with the rule as the authority states it.

The last two rows are the ones foreign founders budget for least often. The salary rule applies to a founder who both works for the BV and holds a substantial interest in it, and the tax office compares that amount against the pay in the most comparable job and against the highest-paid employee in the group, taking whichever is highest. The filing rule is not a fee but a deadline, and missing it is punishable by law.

Sources:
Belastingdienst, Tarieven voor de vennootschapsbelasting
Belastingdienst, Btw-tarieven en vrijstellingen
Belastingdienst, Dividendbelasting als u dividend uitkeert
Belastingdienst, Loon en aanmerkelijk belang
KVK, Final date for filing annual accounts

What has no published price at all

Four things sit outside every price list, and together they are usually larger than the notary's invoice:

• Legalisation and translation. A legalised copy of a passport, and a certified Dutch translation of a power of attorney or of a parent company's articles, are bought in your own country at your own country's prices.
• The business address. A real Dutch address is required and a post office box is not accepted, so this is a rent line, not an administrative one.
• The bank account. Banks price their own packages and set their own conditions, and the wait is a customer due diligence question rather than a fee: see how a foreign-owned company opens a Dutch business bank account.
• Accounting and payroll. A BV files a corporate income tax return, VAT returns and financial statements, and a company with staff runs payroll on top: see how a foreign company runs payroll in the Netherlands.

Source: Business.gov.nl, Start a business in the Netherlands from abroad

Read the cost against what the company can claim

A Dutch entity is not only a cost centre. Once it employs its own research staff, it can lower the payroll tax it pays through the Dutch R&D tax credit, which is explained in what WBSO is and what it is worth. That is the reason the order of the steps matters, and why founders who treat incorporation as paperwork often start the clock later than they needed to. How the timing works is in how long it takes to set up a Dutch BV.

Sources

1. KVK, Registration fee, checked 22 September 2026
2. KVK, De besloten vennootschap: rechtsvorm met minder privé risico (in Dutch), checked 22 September 2026
3. Rijksoverheid, Wat kost een notaris? (in Dutch), checked 22 September 2026
4. Belastingdienst, Tarieven voor de vennootschapsbelasting (in Dutch), checked 22 September 2026
5. Belastingdienst, Btw: tarieven en vrijstellingen (in Dutch), checked 22 September 2026
6. Belastingdienst, Loon en aanmerkelijk belang (in Dutch), checked 22 September 2026
7. KVK, Final date for filing your annual accounts, checked 22 September 2026
8. Business.gov.nl, Private limited company (bv) in the Netherlands, checked 22 September 2026

Checked on 22 September 2026. This page is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. Rules change: check the official source, or ask an adviser, before you act on it.