AETHERION Worldwide is the fundraising and landing practice of AETHERION Capital.
Corporate income tax, VAT, payroll and dividend tax for a foreign-owned Dutch company, and when a foreign company becomes taxable here.
Running a Dutch company means several registrations, each with its own number: one at the Chamber of Commerce, and others at the tax office for VAT and for payroll. Knowing which number is which saves a lot of back and forth.
These guides explain the rules as the Dutch tax office publishes them. They do not replace a tax adviser, and they say so where a situation needs one.
No. A KvK number comes from the Dutch Chamber of Commerce and proves a business is in the Business Register. A VAT number comes from the Dutch Tax Administration and is about VAT. Most Dutch companies hold three: a KvK number, a VAT identification number for customers, and a VAT tax number for the tax office.
Read itAccording to the Dutch Tax Administration, corporate income tax in 2026 is 19% on taxable profit up to EUR 200,000 and 25.8% on the profit above that. The rates are the same as in 2025. A company established in the Netherlands pays on its worldwide profit, a foreign company only on its Dutch profit.
Read itA company with no Dutch establishment registers with the Netherlands Tax Administration, not with the Chamber of Commerce. It uses the registration form for foreign companies, sends it to the office in Heerlen, and receives a VAT identification number by letter. A fiscal representative can do this instead, and has to for some import arrangements.
Read itA company that employs people here withholds Dutch payroll taxes as a withholding agent. It registers as an employer with the Netherlands Tax Administration, using the registration form for foreign companies, and receives a payroll taxes number. A company without a Dutch entity can also opt into that status, or let another company employ the staff instead.
Read itAn employer of record is another company that legally employs your staff while you direct their work. Your own Dutch entity makes you the employer. The rules that follow the employer, not the worker, are the ones that decide: research credits, sponsorship of staff from outside the EU, and what a share register looks like to an investor.
Read itAccording to the Netherlands Tax Administration, Dutch dividend tax is 15%. The company paying the dividend withholds it and pays it to the tax office, and files a return within one month. A tax treaty with the shareholder's country can lower that percentage or, for a qualifying shareholding, remove the withholding altogether.
Read itProbably yes. The Ministry of Finance publishes a quarterly overview of every Dutch tax agreement, and every corridor country on this page is covered by one that is in force. Taiwan is the exception in form: what applies there is an arrangement between two representative offices rather than a treaty between states.
Read itWhen it has a place of business here with enough facilities to run an independent enterprise, or a permanent representative acting for it. A warehouse, a goods depot and support work such as research, advertising or supplying information fall outside that. The tax treaty with your country carries its own description, which can differ.
Read itLess than the headlines suggest. Corporate income tax rates stayed where they were. VAT on short stays moved from the reduced rate to the general rate, the research credit rates and its first bracket were set higher, the allowance scheme for foreign staff was narrowed, and one change is already set for the year after.
Read itTen lines about your company is enough for us to tell you what the route looks like.
Want the whole picture first? See the Route