Keep your receipts, including the ones from before you start Costs you make in order to do business here often count, even before your company is registered: your laptop, your phone, the business part of your move, advisory fees.
The VAT on those purchases can usually be reclaimed with your first return, provided the invoice is in the right name. So keep everything, even now the company does not exist yet.
You are here already, so we look back and ahead Your return for the year you moved is an M form: for part of that year you lived here and for part of it you did not. That is the form people get stuck on, and usually the year with the most to sort out.
Exploring works better with numbers You still get a quote: a BV alongside a sole proprietorship, with and without payroll. Without prices there is nothing to weigh up, and you are committed to nothing.
As an EU citizen you need no permit You may live and work here. What does have to happen is registering with your municipality and with the Chamber of Commerce, and then your VAT registration. So the next question about your route can be answered with "no permit needed".
What the IND asks of you Your own capital in the business, visible on your balance sheet, and it stays there while your permit runs. Beyond that: registration with the Chamber of Commerce, working for your own account rather than as an employee, and income from the business you can live on.
The advantage of this route is that your business plan is not scored on points. The amounts and deadlines that come with it we look up when the time comes; those change.
Where most timelines stop Every checklist you find online ends at "make the deposit". That is where it actually starts: an opening balance the immigration service accepts, the choice between a sole proprietorship and a BV, your VAT registration and your first return. That part is ours.
The start-up visa comes with a facilitator You usually contract one from abroad, before your application. We are not one: we deliver the financial side, the plan, the figures and the balance sheet, and work alongside them.
Your 30% ruling runs through your employer They usually apply for it, and it is worth checking that they actually do. If you also start something of your own here, we keep the two apart.
Let us see which route fits you That is a fine answer. Your nationality decides what is open to you, and we would rather work out which route fits up front than halfway through.
The order that saves time The citizen service number is the number the government knows you by. Without it there is no registration with the Chamber of Commerce and no business account, and registration needs an address. A temporary one is often enough.
What can be done in advance: choosing your legal form, preparing the documents and your tax planning.
About your registered address We do not provide one ourselves. That is not allowed alongside doing your bookkeeping. But we will tell you exactly what does work.
Two things that come with a BV You are on your own payroll and have to pay yourself a customary salary, and your annual accounts become public at the Chamber of Commerce. Against that: the company is the contracting party rather than you personally, and the 30% ruling only works through employment.
A sole proprietorship rules out the 30% ruling That scheme runs through employment, and as a sole proprietor you are not on a payroll. Against that you get the entrepreneur’s allowances, and you are registered faster and more cheaply. We work both forms through with your figures.
We will work it out for you You get the two legal forms side by side, with your own revenue and with what you need to live on. Where the tipping point sits differs per person, so somebody else’s rule of thumb does not help you here.
The 30% ruling in short Under this scheme your employer pays part of your salary untaxed, as compensation for the costs of moving. You do have to be employed for it: your own BV counts, a sole proprietorship does not.
The application has a deadline that starts on your first working day. If you want the scheme, that is the first thing we pick up.
Your plan starts at registration Not before. So you never pay for the bookkeeping of a company that does not exist yet, and if your arrival takes longer, your start date moves with it.
Doing it yourself is fine We supply the documents you need and check afterwards that you started out right: articles, financial year, VAT registration and the deposit. Watch your first financial year: changing it later needs the tax office’s permission.
If the incorporation is already arranged Then we skip that step: your quote only covers your bookkeeping and your filings, plus a one-off check that everything is set up correctly.
We work alongside Cardon They handle your residence application, we handle the financial side: the opening balance, the proof of your investment, the incorporation and your bookkeeping. We coordinate between us, so you never supply anything twice.
We work alongside your immigration firm We do not take over the application. We deliver the financial substantiation directly, in the form they need.
If an adviser is already involved Then we agree up front who does what. We would rather take the whole than a piece: with split bookkeeping something always falls between the cracks.
What a BV asks extra of you You are on your own payroll and have to pay yourself a customary salary, your annual accounts become public at the Chamber of Commerce, and there is more admin. Against that: the company is the contracting party rather than you personally, and you can sell shares later or let someone join.
What a sole proprietorship gives you Faster and cheaper to register, no notary, no public annual accounts, and the entrepreneur’s allowances. The other side: you are the business, so business debts are yours too, and the 30% ruling is not available.
We calculate both forms for you You get them side by side with your own figures, and with what you need to live on. Where the tipping point sits differs per person, which is exactly why we calculate it instead of handing you a rule of thumb.
Why almost everyone takes a holding A holding is a company that does nothing but own the shares of your operating company. Profit you do not need is paid up to it, and then sits outside the risk your operating company runs.
If you sell later, doing that from a holding is a different story for tax than doing it directly. So build it at the start: adding one afterwards is possible, but it costs more and comes with waiting periods. The price is a second set of books, and that appears as its own line on your quote.
One company is fine Certainly while you do not yet know where this is going. Just keep in mind that adding a holding afterwards costs more and comes with waiting periods. We will say so if we think it is worth it in your case.
Your start date and first financial year Your start date decides your first financial year, and changing that later needs the tax office’s permission. If you start late in the year, an extended first financial year can be useful. We look at that before the notary records anything.
Keep your receipts from now on Costs you make now in order to start later often count, even though the company does not exist yet: your laptop, advisory fees, registration costs. We put them in your opening balance and your first return.
What happens when you incorporate For a BV a civil-law notary draws up the deed with your articles: what the company may do, who holds the shares and who runs it. You sign, the notary registers you with the Chamber of Commerce, and your VAT number follows from the tax office.
After that you can open a business account and we prepare your opening balance sheet, the starting point of your bookkeeping. For a sole proprietorship there is no notary: you register with the Chamber of Commerce and the rest of the route is the same.
Doing it yourself is fine We supply the documents you need and check afterwards that you started out right: articles, financial year, VAT registration and the deposit. Watch your first financial year: changing it later needs the tax office’s permission.
Already arranged? Then we skip that step Your quote then only covers your bookkeeping and your filings, plus a one-off check that everything is set up correctly: your financial year, your VAT registration and your opening balance.
Clients abroad Invoices to business customers outside the Netherlands usually carry no Dutch VAT, but then your invoice and your return have to be right. Within the EU a separate statement belongs with it. We set that up from your first invoice.
A foreign company or foreign assets That changes your Dutch return, even if the company is dormant. We ask about it now so it is in your quote instead of turning up later as a surprise.
How the search works, and what we do with your details Search by name or Chamber of Commerce number and we take the details from the trade register, so you do not have to type anything over. If you have more than one company, add them all, including the holding: each company keeps its own set of books. If you cannot find yours, you enter it yourself.
We use what you fill in to prepare your quote and nothing else. Nothing changes anywhere yet: not with your current bookkeeper and not with the tax office. No account, no newsletter, no sales call.
What we keep is in our privacy statement
Two companies, two sets of books A holding with an operating company is one story for tax but two sets of books: two annual accounts, two corporate tax returns and intercompany invoices that have to add up.
That appears as two lines on your quote, with the second set of books at a lower rate.
Converting into a BV is a project of its own There are two routes. On one you settle up at the moment of conversion over what is in your business; on the other that is carried forward into your BV. That differs in tax and in lead time.
Which one fits depends on your figures and on what you bring across. We work through both before anything reaches the notary.
Having us look first is fine Then we request your file and tell you what we see before you hand anything over. You get a proposal with what we would do and what that costs, and you are committed to nothing.
What happens when you switch We request your file from your current bookkeeper, and they are obliged to hand it over. At the same time we transfer your authorisation with the tax office: the permission that lets us file your returns and see your correspondence. Without it we cannot do anything for you.
You cancel with your current firm yourself. We tell you when that can be done without paying twice.
Did it yourself? Then we look first We check your VAT returns and your opening balances before moving on. Small corrections we take along; if more is going on you hear it with a price attached, not afterwards.
We do not price a backlog blind You first get a scan of what is outstanding and then a fixed price for the catch-up work. Never an invoice afterwards for hours you did not ask for. And it is usually less bad than it feels.
Switch right after a VAT period By then your current bookkeeper has closed and filed that period: nothing carries over and nobody has to work halfway through someone else’s figures. With a backlog, waiting costs you more; we then take over the current period and agree who files which part.
Switching mid-year is fine too One thing to know: your annual accounts and annual return cover the whole year, including the months with your previous bookkeeper. If you want us to prepare them we either include those months or quote them separately. Said up front.
Winding up matters once The final return there, what happens to the assets, and whether profit is distributed before you become taxable here. After that it does not carry on.
What comes with keeping it Your company there comes back in your Dutch return every year. The Netherlands does not look at the name of the legal form but at what it counts as under Dutch tax law, and that decides how the profit is treated.
About that management fee A workable structure, with three things attached: the fee has to be at arm’s length and substantiated, those invoices normally carry no Dutch VAT because the customer sits outside the EU, and you end up with revenue in one currency alongside costs in another.
And effective management If you keep working on it from the Netherlands, management can move with you, and with it that company’s tax liability. Worth knowing before you are in it.
Two countries, one income The question behind this: will I end up paying tax in two countries on the same money? The tax treaty exists precisely to prevent that, but it does not happen by itself. It has to be right in both returns.
Employment alongside your own business The two work fine side by side. Your employer withholds payroll tax and your business sits alongside it; in your return they come together. We keep them apart in the bookkeeping.
This does not hold up your quote You still get your price. These points come back as points of attention with your proposal, with what we suggest doing and what that costs.
Winding up matters once The final return there, what happens to the assets, and whether profit is distributed before you become taxable here. After that it does not carry on.
What comes with keeping it Your company there comes back in your Dutch return every year. The Netherlands does not look at the name of the legal form but at what it counts as under Dutch tax law, and that decides how the profit is treated.
About that management fee A workable structure, with three things attached: the fee has to be at arm’s length and substantiated, those invoices normally carry no Dutch VAT because the customer sits outside the EU, and you end up with revenue in one currency alongside costs in another.
And effective management If you keep working on it from the Netherlands, management can move with you, and with it that company’s tax liability. Worth knowing before you are in it.
Two countries, one income The question behind this: will I end up paying tax in two countries on the same money? The tax treaty exists precisely to prevent that, but it does not happen by itself. It has to be right in both returns.
Employment alongside your own business The two work fine side by side. Your employer withholds payroll tax and your business sits alongside it; in your return they come together. We keep them apart in the bookkeeping.
This does not hold up your quote You still get your price. These points come back as points of attention with your proposal, with what we suggest doing and what that costs.
What happens next Within 15 minutes Your quote arrives by email, with a fixed monthly fee. You decide Accept online, or reply with a question. The quote is valid for 14 days. We start An intake call, then we set everything up and take over from your previous bookkeeper. Not everything fits in a form
Do you have a US LLC, income from outside the Netherlands, or books
that need catching up first? Then we would have to guess, and we do
not do that. Within 15 minutes you get an email from us proposing a
short call, instead of a price.
