Taxboutiq is an independent tax advisory firm in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. We advise businesses, entrepreneurs and internationally mobile individuals on Dutch and international tax. Our work covers corporate and holding structures, transfer pricing, emigration and relocation, the Netherlands and the UAE, mergers and acquisitions, valuations, estate planning, tax returns and tax audits. Most of our clients operate in more than one country, or are about to.

Every engagement starts with a conversation in which we map your situation and your question. You then receive a proposal that describes the scope, the deliverable and the fee before we start. Where the scope is clear we work on a fixed fee, otherwise on an hourly basis, and you know the basis before any work begins. We work in Dutch and English and advise clients in the Netherlands and abroad, mostly online.

A Dutch private limited company (BV) pays corporate income tax on its profit: 19% on the first EUR 200,000 and 25.8% on the remainder (2026). When the BV distributes a dividend it withholds 15% dividend tax. For many foreign shareholders that rate is reduced or eliminated under EU rules or a tax treaty, and a Dutch shareholder credits it against personal income tax. A Dutch resident who holds 5% or more pays box 2 income tax on dividends and capital gains at 24.5% on the first bracket and 31% above it. The combination of corporate income tax and box 2 determines the real burden on profit that ends up with the shareholder, and that combination is what we optimise.

A director who works for a company in which he or she holds a substantial interest of 5% or more must receive a salary that is customary for the position. For 2026 the standard amount is EUR 58,000. The salary must in principle be the highest of that amount, the wage for the most comparable employment and the wage of the highest-paid other employee in the company or a related company. A lower salary is possible if you can show that a customary wage is lower, for example when the company structurally makes a loss or when you work only part of the time. The test applies for each company you work for, so with several companies the salary is assessed for each of them.

Under the participation exemption, dividends and capital gains that a Dutch company receives from a qualifying shareholding are exempt from corporate income tax. A shareholding qualifies if it represents at least 5% of the nominal paid-up capital of the subsidiary and is not held as a low-taxed passive investment. Losses on a participation are not deductible either, except on liquidation under specific conditions. The exemption is the reason a Dutch holding company appears in so many international structures. It is also the point where the Dutch Tax Authorities look closely at substance, at the reason for holding the participation and at the tax position of the subsidiary.

The best-known incentives are the innovation box, which taxes profit from self-developed intangible assets at an effective rate of 9% and offers a simplified lump-sum option for smaller amounts, and the WBSO, a wage tax credit for research and development. Companies with foreign shareholdings benefit from the participation exemption, groups can form a fiscal unity for corporate income tax, and employees recruited from abroad may qualify for the 30% ruling, which for most employees becomes a 27% ruling from 2027. Sole traders and partners in a partnership have the SME profit exemption. Which of these fits depends on the activity, the structure and the plans for the coming years.

Yes. Transfer pricing is one of our core areas. We design transfer pricing policies, prepare master file and local file documentation, draft intercompany agreements, carry out benchmarking and support clients in discussions with the Dutch Tax Authorities. Every Dutch company that transacts with related parties must be able to substantiate that its prices are at arm’s length. Groups with consolidated revenue of EUR 50 million or more must in addition prepare a master file and a local file, and the largest groups file a country-by-country report. Documentation that is prepared in time is the best protection against a correction with interest and penalties.

Yes. Emigration is one of the situations we see most often. We assess where you will be tax resident after the move and what the tax treaty between the Netherlands and the UAE means for your income and assets. We prepare the tax return for the year of departure, the M form, and we deal with the protective assessment that the Netherlands imposes on shares in your own company and on pension rights. We also advise on what to do with a Dutch BV, real estate or investments that stay behind, and on the UAE side we look at corporate tax, free zone status and substance. Timing and documentation are decisive, so involve us before you leave rather than after.

Often yes, for specific income. As a non-resident you remain taxable in the Netherlands on Dutch real estate, on income from a Dutch employment or board position to the extent the treaty allocates it to the Netherlands, and on certain Dutch pensions and benefits. If you hold 5% or more in a Dutch company, the Netherlands imposes a protective assessment on the increase in value up to the date of departure. That assessment is not collected as long as you keep the shares, but it becomes payable in full or in part when you sell the shares or receive dividends. The protective assessment on pension rights lapses after ten years if you do not surrender or commute the pension in the meantime.

Most Dutch tax treaties allow the country where the company is resident to tax the remuneration for a statutory board position, even if the director lives in the Netherlands and does the work there. The Netherlands then avoids double taxation for its residents with a credit for the foreign tax rather than an exemption, and the policy that still allowed an exemption was withdrawn from 2023. A low or zero foreign tax therefore often results in Dutch tax after all. Whether someone is a director in this sense follows from the formal appointment under company law, not from the job title. Remuneration for other work, such as day-to-day management under an employment contract, is split off and follows the rules for employment income. We wrote about this in more detail in our article on director remuneration across borders.

Yes. We assist during a tax audit, from the first announcement to the closing report, and we handle the correspondence with the tax inspector. If an assessment is wrong we file an objection and, if necessary, an appeal with the court. We also deal with penalty decisions and with requests for information. In international situations we can start a mutual agreement procedure between the two countries involved when double taxation arises. Our approach in these matters is factual and cooperative: we present the facts completely and in an organised way, because that is what settles most discussions early.

Yes. For our advisory clients we prepare corporate income tax returns, personal income tax returns including the M form for the year of arrival or departure and the C form for non-residents, VAT returns and wage tax filings, and we handle the correspondence with the Dutch Tax Authorities. Compliance is where advice proves itself, so we prefer to keep both in one hand.