Taxes, banking and insurance

Registration with the tax authorities

Once your company is successfully registered with the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce (KVK), the details will be automatically passed to the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration(Belastingdienst). At this point, your company will be assigned a VAT registration number. Of course, the taxes you pay depends on the size and structure of your company. The most common taxes are:

• Turnover tax/value added tax (omzetbelasting): a form of turnover tax added to most goods and services your business sells in the Netherlands.
• Income tax (inkomstenbelasting): If you are a sole trader or part of a commercial partnership, you will pay income tax on your business profits.
• Corporation tax (vennootschapsbelasting): If you own a private or public limited company, you must file returns for corporate income tax in the Netherlands, on behalf of your company.
• Dutch dividend tax (dividendbelasting): As a private or public limited company, you may decide to distribute profits to your shareholders. This usually takes the form of a dividend. If so, you will also have to pay a Dutch dividend tax.
• National Insurance contributions (volksverzekeringen): Employers withhold national insurance contributions from their employees’ wages and pay these directly to the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration.
• Employee Insurance contributions (werknemersverzekeringen): Employers pay national insurance contributions – equivalent to a social security scheme – on behalf of their employees to the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration.
• If you own an international business, you may also have to pay import and export levies.

Open a business bank account

When starting a new company, it’s good practice to have a dedicated business bank account for all financial activity. If you are expanding into the Netherlands from another country in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), the most important factor is to have business (IBAN) account. This allows you to make secure national and international payments. If you already have a business bank account in the SEPA Zone, it’s not mandatory to open a new one in the Netherlands. If you're based outside the SEPA Zone and starting a new company in the Netherlands, you will be required to set up a business bank account with a Dutch bank. To meet strict financial security requirements, applications are closely checked and can take a length of time to process - do ensure you account for this in your planning.

If your move to the Netherlands has been helped by an official facilitator such as amsterdam inbusiness, you may be able to make use of the Quick Scan procedure. This is a cooperation between four of the Netherlands’ major banking institutions and can let you know if you are eligible to open a Dutch business bank account within five working days.

Types of insurances for businesses

There are 2 types of insurance that concern business owners: personal insurance and business insurance.

• Personal insurance includes work incapacity and invalidity insurance, accident insurance, and pension insurance. Many of these are covered by the compulsory national and employee insurance schemes. It is always possible to choose supplemental policies for yourself and your employees.
• Business insurance includes liability insurance, legal expense insurance, loss of profits insurance and more. A number of these are compulsory. For example, business liability insurance, professional indemnity insurance, and building insurance. Learn more about the compulsory and voluntary insurances for businesses.

Dedicated insurance consultants are always able to advise on what type of coverage best suits your business activities and costs. It’s also worth looking into IN Amsterdam’s partners for further sources of advice. See our step-by-step guide to setting up a business or find out more about legal forms of companies.