Starting or buying a business
Various rules apply to establishing or taking over a business in the Netherlands. You must have your business included in the Trade Register of the Chamber of Commerce (KvK), for example, and you will have to contend with issues relating to turnover tax and income tax. You will sometimes also be eligible for certain subsidy schemes, financing schemes and tax allowances.
Below is an overview of the rules and regulations, subsidies and taxes in relation to “Starting or buying a business”.
More information
Rules
Accounts
If you have a business in the Netherlands, you are legally obliged to keep accounts and to retain them for seven ...
Citizen service number or tax and social insurance number
When you register with a Dutch municipality, you will receive a citizen service number (burgerservicenummer, BSN). ...
Declaration of Independent Contractor Status (VAR)
As a customer, you can temporarily hire an independent contractor to work for you. If you do, it is essential to ...
Domain name, registering
If you want to start a website, you must first choose a domain name (Internet address). You cannot choose a domain ...
Filing annual accounts
Depending on the legal form of your business, you must file your annual accounts every year with the Dutch Chamber ...
Industry or product board, registration
Most entrepreneurs must register with the product board and/or industry board of the sector in which they work. ...
Insurance
Business owners who live in the Netherlands are obliged to take out health care insurance under the Health Care ...
Legal form
New businesses in the Netherlands have to make a choice from a number of legal forms. Your choice will be the legal ...
Professional qualifications
You do not require a separate qualification to establish a business in the Netherlands. However, you are only allowed ...
Self-employed workers without employees or freelancers
A self-employed person without employees (known in Dutch as a ‘zzp'er’) is an entrepreneur who does not employ ...
More rules...
Staying in the Netherlands
If you intend to stay in the Netherlands for some time or permanently for your business, you must fulfil a number ...
Tax and Customs Administration, registration
If you set up or take over a business in the Netherlands, you have to register this business with the Tax and Customs ...
Trade Register, inclusion and consultation
If you set up a business in the Netherlands, you must have it included in the Trade Register of the Chamber of ...
Trade name (company name)
If you set up a company in the Netherlands, you must devise a trade name (company name). This name must meet the ...
VAT number and turnover tax number
If you register as a business owner in the Netherlands with the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration (Belastingdienst), ...
Work permit for self-employed workers
If you run a business in the Netherlands and intend to outsource work to a self-employed worker abroad, or if you ...
Certificate of good conduct for legal persons (VOGrp)
Companies in the Netherlands can use a certificate of good conduct for legal entities (Verklaring omtrent het gedrag ...
Environmental permit or notification of environmental management (Activities Decree)
Businesses in the Netherlands have to deal with environmental regulations concerning such issues as noise, energy, ...
Home business, reporting
If you plan to start a home business in the Netherlands, you must usually report your plan to the local municipal ...
Incorporation of a BV/NV, certificate of no objection
If you want to incorporate a private limited company (BV) or a public limited company (NV) in the Netherlands, ...
Limited legal capacity for underage business owners
Minors can only perform legal acts in the Netherlands (such as making a purchase or borrowing money) if they have ...
Mergers, takeovers and joint ventures, notification of
If your business is active on the Dutch market, it is subject to the provisions of the Dutch Competition Act (Mededingingswet). ...
Pension funds
In the Netherlands, you are sometimes required to participate in a sectoral pension fund, including if you are ...
Water permit
You are required to submit a notification if you perform activities in surface water or using groundwater in the ...
