What the treaty asks
DAFT rests on a 1956 friendship treaty: US citizens receive a residence permit for self-employment with substantially lighter tests than the standard entrepreneur route. The core condition is real: an actual business, with at least €4,500 of the applicant’s own capital invested and maintained in it. The permit runs two years initially and extends in five-year periods while the business and the capital remain in place — the details and current IND practice are on the DAFT overview.
Why the BV over a sole proprietorship
Both forms satisfy DAFT. The BV adds the layers Americans usually come for: limited liability between the business and private life, a structure US clients and investors recognise, the 19% corporate rate on the first €200,000 of profit, and the holding route that lets a later sale run under the participation exemption. For the €4,500: in a BV it sits as share capital and stays visible on the balance sheet — the cleanest possible evidence at renewal time.
The sequence that works
Incorporate the BV (remotely by power of attorney or after arrival), register with the Chamber of Commerce (KVK), deposit the capital, then file the DAFT application with the immigration service (IND) supported by the balance sheet and a business plan. Banking follows KVK registration; the citizen service number (BSN) follows registration at a Dutch address. Most applicants sequence the company first precisely because every later step cites it.
The owner’s tax picture
A DGA of a BV applies the customary salary rules (€58,000 norm in 2026, with the lower-salary arrangement in a demonstrable growth phase), and profit above salary follows the salary–dividend–reinvestment arithmetic every Dutch owner runs: the DGA salary rules and the holding structure are the two pages to read next.
What follows the permit
Once the company and the permit are in place, three subjects fill the first year. The annual filing picture covers both countries at once. Social security decides where contributions go. And state tax is the one most arrivals discover late, since the tax treaty leaves it untouched.
More on your company
- Sole proprietorship or BV: which vehicle carries the permit
- BV and holding: the structure that grows with you
- Keeping your US LLC alongside the Dutch BV
- Opening the Dutch business bank account remotely
- What kind of business qualifies under DAFT
- Taxes for US citizens in the Netherlands under DAFT
- The Dutch expat ruling: part of your salary tax-free
All twenty-one guides sit together on the DAFT hub, grouped the way the route itself runs.