Door one: the dividend, bracket-managed
Box 2 prices distributions in two steps — 24.5% to €68,843 per person (double for fiscal partners), 31% above — which makes the yearly bracket a harvest: distributing to the top of the low band every December, rather than lump sums in exit years, saves 6.5 points on every structured euro. The formalities are one afternoon: shareholder resolution, the balance-and-liquidity test documented, withholding settled: the mechanics.
Doors two and three: buybacks and capital returns
The buyback lets one shareholder exit liquidity while others stay invested — taxed as box-2 proceeds for the seller, papered by the notary. The capital return repays formally reduced capital tax-free where genuine paid-in capital exists — a door worth mapping once, since most €0.01-founded BVs keep it small by design.
The December design
Each year’s mix is set in one session: the bracket harvested, the salary arrangement renewed — the €58,000 benchmark with the written lower-salary agreement in build years, the €500,000 borrowing room covering private liquidity between distributions, together typically keeping €18,000–€20,000 a year working: the combination — and the retirement horizon read against it: the long game.