The company earns the revenue and pays your salary

The BV receives all revenue in its own account, such as payment-provider payouts, platform settlements and invoices to businesses. The BV pays hosting, model subscriptions and tools from this account. You take a salary through a small payroll, and the BV withholds wage tax like any employer. Keep company money and private money strictly apart. If you spend BV money privately, you owe that money to your own company. Strict rules apply above €500,000. See borrowing from your BV.

Three ways to use your profit

Salary up to the customary level, which may be lower for up to three years if a new BV is still unable to pay the full amount (see the salary rule). Retained profit, taxed once at 19% on the first €200,000 of profit and 25.8% above, so you can reinvest most of it. Dividend, when you want to take cash out. You then also pay box 2, the Dutch tax band for income from your own company. Most Dutch tax planning for founders is about the order in which you use these three options.

The yearly cycle

Each quarter, you file the VAT return and the OSS return for EU consumer sales. Each month, you file the payroll return for your salary. Each year, you file the corporate tax return and the annual accounts. With a good accountant and correct payment-provider exports, this takes about part of a day per quarter. The exports can be automatic, but a person signs off the filings.

A holding structure has two Dutch companies, one above the other. Each company has its own deed of incorporation. See the Dutch holding structure for non-residents. For the shareholder register, the board decisions and the yearly filings of both companies, see corporate secretarial services in the Netherlands.

Every quarter and every year, a Dutch company keeps records and files returns. What does it cost to hand this work over? See bookkeeping in the Netherlands for owners abroad.

When to add a holding

Add a holding company once you have value worth protecting, such as a brand, real MRR or a product someone might buy. Read more about the solo holding. For your code as licensed IP, see the IP guide. Setting up the structure early costs little. Changing it later, when the value has grown, costs much more.