How the APV rule works

In a common-law family fund, a fiduciary is the legal owner of the assets and manages them for the beneficiaries. Dutch tax law treats a discretionary family fund as transparent, which means it attributes the assets, income and gains to the person who contributed them. A US grantor arrangement is taxed where its settlor is taxed. If you relocate to the Netherlands, you usually declare the portfolio of the fund on your own Dutch tax return. You declare it in the part of the income tax for savings and investments (box 3). In 2026, the box 3 tax is 36% of a fixed return that the law assumes, on wealth above an exemption of €59,357 per person.

What this means per role

  • A settlor relocating to the Netherlands should plan the box 3 position of the fund portfolio together with their other assets, because the attribution is personal.
  • A beneficiary relocating to the Netherlands pays tax on distributions, and after the settlor's death also on the attributed shares. Compare the family tree with the rule early.
  • A fund that owns a business can place its operating companies in a Dutch holding structure. A relocation is a good moment to modernise with the holding alternative.

Dutch tools with a similar purpose

Families who want to keep their wealth together can set up a family office in the Netherlands. It uses a holding company and a foundation that holds the family shares (STAK).

Dutch company law lets you separate control from economic value. A foundation can hold the shares and issue certificates for their economic value, a method called certification. The principals then keep the decision power, and the family keeps the economic benefit. With a holding structure, a family can pass a business on from one generation to the next, as the Dutch approach for family offices explains. Your US estate planning continues in the US, and you design the Dutch structure separately so that the two work together.

For a group setting up a Dutch company, see company formation in the Netherlands for a business based abroad. It explains what the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KVK) and the notary require and what the parent company must sign.

One planning session before the relocation

Before the relocation, list every family asset structure with its contributors and beneficiaries. Work out the APV attribution for each one and decide whether to keep, restructure or distribute it. In one coordinated session, your US estate counsel and a Dutch advisor set the basis for a decade of tax returns, as the wider two-system view shows.