Sale and departure planner
Rates 2027 from the Tax Plan of 15 September 2026.This is a first estimate.
The planner includes box 2 with the low and the high rate, and the profit tax of the holding on the investment return. It also includes box 3 on private wealth with the tax-free amount. Finally, it includes the limit on borrowing from your own company and the Dutch bill on departure.
The planner leaves out the costs of the sale and of advisers, and a price that is paid later in parts. It also leaves out inflation, and the tax of your new country if you leave.
The planner uses the 2027 rates for every year. These are the figures of the 2027 Tax Plan. The planner leaves out the proposals of 29 September 2026 for now: 29.2% in box 2 above the first band, a lower borrowing limit and a lower tax-free amount in box 3. It assumes that the holding only invests after the sale, so a salary for yourself is optional. The interest on a loan from your holding is set at 5%. If you keep your company and leave, the planner uses the minimum salary required by law (€58,000) and a country that has a tax treaty with the Netherlands.
How the planner works it out
The planner calculates year by year.
In route 1 you transfer everything to your private account in the first year. You pay box 2 once, and after that box 3 every year.
In route 2 the money stays in your holding. Each year the planner works out how much dividend you need to keep your yearly amount after tax. The rest stays invested and the holding pays profit tax on the return.
In route 3 you first borrow from your holding up to the limit, and after that you take dividend. You pay interest on the loan and the holding pays profit tax on that interest.
In routes 2 and 3, the planner first uses any investments you have in your own name. It uses them until only the tax-free amount of box 3 is left. That money is free of box 2, and your box 3 goes down.
If you choose at the top to keep your company and relocate abroad, the planner puts staying next to leaving. It only counts what the Netherlands charges: profit tax, tax on your salary, box 2 or dividend tax, and box 3.
At the end, the planner settles all tax. For each route you then see what is in your private account after all tax.
Buy, borrow, die: does that work in the Netherlands?
In America, rich families do this: buy assets, keep them for life, borrow against them to live, and pass them on. When they die, the gain is tax-free.
In the Netherlands, you can do the first two steps. Your holding can keep the money and you can borrow from it, up to €500,000. The cabinet proposes to lower that limit from 2027, to €100,000 in 2031. Here the third step works differently. When you die, box 2 is settled on the investments in your holding.
If you borrow, you pay the tax later, but you still pay it. The planner shows with your own figures whether the extra time is worth the interest.
Read more about borrowing from your own company.
The words, explained
Holding: a company of yours that owns the shares of your working company.
Participation exemption: the rule that a holding is exempt from tax on the gain when it sells shares of a company. The holding must own at least 5% of that company.
Dividend: profit a company pays out to its owner.
Box 2: the tax you pay on dividend and on the gain when you sell shares in your own name.
Box 3: the tax on your private savings and investments.
Profit tax: the tax a company pays on its profit (corporate tax): 19% up to €200,000 and 25.8% above.
Bill on departure: the box 2 tax the Netherlands works out on the day you relocate abroad. You pay it later (the official Dutch word is conserverende aanslag).
Security: something the tax office can claim if you leave the bill unpaid, for example a pledge on your shares.
Questions people ask
How much tax do you pay when you sell your Dutch company?
If your holding company sells the shares, the gain is exempt from tax for the holding. That rule is called the participation exemption. It applies when the holding owns at least 5% of the shares.
You only pay tax when you transfer the money to your private account. That tax is called box 2. Under the Tax Plan 2027 proposal it is 24.5% up to €69,703 per person and 31% above that in 2027. The cabinet proposes to lower the high rate to 29.2% for 2027 to 2030. If you own the shares in your own name, you pay box 2 on the whole gain in the year of the sale.
Is it smarter to take everything out at once or a part each year?
A part each year is almost always smarter. You then use the low box 2 rate again every year. If the money stays in the holding, the holding pays profit tax on the real return: 19% on the first €200,000 of profit and 25.8% above. If the money is in your private account, you pay box 3 every year. Box 3 is the tax on savings and investments.
An example with the 2027 rates. You sell for 2 million euros and you need 80,000 euros a year to live on. The return is 4% a year, and you look 20 years ahead. If you pay yourself a part each year, you keep about 275,000 euros more than if you take everything out at once.
Can I still put a holding in place just before the sale?
Often yes. You swap your shares for shares in a new holding. You pay the tax on your gain later, on the shares in the holding. After that, the holding sells the company.
You must do this before you sign with a buyer. You also need business reasons for it. Have it checked before you start.
Can I borrow from my own holding as an alternative to dividend?
Yes, up to €500,000 for you and your tax partner together. Above that amount, the tax office treats the extra part as dividend and you pay box 2 on it. A loan for your own home stays outside that limit if the holding gets a mortgage on the home. The cabinet proposes to lower the limit step by step from 2027, to €100,000 in 2031. This is still a proposal.
You pay a normal interest rate to your holding, and one day you have to pay the loan back. In the Netherlands, the tax is still due when you die. Box 2 is then settled on the investments in your holding.
Can I avoid the Dutch tax by relocating abroad?
The Dutch tax stays due. On the day you leave, the Netherlands works out the box 2 tax as if you sold your shares that day. You get a deferral and pay later. Inside the European Union and in Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, you get it automatically. Elsewhere, you give security.
Each time your company pays you dividend, the Netherlands collects part of that bill. For emigrations up to 15 September 2015, you could ask for the bill to be cancelled after ten years. That option was abolished.
Is it better to hold investments in your own name or in your holding?
In your own name you pay box 3. Under the Tax Plan 2027 proposal, that is 36% on an assumed return of about 6% on investments in 2027, above €60,098 per person. You also pay this in a bad year. If your real return is lower, you can show that, and you pay tax on the lower amount. On 29 September 2026 the cabinet proposed to lower the tax-free amount to €30,846 in 2027. On 2 October 2026 it said small savers and investors will be spared, so this may change. From 2028 it wants to tax gains on investments only when you sell. This is still a proposal.
If the investments are in your holding, the holding pays profit tax on the real return: 19% on the first €200,000 of profit and 25.8% above. If you later transfer the money to your private account, you also pay box 2. It is therefore usually better to leave money that is already in the holding where it is. The planner includes both taxes.
Read next
The participation exemption, a holding in place before the sale, exit options for business owners, relocating abroad with your Dutch company, the exit calculator for owners who live abroad, the departure planner for owners who keep their company and the wealth planner.
Free to quote with the source. Quote as: Holdwise, “Sale planner: selling your Dutch company”, holdwise.nl/en/business-sale-calculator, updated 30 September 2026.