Register a company in the Netherlands as an EU citizen: from Spain, Portugal, Poland, the Baltics or Ireland

Every month, founders from Spain, Portugal, Poland, Latvia, Italy, Ireland and Belgium ask us the same question. They want to know if they can put their business in a Dutch company and keep living at home. Yes, they can. Webshops, marketplaces, trading companies, software companies and consultants that sell across the EU have done this for years. They want one company that banks, customers and platforms in every member state accept at once.

Lower tax is only one of their reasons. The KVK and the tax office give information in English. Tax returns and letters from the tax office are in Dutch. A company is usually registered within one week once all documents are complete. Dutch banks open accounts for companies with a complete file. Dutch courts and contracts are predictable. With one Dutch VAT number, you can sell across the whole EU. For these reasons, the Netherlands has one of the largest numbers of foreign-owned companies in the EU.

Who this suits

• A webshop or a marketplace that sells in several EU countries. This works. You use one VAT number with the EU VAT return for cross-border sales (OSS). Dutch payment providers and banks accept the BV at once. If you import from outside the EU, you can use the Article 23 licence.
• A trading company that buys and sells across borders. This works. You can write contracts in English. Banks and customs offices in Germany, France and Scandinavia know the Netherlands well. For the goods, you can use the port of Rotterdam and Schiphol airport.
• A software or consulting company with customers in more than one country. This works if the company is managed from the Netherlands. The decisions are taken here, by a Dutch director or by you. The books are kept in the Netherlands. The company has a Dutch business address that it uses.
• A product that your own country makes difficult. This works. A German media shop, a Latvian appliance exporter and a Portuguese platform came to us for exactly this reason. At home, the business was blocked by the rules or by the banks. A Dutch company solved that.
• A local service business with customers in your own town. Your current company is the right choice here. You keep one administration and one set of costs.

Your home country next to the Netherlands

Founders compare the tax rate, the minimum capital, registration from abroad, the time it takes and the language of the authorities.

Headline rates and standard setups as at September 2026. Your own country also taxes you personally on salary and dividends; that part stays the same when you relocate the company.

Three things to check

1. Where the company is really run

A Dutch BV pays Dutch corporate tax when its management and its activity are in the Netherlands. Suppose you take every decision from your home in Valencia, and the company has only a mailbox in Amsterdam. Then Spain can claim the company as a Spanish taxpayer under the tax treaty, and the Dutch tax office will agree. You therefore need a Dutch business address that your company uses, books kept in the Netherlands and board decisions recorded here. You also need a written agreement that describes what you do from home and at what price. Many founders add a second director in the Netherlands for the bank and for signing. Others relocate to the Netherlands within a year. Read what substance means for a Dutch BV.

2. Your own salary and dividends

You keep paying income tax where you live. The Dutch rule that a director must receive a customary salary applies to a Dutch BV. Which country taxes the salary depends on the tax treaty. Under many Dutch treaties, the Netherlands may tax the pay of a director of a Dutch BV, and your home country then prevents double tax. In the start-up years a lower amount is allowed if the new BV still has too little money to pay the full salary, for up to three years. Dividends from the BV to you are taxed at home as well, with the Dutch withholding tax credited. The details for your country are in the written proposal.

3. VAT and the goods

The company charges Dutch VAT on Dutch sales. On consumer sales across the EU, it charges the VAT of the customer's country and reports it in one quarterly EU VAT return for cross-border sales (OSS). The company leaves the VAT off invoices to business customers in other EU countries. For goods from outside the EU, the company uses the Article 23 licence and pays €0 import VAT at the border. You can read more in VAT for a Dutch company selling across the EU and fiscal representation and Article 23.

The steps, from your country

1. The written proposal. You tell us what the business does and where the customers are. You also tell us whether you keep living at home, and whether you want a holding above the operating company. You receive the structure, the steps and the complete price in one document.
2. Identification. The notary identifies you through your certified passport copy. As an EU citizen your passport is enough; documents from an EU country are exempt from the apostille.
3. The deed and the KVK. The notary signs the deed and registers the company with the KVK the same day. You receive the KVK number and the extract.
4. Tax number and VAT number. The tax office issues the corporate tax number. We apply for the VAT number and, if you import, the EORI number. You choose your business address and sign that contract yourself.
5. The bank. Dutch banks accept owners who live in the EU if the file is complete. With a payment institution, you can start faster. See opening a Dutch business bank account from abroad.
6. Bookkeeping and returns. We keep the books, file the VAT returns and prepare the annual accounts and the corporate tax return. All work is in English, for a fee agreed in advance. See corporate services in the Netherlands.

Holding above the operating company

Most founders set up two companies at once. A personal holding owns the operating company. Under the participation exemption, the holding receives profit and the proceeds of a future sale free of corporate tax. In the holding, you can build up your money at 19% tax on the first €200,000 of profit (25.8% above) until you take it out. The notary draws up a separate deed of incorporation for each BV. See the Dutch holding structure for non-residents.

Why founders choose the Netherlands over the alternatives

The Netherlands costs more than some countries. Estonia and Latvia are cheaper on paper. Founders choose the Netherlands for other reasons. The KVK and the tax office give information in English, and notaries often work in English. Banks, marketplaces and large business customers in Germany, France and the Nordic countries accept a Dutch BV at once. The Netherlands has about 100 tax treaties. You arrange the setup from your own desk, and the company is usually ready within one week once all documents are complete. See why the Netherlands for a business for the numbers.

In German

BV gründen aus Deutschland