Where London wins

  • The industry itself: agencies, media, brand budgets and talent at a scale the continent watches.
  • Language and network effects — the Anglophone deal flow starts here.
  • The US treaty also grants 0% on royalties, so the American revenue line matches the Dutch offer.
  • A four-year regime shelters newcomers' foreign income — genuinely useful, with a built-in expiry.

Where Amsterdam wins

  • After year four: the London newcomer window closes and ordinary rates up to 45% take over; the Dutch structure keeps working identically in year one and year twenty — retained profit at 19%/25.8%, dividends by choice, the expat ruling for arriving talent.
  • EU access: selling courses, products and services into the EU runs one OSS registration deep from Amsterdam, and post-Brexit paperwork deep from London.
  • The exit: the participation exemption sends a sale tax free into the holding, while UK founder reliefs have been repeatedly trimmed and capped.
  • Cost at matched quality: London rents and services outprice Amsterdam for comparable living.
  • The passport track: five Dutch years open permanence inside the EU.

A multi-year lower customary salary agreed with the tax authority, combined with borrowing up to €500,000 from your own BV (besloten vennootschap, the Dutch private limited company), saves roughly €18,000 to €20,000 a year in the growth phase.

The deciding variables

Creators whose business is the London industry — presenting, UK brand work, media crossover — belong in London and should simply plan for year five in advance. Creators with international platform income, EU customers and an exit ambition get the durable version of the same advantages in Amsterdam. Either way the residence rule decides what is real: the rule.

Two steps further

Further along the same line: creators/renting-in-amsterdam-on-creator-income and creators/moving-to-amsterdam.