The German exit tax

Leave Germany while owning 1% or more of a company (your GmbH or UG), and German law taxes the built-up paper gain at departure. This is the Wegzugsbesteuerung: cash due on value you have yet to sell. Two clear options avoid this tax completely. Relocate before incorporating anything valuable and build the structure fresh on the Dutch side. Or, with an existing German company that already has value, have a German adviser price the departure first, because timing and structure change the bill a great deal. The Dutch side works in your favour too: our exit tax defers payment interest free while you own the shares, explained in the exit rules.

What ends, what starts

  • Ends: German unlimited tax liability once you complete the relocation, the Sozialversicherung logic, and the trade-tax level on the company.
  • Starts: the Dutch structure, with a holding above it. Retained profit is taxed at 19%/25.8%. If you meet the salary norm, you can also get the expat ruling, and Germany has little that compares. A lower customary salary is allowed if comparable work pays less, or for up to three years while a new BV is still unable to pay the full salary. You can also borrow up to €500,000 from your own BV (besloten vennootschap, the Dutch private limited company). The lower salary is what saves tax. At €36,000 in place of €58,000, you keep about €7,100 a year more. After a later dividend, about €2,800 of that remains. The loan gives you access to money, but your tax stays the same. Calculate it with your own figures.
  • Stays the same: the 0% US royalty rate. The rate is the same under both tax treaties, so your American revenue is paid in full.

Your German audience

You can keep serving a German-language audience from Amsterdam. Germany is just across the border, and the same EU rules apply. You invoice German advertisers under the reverse charge, as before. Only the structure around your income changes. See Amsterdam versus Berlin for a comparison of the two cities.

The sequence

Deregister in Germany, register here (IN Amsterdam helps with this), incorporate the structure on this side, and document the management relocate if any German entity continues alongside it. The standard 90 days: relocating to Amsterdam.