The two regimes, plainly
Privately (box 3): the state taxes a notional yield on your assets at 36%, above a tax-free allowance of €59,357 per person (2026), regardless of what you actually earned. Brilliant in years your real return beats the notional figure; painful in flat or losing years, because the bill arrives anyway. A system taxing actual returns is planned for 2028 — see actual returns in box 3.
Inside the BV: real results are taxed as profit — 19% up to €200,000, 25.8% above. Losses deduct, costs deduct, and box 2 waits until you distribute, in a year and bracket you choose.
Where the BV structurally wins for creators
The decisive point is usually where the money already is. Business profit sits in the company having paid 19%. Moving it to private hands first means paying box 2 now — surrendering roughly a quarter of it — merely to change wrappers. Investing it where it stands keeps the full 81 cents per euro working. For money earned through the business, the company wrapper wins before the investment question even starts.
Where private wins
Already-taxed personal savings under or near the allowance; and high-return years, where box 3's notional yield caps the bill while the BV taxes the full gain. A long bull run in private hands can outrun the company wrapper — which is why most structured creators end up with both: the engine inside the holding, a personal layer beside it.
The rule of thumb
Business profit invests inside the holding; personal savings use the box 3 allowance first (doubled with a fiscal partner). The growth-phase salary arrangement plus borrowing up to €500,000 from the BV — the €18,000–€20,000-a-year lever — decides how much lands on each side. We arrange the structure; the investment choices remain yours, ideally with an independent adviser. Mechanics: index investing from your BV.
The neighbouring questions
In the same direction: creators/where-your-company-is-taxed and creators/questions.