Searching for a limited liability company in the Netherlands? You are looking for the Besloten Vennootschap — the Dutch BV. Same limited liability, share capital from €0.01, and 19% corporate tax on the first €200,000 of profit (2026).
Every jurisdiction names its private limited company differently: the United States has the LLC, the United Kingdom the Ltd, Germany the GmbH — and the Netherlands the BV (Besloten Vennootschap). The mechanics are what an American founder expects from an LLC: your personal assets stay separate from the company, the entity signs contracts, hires people and holds shares, and ownership is divided into shares held privately.
There is one structural difference worth knowing upfront: a Dutch BV is a corporation for tax purposes. It pays its own corporate income tax — 19% up to €200,000 profit and 25.8% above that (2026) — rather than passing income through to your personal return the way a default US LLC does. For founders building or investing in Europe, that split is usually the advantage: profits can stay and compound inside the company at 19%, and a holding structure moves them upward tax-free under the participation exemption.
| Dutch BV | US LLC (default) | |
|---|---|---|
| Limited liability | Yes | Yes |
| Minimum capital | €0.01 | None |
| Taxation | Corporate: 19% to €200,000, 25.8% above (2026) | Pass-through to members |
| EU market access | Full — EU VAT number, euro invoicing, EU consumer law | None by itself |
| Setup time | Typically 15 working days, fully remote possible | Days, varies by state |
| Public register | KVK trade register + UBO register | Varies by state |
The two are not competitors so much as building blocks: many US founders keep their LLC or Inc. at home and place a Dutch BV underneath or beside it as the European entity. We map the US–NL tax treaty consequences with your CPA before anything is signed. The full comparison lives in our guide Dutch BV vs. US LLC.
A Dutch civil-law notary incorporates the BV; registration with the Chamber of Commerce (KVK, €85.15 in 2026) and the UBO register follows directly, and we register the company for VAT and corporate income tax. Notary fees run €400–€700 through an online route and €1,200–€3,000 at a full-service office. From day one your BV invoices across the EU with its own Dutch VAT number.
Setup is possible fully remotely: a notarized and apostilled Power of Attorney from any US state — or an online video identification — is all that is needed from your side.
The incorporation itself is the simple part. The decisions that determine what your Dutch company is worth to you are made before the notary: single BV or a holding with an operating company, how the entity relates to your US structure, where the director's salary is set, and how profit will eventually leave the company. That advisory work is where Holdwise starts — the deed is the closing step of a plan, not the product.
Moving to the Netherlands yourself? US citizens have a route of their own: the Dutch American Friendship Treaty. Read how DAFT works in 2026 — and why the choice between a sole proprietorship and a BV matters under it.
Setting up a BV in the Netherlands — the complete guide · Dutch BV vs. US LLC · The DAFT route for US citizens · The Dutch holding structure
Figures and rates updated: July 2026 · sources: Dutch Tax Administration, KVK, Rijksoverheid
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