Buying Dutch property from abroad: private or through a company

Dutch transfer tax in 2026: 8%, 10.4% or 2%

Transfer tax (overdrachtsbelasting) is a one-time tax on the price of Dutch property. The rate depends on what you buy and how you use it.

The 8% rate applies since 1 January 2026. In 2025, buyers of these homes paid 10.4% (Belastingdienst, 2026).

For homes to rent out, the 2027 Tax Plan proposes 7% from 1 January 2027. Parliament votes on the plan in November and December 2026 (Rijksoverheid, 2026). Examples with transfer dates in 2026 and 2027 are in Dutch transfer tax in 2027.

Buying privately or through a company

For a home to rent out, the transfer tax is 8% in both cases. The difference is in the yearly tax, the costs you deduct and how you receive the income.

Your company abroad as the buyer. A company abroad can also buy Dutch property. A company abroad with income from the Netherlands is a foreign taxpayer for Dutch corporate tax (Belastingdienst, 2026). Under its tax treaties, the Netherlands may tax income from Dutch property, such as rent (for example Article 6 of the treaties with Saudi Arabia and the UAE).

A holding with a property company. With a Dutch holding and a property company under it, each building has its own company, its own loan and its own accounts. A later sale of the property company by the holding can be free of Dutch corporate tax under the participation exemption, from a 5% shareholding and under its conditions (2026).

More detail: real estate in a BV or privately, a property portfolio in a BV and a second home in the Netherlands.

How the purchase works from abroad

1. Choose the structure. You receive a written comparison of buying in your own name and through a company, with the transfer tax and the yearly tax for your figures.
2. Set up your Dutch company. If you choose a company, we set it up before you sign the purchase contract. You sign a power of attorney in your own country, and a civil-law notary signs the deed. This usually happens within one week once all documents are complete.
3. Prepare the checks. The notary, the estate agent and the bank check who you are, where the money comes from and what it is for. Dutch anti-money laundering law (Wwft) requires these checks (Rijksoverheid, 2026). Have your passport, the ownership chart of your companies and proof of the source of the money ready.
4. Make the offer. Your estate agent makes the offer and checks the purchase contract with you.
5. Transfer at the notary. You or your bank pay the purchase money to the client account of the notary (derdengeldenrekening). The notary signs the deed of transfer, registers it in the land register and pays the seller. With a power of attorney, the transfer can take place while you are abroad.
6. After the purchase. We keep the books and file the Dutch tax returns.

The purchase money goes from you or your bank to the notary. We invoice our own work only.

Want our team to have a look?

Notary and estate agent from our network

• Chosen after you ask. Our team finds a civil-law notary and, if you want one, an estate agent who buys for you (a buying agent), for your type of property and your region.
• Checked before you see a quote. Our team checks the registration of the notary and the estate agent first.
• You see every price first. The notary and the estate agent invoice you directly for their own work. We invoice our own work.
• One contact. Your contact person on our team keeps your structure, tax numbers and documents in one file.

Your own notary or estate agent is welcome to work with our team. See how we work with partners.

What we arrange for buyers from abroad

• The structure. Your own name, your Dutch company, or a holding with a property company, compared in writing with your figures.
• Your Dutch company. The notary deed, the registration at the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KVK), the registration of the owners in the register of ultimate beneficial owners (UBO register) and the tax numbers. See company formation in the Netherlands.
• The tax check. Transfer tax, corporate tax, dividend tax and the tax treaty with your country. For 2026, the Dutch list of low-tax jurisdictions names Bahrain and leaves out the UAE. For owners in Bahrain and the UAE, our team checks the current list first.
• The bank file. The documents your bank asks for, such as the ownership chart and the source of the money. The bank makes its own decision.
• Bookkeeping after the purchase. The books, the annual accounts and the tax returns of your company.

We work for you, the buyer. Owners and families from the Gulf region find the treaty rates and the documents in a Dutch holding for Gulf owners and families. Families with companies, property and investments together read a family office in the Netherlands.

Buyers from the United States, the United Kingdom and the Gulf

• US investors in Dutch real estate: the BV structure
• UK investors in Dutch real estate through a BV
• Dutch real estate for investors from the UAE
• Property from Qatar through a Dutch structure

Sources

• Belastingdienst, transfer tax rates (2026)
• Belastingdienst, starter exemption (2026)
• Rijksoverheid, plan for 7% transfer tax from 2027 (2026)
• Belastingdienst, living abroad with Dutch income (2026)
• Belastingdienst, how box 3 income is calculated for 2026 (2026)
• Belastingdienst, corporate tax rates (2026)
• Belastingdienst, corporate tax for companies in the Netherlands and abroad (2026)
• Belastingdienst, the 5% holding for the participation exemption (2026)
• Dividend Tax Act 1965, Article 5, version in force from 1 January 2025 (2026)
• Tax treaty between the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia, Tractatenblad 2008, 214, Articles 6 and 10 (in force since 1 December 2010)
• Tax treaty between the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates, Articles 4, 6 and 10 (version in force since 2 June 2010)
• Rijksoverheid, questions about the anti-money laundering act (Wwft) (2026)

Last reviewed: October 2026.