How it works
DGA is short for directeur-grootaandeelhouder. It means director and major shareholder in one person. Most Dutch owner-managed companies have a DGA. A foreign founder who owns and manages their own Dutch BV is also a DGA.
For payroll tax, a DGA is an employee of their own company. The BV pays the DGA a salary and withholds wage tax, like any employer. That salary has a legal minimum, the customary salary. The DGA is usually outside the employee insurance schemes, because the DGA controls their own dismissal.
The DGA has three ways to take money out of the BV. These are salary (box 1), dividend (box 2) and a loan from the BV. Up to €500,000, the loan is tax-free. Above that amount, it is taxed as dividend. The total tax depends on how the DGA combines the three. Salary is deductible for the BV and taxed in box 1. The BV pays dividend from profit after corporate tax, and the DGA pays box 2 tax on it.
A DGA who lives abroad stays a DGA for the Dutch BV. Where the salary is taxed then depends on the tax treaty and on where the work is done.
Example
A founder owns 100% of his BV and is its only director. He pays himself €58,000 salary, the customary salary for 2026. The BV makes €120,000 profit after that salary, pays 19% corporate tax and keeps the rest. In a good year he takes €60,000 dividend, taxed at 24.5% in box 2.
The figures
Every rate for 2026 is listed in Netherlands tax rates 2026, and the figures for 2027 are in Netherlands tax rates 2027.
Questions people ask
Is a DGA insured for unemployment or disability?
A DGA who can decide on their own dismissal is outside the employee insurance schemes. For disability, the DGA can take out a private policy or keep savings in the holding.
Can a DGA pay themselves less than the customary salary?
Yes, if there is a good reason. Examples are a new BV that still has too little money for the full salary, lasting losses, or a comparable job that pays less. The BV applies the lower salary in its own payroll. The BV decides this itself, and a prior consultation with the tax authority gives you certainty in advance.
Holdwise, Hoofddorp. We keep this definition in line with our Dutch and German glossaries, and the figures are those for the tax year 2026. Updated 30 September 2026.
Want our team to have a look?
We help entrepreneurs and international companies with their company in the Netherlands and Europe. Tell us about your situation or your plans. Our team looks at it and replies with the next step.