How it works
Every BV files a corporate income tax return once a year for its financial year. The taxable profit is revenue minus costs, including the DGA’s salary, depreciation and interest. There are two brackets. The rate is 19% on the first €200,000 and 25.8% on the rest.
Profit that stays in the company is taxed only with corporate income tax. A BV is therefore attractive for owners who reinvest or save in the company. At 19%, the company keeps 81 cents of every euro it earns in the first bracket.
A company can set off losses against the profit of the year before and against future profits. There is a yearly cap on the amount above €1 million. A holding and its subsidiaries can form a fiscal unity and file one return. Losses and profits within the group are then set off against each other at once.
Under the innovation box, profit from self-developed innovation is taxed at an effective 9%. Under the participation exemption, dividends from subsidiaries are outside the taxable profit. Most Dutch group structures are based on these two rules.
Example
A BV makes €260,000 taxable profit in 2026. The first €200,000 is taxed at 19% (€38,000) and the remaining €60,000 at 25.8% (€15,480). The total corporate income tax is €53,480, an average of 20.6%.
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
When is the corporate income tax return due?
Five months after the end of the financial year. For a calendar year, this is 1 June. A tax adviser gets an extension under the filing scheme. During the year, the tax authority sends a provisional assessment based on the expected profit.
Do the rates change in 2027?
Under the 2027 Tax Plan, the rates remain 19% up to €200,000 and 25.8% above. The Tax Plan also proposes to raise the flat-rate option in the innovation box to €100,000. Parliament still has to vote on it. You can find the full 2027 table on the Netherlands tax rates 2027 page.
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.
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