How it works
In a Dutch holding structure the work and the wealth live in different companies. The operating company does the work. It has the customers, the employees, the lease, the suppliers and, with them, the risk of a claim or a bad year.
Profit that the operating company makes is taxed there with corporate income tax. What remains goes up to the holding as dividend, free of corporate tax. The operating company keeps what it needs for its work; the rest goes up to the holding, away from the risk.
The operating company employs staff and pays payroll tax. The DGA usually works for it through the holding, against a management fee. Contracts with customers, licences and permits are in the name of the operating company, because that is the party that does the work.
One holding can own several operating companies, for example one per activity or per country. Each operating company bears its own risk; the holding collects from all of them.
Example
A web shop and a consulting practice belong to the same owner. She puts them in two operating companies under one holding. A product claim against the web shop stays with the web shop. The consulting practice and the savings in the holding continue as before.
The figures
All 2026 figures: Netherlands tax rates 2026 · the 2027 figures: Netherlands tax rates 2027.
Questions people ask
Should the operating company keep profit or pay it to the holding?
Keep what the business needs for working capital and investment. Pay the rest to the holding once a year after the annual accounts, after the balance test and the distribution test.
Which company signs the contracts?
The operating company. It is the party that does the work, so it is the party the customer contracts with. The holding signs only for its own activities, such as the management agreement or the lease of the property it owns.
Holdwise, Hoofddorp. Definition and explanation maintained with the Dutch and German glossaries; figures from the central rates source, year 2026. Updated 16 September 2026.
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