Hiring your first employee in the Netherlands: three options for a foreign employer
Your company is abroad and your new colleague lives in the Netherlands. You can employ that person in three ways: directly, as a foreign employer registered with the Dutch tax office; through a Dutch payroll company; or through your own Dutch company. Each way has its own answer to the questions who the employer is, who pays which tax and what happens when the team grows.
Ask about your situationYour company can employ someone who lives and works in the Netherlands while the company itself stays abroad. It registers with the Dutch tax office as a foreign employer and pays the Dutch employee insurance contributions and the healthcare contribution, because the employee is socially insured in the Netherlands. Dutch wage tax is withheld when your company has a permanent establishment here, or when it chooses to withhold. A payroll company or an employer of record is the second way: that company becomes the legal employer and puts your colleague on its own payroll. From 1 January 2027 payroll companies need an admission under the new Dutch act on the lending of workers (Wtta).
The third way is your own Dutch company (BV). It is the employer, files the payroll return and can become a recognised sponsor for staff from outside the EU and the employer for the expat scheme. The company is yours, with your own address; we provide the set-up, the registrations and the monthly payroll. See what one employee costs with the Dutch payroll calculator.
Tell us what you make or sell, where your company is and what you plan in Europe. Our team looks at it and replies with the steps and the dates that apply to you.
The three options side by side
| 1. Foreign employer, registered in the Netherlands | 2. Dutch payroll company or employer of record | 3. Your own Dutch BV with payroll | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who is the employer | Your foreign company. The employment contract is with you, under Dutch employment law for work done in the Netherlands. | The payroll company or employer of record. It signs the employment contract and puts your colleague on its own payroll; you direct the daily work. | Your Dutch BV. It signs the contract and is the employer in every register. |
| Wage tax | Withheld by your company when it has a permanent establishment in the Netherlands, or when it chooses to withhold. Otherwise the employee pays the income tax through the yearly tax return. | Withheld by the payroll company on its own payroll tax number. | Withheld by your BV on its own payroll tax number, every month or four weeks. |
| Social security | Your company pays the employee insurance contributions and the healthcare contribution itself, because the employee is socially insured in the Netherlands. A posted worker with an A1 certificate stays insured at home for the posting. | Paid by the payroll company and charged to you in its fee. | Paid by your BV, about 17% on top of the gross salary in 2026, on the wage up to €79,409. |
| Permanent establishment risk | Present. An office, a workshop or a Dutch employee who concludes contracts in your name can create a taxable presence of your foreign company in the Netherlands. The tax treaty with your country decides. | Smaller for the payroll itself, but the same employee doing the same work can still create a taxable presence for your company. The structure of the contract decides. | Clear. The BV is a Dutch taxpayer for its own profit. Your foreign company is a shareholder. |
| Staff from outside the EU | Your foreign company needs a Dutch registration first; a recognised sponsor is an organisation registered in the Dutch Trade Register. | Some payroll companies are recognised sponsors and employ the migrant themselves. | Your BV applies for recognition as sponsor and employs the highly skilled migrant itself. See sponsoring with your own BV. |
| Expat scheme (30%, 27% from 2027) | Possible for an employer that withholds Dutch wage tax and meets the conditions. | Applied for by the payroll company as employer. | Applied for by your BV as employer, with the tax office deciding. |
| Cost structure | Dutch payroll administration for one employee, on top of the salary and the contributions. | A monthly fee per employee, on top of the salary and the contributions. The fee is the price for the employer role. | Formation of the BV, then bookkeeping and payroll. The cost per employee goes down as the team grows. |
| Suits | One or two employees, a company that wants to keep everything in its own name, a test of the Dutch market. | A quick start with one person while you decide about a Dutch company. | A team, sales in the EU, contracts and a bank account in the Netherlands, sponsorship of staff from outside the EU. |
Fill in a gross salary and see the net salary and the employer cost for 2026 and 2027 with the Dutch payroll calculator.
Option 1: register as a foreign employer with the Dutch tax office
A company established outside the Netherlands registers with the Dutch tax office with the form “Aanmelding Onderneming buitenland” (registration of a foreign business) and receives a payroll tax number. From then on it files a Dutch payroll return for the employee, every month or every four weeks.
Two parts of the payroll depend on two different tests. The employee insurance contributions and the healthcare contribution follow social security: your company pays them itself as soon as the employee is socially insured in the Netherlands, which is the rule for someone who lives and works here for an indefinite period. The wage tax follows a different test: your company withholds it when it has a permanent establishment in the Netherlands, when it posts or lends staff to a Dutch client, or when it chooses to withhold. A foreign employer may choose to withhold, so the employee receives a normal Dutch payslip and a yearly statement for the tax return.
A posted worker is the exception. An employee you send to the Netherlands for a limited time can stay insured in your own country with an A1 certificate from the social security authority there. The Dutch Social Insurance Bank (SVB) handles the Dutch side. Companies from the EU, the European Economic Area and Switzerland also report the posting through the Dutch online notification portal for posted workers.
Tell us what you make or sell, where your company is and what you plan in Europe. Our team looks at it and replies with the steps and the dates that apply to you.
Option 2: a Dutch payroll company or employer of record
A payroll company or an employer of record employs your colleague for you. It signs the employment contract, puts the employee on its own payroll, pays the salary and the contributions and charges you a fee per employee per month. You keep the daily direction of the work. Companies choose this for a fast start with one person, before the decision about a Dutch company.
Two things to check. First, the employee works for your company under your supervision while employed by another company: in Dutch law that is making a worker available to another party, and the daily work can still create a taxable presence of your company in the Netherlands when the employee concludes contracts in your name. Second, from 1 January 2027 the Act on the admission of the lending of workers (Wet toelating terbeschikkingstelling van arbeidskrachten, Wtta) applies to every company that places workers with another company for pay, to work under that company’s supervision and direction. The official site of the Netherlands Authority for the Lending Market (Nederlandse Autoriteit Uitleenmarkt, NAU) names staffing agencies, secondment firms and payroll companies as the lenders in scope.
The calendar under the Wtta: lenders register for the transitional scheme between 1 November and 31 December 2026, apply for the admission between 1 May and 30 June 2027, and from 1 July 2027 you can look up in the public register whether a lender is admitted. The admission asks for a deposit of €100,000 (a starting lender pays €50,000 first). From 1 January 2028 the Netherlands Labour Authority enforces, and a client that works with a lender that lacks an admission risks a fine too. Ask your payroll company for its registration under the transitional scheme before you sign. More in the Wtta for lending staff in the Netherlands.
Option 3: your own Dutch BV with payroll
A Dutch private limited company (BV) is the employer in its own name. It registers with the Dutch Trade Register and the tax office, receives its payroll tax number and files the payroll return. The BV pays corporate tax on its own profit, which keeps the tax position of your foreign company clear: the foreign company is the shareholder.
The BV is also the way to employ people from outside the EU. It applies for recognition as a sponsor with the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND); the IND checks the registration in the Trade Register, the continuity and solvency of the company and the reliability of the people involved, and asks the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) for advice on a company younger than 18 months. Once recognised, the BV applies for the permit of a highly skilled migrant, with a decision target of two weeks. The salary in 2026 is at least €5,942 gross per month at 30 or older and €4,357 under 30, excluding the holiday allowance. The BV applies for the expat scheme too: up to 30% of the salary tax-free in 2026 and 27% from 1 January 2027, for an employee recruited from abroad with a taxable wage of at least €48,013.
Prices: your Dutch company (BV) from €2,950 excl. VAT, and a holding with an operating company from €4,950 excl. VAT. Payroll and bookkeeping have their own fee, which you see in writing before we start. Holdwise provides neither a registered address nor directors: the company is yours and the address is yours. See company formation in the Netherlands and Dutch payroll services.
Permanent establishment: the question to settle first
A foreign company pays Dutch corporate tax on the profit of a permanent establishment in the Netherlands. The Dutch tax office describes a permanent establishment as a business location in another country than the head office, with enough staff and technical means of its own to work on its own. Most tax treaties add a second route: a person in the Netherlands who habitually concludes contracts in the name of the foreign company, or plays the main role in getting them concluded, can count as a permanent establishment as well. The exact words are in the treaty between the Netherlands and your country.
For the first employee this means one practical check: what does the person do? A developer, a designer or a support engineer who works from home under your direction creates a different picture than a sales manager who signs deals with Dutch customers. Put the role, the authority and the place of work in the contract, and let a tax specialist from our network read the treaty with you before the start. Your company then knows whether it files a Dutch corporate tax return for a branch, or whether a BV is the cleaner way.
One Dutch company, many roles
A payroll company takes one role: employer of record. Your own Dutch BV takes several roles at once: employer, recognised sponsor for staff from outside the EU, applicant for the expat scheme, seller with a Dutch VAT number, importer with an EORI number and holder of the bank account. Its payroll tax number, VAT number and Trade Register number are in the same company.
A company that employs people also takes the duties of an employer: the Dutch minimum wage, the holiday allowance of at least 8%, the working conditions rules and a sector pension where one applies. We set up the company and the payroll; a labour lawyer from our network drafts the employment contract when you ask for it.
Who does what
- You choose the option, decide on the salary and the contract, and direct the work. You see every price first.
- We register your company as a foreign employer or set up your Dutch BV, arrange the payroll tax number, calculate the salaries, file the monthly payroll return and send the payslips. We are your contact for every partner.
- Partners read the tax treaty with you, draft the employment contract and prepare the IND applications for staff from outside the EU. The tax office and the IND decide. We choose the partner with you for each assignment, after you ask for it.
Hiring a freelancer first? Read freelancer or employee in the Netherlands. Want our team to have a look?
Sources
- Belastingdienst, U bent inhoudingsplichtig: when an employer established abroad withholds Dutch payroll taxes (changed 25 February 2026).
- Belastingdienst, Wanneer moet u loonheffingen inhouden?: employee insurance contributions and the healthcare contribution for an employee socially insured in the Netherlands (changed 25 March 2026).
- Belastingdienst, Aanmelden als werkgever: the registration form for a business established abroad (changed 5 August 2026).
- Belastingdienst, Wat is een vaste inrichting? (changed 3 September 2026).
- SVB, What is international posting: the A1 certificate for posted workers (2026).
- Business.gov.nl, Posting employees to the Netherlands and National and employee insurance schemes (checked 21 July 2026).
- Nederlandse Autoriteit Uitleenmarkt, Over de Wtta (5 October 2026) and Uitleners (8 October 2026): scope, dates and the deposit.
- Rijksoverheid, Nieuwe wet voor aanpak misstanden bij uitzendbureaus en andere uitleners (Wtta) (12 August 2026).
- IND, Apply for recognition as sponsor (8 June 2026), Highly skilled migrant (11 September 2026) and Required amounts 2026.
- Belastingdienst, the expat scheme (30% ruling) (changed 13 May 2026); Business.gov.nl, the expat scheme, 27% from 2027.
- Staatscourant 2025, 42324, premium percentages 2026 (5 December 2025).
Last reviewed: 27 October 2026. Based on the pages of the Dutch tax office, the SVB, Business.gov.nl, the Netherlands Authority for the Lending Market, Rijksoverheid and the IND named in the sources, as they read on 27 October 2026.
Common questions
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