1. Your threshold
Your threshold
€ 82,250
From this profit onward, the BV route costs you less in tax — as long as the money stays inside the holding.
On top of what your sole proprietorship costs today. Two sets of annual accounts, two corporate tax returns, your own payslips.
The threshold is the profit level above which a BV with a holding leaves you better off than a sole proprietorship (eenmanszaak), as long as the after-tax profit stays inside the holding. Want to take everything out to private each year? Then a second, much higher limit applies — that one is covered below.
2. Why a single number falls short
Nearly every website quotes one fixed tipping point. That only works by pretending a BV costs the same to run everywhere — and in practice the spread runs into thousands of euros.
A sole proprietorship typically costs €450 to €1,500 a year in bookkeeping. A BV sits around €2,000, climbing to €5,000 once staff, high invoice volumes or multiple entities enter the picture. The holding on top adds another €1,400 to €2,000 at most firms.
That gap of €1,300 to €5,100 a year moves the tipping point by nearly ten thousand euros. Hence the slider above: set it to what you actually pay and you see your own threshold. What a structure costs to set up is covered in the Dutch BV cost calculator.
3. Where the advantage comes from
The BV wins because you can leave money inside — far more than because of lower rates.
On the last euro of profit, a sole proprietor pays close to 49 cents of tax in 2026. Leave that same euro inside the BV and 19% corporate tax comes off, leaving the company 81 cents to work with.
Take the money out in the same year and box 2 tax lands on top, wiping out most of that edge. That is why the point at which the BV wins even when paying everything out sits far higher: around € 127,000.
Profit moving from your operating BV up to your holding stays untaxed thanks to the participation exemption. That is how you build wealth in a company shielded from your business risk. The full setup is explained in the Dutch holding structure.
4. What you keep at each profit level
The figures below assume a salary of €58,000 from the BV, with the rest of the profit staying inside the holding. The table moves with the slider above.
| Profit | Sole proprietor | BV with holding | Difference | Stays inside |
|---|
The ‘stays inside’ column is money in your holding. Take it to private later and box 2 applies: 24.5% up to €68,843 and 31% above. Until then it simply keeps working for you.
5. Three things that tip the outcome
Your salary from the BV
The norm is €58,000 — the Dutch ‘customary salary’ for director-shareholders. In a start-up or growth phase you can agree a lower figure with the Dutch tax authority when your situation supports it. Going from €58,000 to €35,000 saves €7,385 a year. How the norm is tested is covered in the DGA salary calculator.
Borrowing instead of paying out
Need money privately? You can borrow from your own BV. Up to €500,000 stays outside box 2. On a €75,000 draw, €18,775 of tax moves to later. It does remain a debt — at a business-rate interest, with a repayment obligation.
The exemption that pays out less since 2026
The SME profit exemption removes 12.7% of a sole proprietor’s profit from tax. Since 2026 it refunds at most 37.56%, even when you sit in the 49.5% bracket yourself. The difference is payable after all. At €150,000 profit that costs a sole proprietor €2,400 a year — and many calculators still apply the old method.
6. The second threshold: paying everything out at once
The threshold above assumes you leave part of the profit inside the holding — the heart of the structure. If instead you pay everything out to yourself every year, the box 2 levy lands on top of corporate tax immediately, and the tipping point moves up to €128,000 to €147,000 of annual profit.
Between the two thresholds sits the real question: are you willing to build up capital inside the company? If yes, the Holdwise threshold applies. If you want every euro in your private account right away, the sole proprietorship usually stays the cheaper form until well past €128,000.
7. How this is calculated
Baseline: one entrepreneur, below state-pension age, with business profit as the only income. Every figure comes from our central rates source and follows the official numbers for 2026. The full overview lives at Netherlands tax rates 2026.
| Component | Value |
|---|---|
| Box 1 income tax brackets | 35.75% up to €38,883 · 37.56% up to €78,426 · 49.5% above |
| General tax credit | €3,115, tapering from €29,736, nil from €78,426 |
| Labour tax credit | up to €5,685, tapering from €45,592 |
| Self-employed deduction | €1,200 |
| SME profit exemption | 12.7%, refundable at no more than 37.56% |
| Healthcare contribution (Zvw) | 4.85% over at most €79,409 |
| Corporate income tax | 19% up to €200,000 · 25.8% above |
| Box 2 (dividend) | 24.5% up to €68,843 · 31% above |
| Salary from the BV | €58,000 |
A director-shareholder falls outside Dutch employee insurance schemes. We therefore apply the personal Zvw contribution of 4.85% rather than the 6.10% employer levy. The starter’s deduction is left out because it is limited to the first three years; including it shifts the threshold by a few hundred euros.
These outcomes give the order of magnitude. Your own decision involves more: pension, liability, incorporation costs and what you plan to do with the money. A written consultation makes that concrete for your numbers.
Sources: Dutch Tax Administration, tax-year tables 2026 · Healthcare Insurance Regulation, Stcrt. 2025, 38055 · market rates for Dutch bookkeeping 2026. This page is reset every January on the rates then in force.