Sale and departure planner
Rates 2027 from the Tax Plan of 15 September 2026.This is a first estimate.
The planner includes the profit tax of your company, the tax on your salary, the bill on departure, dividend tax and box 3. If you lead the company yourself from abroad, it adds the settlement with the company itself.
The planner leaves out the tax of your new country, the costs of advisers and of the relocation, and inflation.
The planner uses the 2027 rates for every year. These are the figures of the 2027 Tax Plan. The planner leaves out the proposals of 29 September 2026 for now: 29.2% in box 2 above the first band and a lower tax-free amount in box 3. It uses the minimum salary required by law (€58,000) and a country that has a tax treaty with the Netherlands. For the settlement with the company, it uses the high profit tax rate of 25.8% on the value above the equity on the balance sheet.
How the departure planner works it out
The planner puts two situations side by side. In the first, you keep living in the Netherlands. In the second, you relocate abroad and keep your company. It calculates both, year by year, for the period you choose.
In both situations, your company pays profit tax in the Netherlands on its profit and on what the investments in the holding earn. You pay yourself the minimum salary the law requires for a director who owns the company. The planner counts Dutch tax on that salary in both situations.
If you stay, you take the rest of what you need as dividend and pay box 2 on it. Your investments in your own name pay box 3 every year.
If you leave, the planner starts with the bill on departure: box 2 on the value of your shares minus what you once paid for them. You pay it later. Each dividend then pays off part of that bill, and the Netherlands takes at least 15% of every dividend. Your investments in your own name are free of Dutch box 3.
If you lead the company yourself from your new country, the planner also shows the bill for the company itself: profit tax on the value outside the balance sheet, such as goodwill.
At the end, the planner settles what is still open. You then see what you keep in each situation after Dutch tax. The tax in your new country depends on that country and on its treaty with the Netherlands, so the planner leaves it out.
Where the real decisions are made
Under Dutch law, a company set up in the Netherlands stays Dutch wherever its owner lives. Your new country can look at something else: where the company is really managed. Tax offices look at where the board meets, who signs the contracts and where the big decisions are made.
If a director who lives in the Netherlands makes those decisions, the company stays Dutch for both countries. You own the shares from abroad, and the company keeps paying profit tax here.
If you make the decisions yourself from your new country, that country can claim the company as its own taxpayer. The tax treaty between the two countries then decides where the company pays tax. If the treaty points to your new country, the Netherlands settles with the company itself: profit tax on the value outside the balance sheet, such as goodwill. Inside the European Union, the company may pay that in five yearly parts.
The planner asks who leads the company and shows the difference with your own figures. Have the plan checked before you leave.
The words, explained
Bill on departure: the box 2 tax the Netherlands works out on the day you relocate abroad, as if you sold your shares that day. The official Dutch word is conserverende aanslag.
Deferral: permission to pay the bill later. Inside the European Union and in Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein you get it automatically. Elsewhere, you give security.
Security: something the tax office can claim if you leave the bill unpaid, for example a pledge on your shares.
Dividend tax: the 15% the Netherlands keeps on a dividend your Dutch company pays you.
Tax treaty: an agreement between two countries on which of them may tax which income, and how double tax is avoided.
Place of management: the place where the real decisions about the company are made. Tax offices look at it to decide where the company pays tax.
Box 2: the tax on dividend and on the gain when you sell shares in your own name.
Box 3: the tax on your private savings and investments. After you leave, it only applies to property in the Netherlands, such as a home or land.
Questions people ask
Can I run my Dutch company from abroad?
Yes, that is allowed. The question is where the company then pays tax. If you make the real decisions from your new country, that country can say the company is based there.
The Netherlands then charges the company itself profit tax on the value outside the balance sheet, such as goodwill. Inside the European Union, you can pay that in five yearly parts. If someone in the Netherlands makes the real decisions, for example a director who lives here, the company stays here.
Where do I pay tax on my salary and dividend when I live abroad?
The Netherlands may usually keep taxing your salary as director of a Dutch company. On dividend the Netherlands keeps 15% dividend tax, and it also collects part of the bill on departure.
Your new country can tax the same income too and then usually gives credit for what the Netherlands took. That is set in the tax treaty between the two countries. Where a treaty is missing, the Netherlands may keep charging the full box 2.
Do I still pay box 3 on my investments after I leave?
If you live abroad, your shares, funds and savings in your own name are free of Dutch box 3. A home or land in the Netherlands stays taxed here.
Investments in your holding stay taxed in the Netherlands. The holding pays profit tax on what they really earn.
Can I avoid the Dutch tax by relocating abroad?
The Dutch tax stays due. On the day you leave, the Netherlands works out the box 2 tax as if you sold your shares that day. You get a deferral and pay later. Inside the European Union and in Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, you get it automatically. Elsewhere, you give security.
Each time your company pays you dividend, the Netherlands collects part of that bill. For emigrations up to 15 September 2015, you could ask for the bill to be cancelled after ten years. That option was abolished.
Is it better to hold investments in your own name or in your holding?
In your own name you pay box 3. Under the Tax Plan 2027 proposal, that is 36% on an assumed return of about 6% on investments in 2027, above €60,098 per person. You also pay this in a bad year. If your real return is lower, you can show that, and you pay tax on the lower amount. On 29 September 2026 the cabinet proposed to lower the tax-free amount to €30,846 in 2027. On 2 October 2026 it said small savers and investors will be spared, so this may change. From 2028 it wants to tax gains on investments only when you sell. This is still a proposal.
If the investments are in your holding, the holding pays profit tax on the real return: 19% on the first €200,000 of profit and 25.8% above. If you later transfer the money to your private account, you also pay box 2. It is therefore usually better to leave money that is already in the holding where it is. The planner includes both taxes.
Read next
Relocating abroad with your Dutch company, closing or leaving a Dutch company, the relocation tax timeline, month by month, the exit calculator for owners who live abroad, the sale planner and the wealth planner.
Free to quote with the source. Quote as: Holdwise, “Departure planner: leaving the Netherlands with your company”, holdwise.nl/en/leaving-netherlands-calculator, updated 30 September 2026.