Profit per year:
Sole trader
income-tax entrepreneur, with the self-employed deduction and SME profit exemption
BV (with holding)
director salary, corporate tax, and the rest of the profit kept in the BV
If you paid everything out (adding box 2), you would keep privately:
The director salary is set at €58.000. If your profit is lower, the tool treats your whole profit as salary; in a genuine growth phase a lower salary is possible, substantiated and preferably agreed with the tax authority in advance.
An indication on the 2026 rates, excluding personal tax credits, pensions and personal deductions — these shift the picture per situation. Want it exact for your numbers? Let our team take a look, no obligation.
What the calculator does
The sole-trader side computes: profit, minus the self-employed deduction (€1.200) and the 12,7% SME profit exemption, then box 1 income tax plus the income-dependent healthcare contribution. The BV side computes: a salary up to the customary €58.000 (box 1 and healthcare contribution on it), corporate tax of 19% on the remainder, and shows what stays inside the BV — plus what lands privately if you paid it all out as dividend under box 2. The full logic is written out in the arithmetic behind this calculator.
The tipping point above is purely financial. Three things pull it forward in practice. Liability — a BV carries its own obligations: contracts, claims and debts stay with the company, and your home and savings remain yours. Counterparties — enterprise clients, platforms and lenders routinely ask for a BV before they sign. Retained profit — everything you leave in the company compounds at 19% corporate tax up to €200,000 — the engine behind the holding structure. Each of these justifies incorporating before the numbers alone would. The full weighing runs at sole trader or BV.
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