Your European entity, done properly

LLC and BV, side by side

They solve different problems. The LLC is your American home base; the BV — a Dutch private limited company — is its European sibling: limited liability, its own corporate tax, and full access to the EU single market and VAT system. Most US founders keep both, with the US entity or themselves holding the BV’s shares.

The deeper comparison — including how an LLC’s pass-through nature interacts with European tax systems — is in Dutch BV vs US LLC.

The honest part: the US never lets go

One thing no adviser should smooth over: the United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income, wherever they live. Moving to Amsterdam or routing revenue through a BV does not end your IRS filing. The US–Netherlands treaty, foreign tax credits and the foreign earned income exclusion prevent most double taxation in practice — and reporting duties like FBAR remain regardless. For US citizens, watch out for one classic trap: holding foreign investment funds privately can trigger the punitive PFIC regime. Read the PFIC problem for Americans in the Netherlands before you move investments.

None of this argues against the BV — it argues for designing the structure with both systems on the table from day one. That is exactly the kind of design we do.

What the Dutch base gives you

An entity European enterprise customers sign with. EU VAT handled from one base — one quarterly One Stop Shop return instead of country-by-country registrations. The 19% entry rate on your first €200.000 of European profit. And with a holding on top, the participation exemption: sell the European operation later and the proceeds land in the holding free of Dutch corporate tax.

There is a Dutch-language companion page for American entrepreneurs establishing here: ondernemen vanuit de Verenigde Staten.