Tax in the Netherlands: VAT, income tax, company tax, capital gains

BTW in Netherlands

EU value-added system: output BTW less input BTW.

Standard rate

21%

Local name

BTW — Value Added Tax

Type

VAT

Reduced rates

9%

Registration threshold

EUR 20,000 (small-business KOR)

Filing

Quarterly (usually)

Authority

Belastingdienst

Current rate since

1 January 2000

Company tax in Netherlands

The headline corporate income tax rate is 25.8%. In effect since 1 January 2022.

Two brackets: 19.0% up to EUR 200,000 and 25.8% above, identical for 2023-2026. Netherlands applies Pillar Two (Wet minimumbelasting 2024) - not read this session. | Cross-check: OECD 2026: central statutory CIT 25.8%, combined (central+sub-central) 25.8%; small-business combined 19% Reduced rate 19%, not modelled as a small-company rate: First EUR 200,000 of taxable amount (band applies to all companies).

Netherlands company tax calculator →

Did you know? Netherlands tax facts

• When Dutch VAT launched in 1969, the standard rate was just 12% and the reduced rate 4% - both have climbed almost relentlessly to today's 21% and 9%.

  The standard rate ratcheted up through 14% (1971), 16% (1973), 18% (1976), 19% (1984), 17.5% (1992), back to 19% (2001) and finally 21% (2012); the reduced rate went 4% to 5% (1984) to 6% (1986) to 9% (2019).

  Source: Taxcel - BTW tarief historie ↗

• The EU dragged the Netherlands to the Court of Justice for charging the cheap VAT rate on horses - and in 2011 the court ruled a horse headed for slaughter is not 'similar' to a racehorse or a pet.

  In Case C-41/09 (judgment 3 March 2011) the Court found the Netherlands breached the EU VAT Directive (2006/112) by applying the reduced rate to ALL horses, when the cut rate was only permissible for horses supplied for slaughter to be used in preparing foodstuffs.

  Source: EUR-Lex - Case C-41/09 Commission v Netherlands ↗

• Cut flowers, pot plants and flower bulbs have enjoyed the Netherlands' reduced VAT rate since 1975 - originally justified as a way to help low-income households buy bouquets and create floriculture jobs.

  A 2023 evaluation found the break ineffective (it doesn't actually reach poorer groups and the cost-per-job is high), so in March 2026 the Ministry of Finance opened a consultation to scrap the 9% rate for floriculture.

  Source: Tax Expenditures Lab ↗

• The Dutch VAT that exists today only came about because Brussels wanted a common European tax - the system was effectively imposed by EU directives, not home-grown.

  The Wet op de omzetbelasting 1968 implemented the European Community's First and Second VAT Directives, replacing the older cumulative cascade turnover tax with a credit-invoice VAT modeled on the French TVA.

  Source: Wikipedia (NL) - Wet op de omzetbelasting 1968 ↗

• The Netherlands' standard VAT jumped from 19% to 21% overnight on 1 October 2012, a mid-fiscal-year austerity hike during the eurozone crisis.

  The 2-point rise was part of a budget-deficit-cutting package aimed at keeping the deficit within 3% of GDP; the rate has stayed at 21% ever since, making it one of the higher standard VAT rates in the EU.

  Source: Avalara - Netherlands raises VAT from 19% to 21% October 2012 ↗

• Dutch income tax comes in three 'boxes': Box 1 for work and home, Box 2 for substantial shareholdings (24.5% and 33%), and Box 3, which taxes savings and investments at 36% on a presumed return, not the actual income.

  Wikipedia: 'income is divided into the following three categories, so called boxes'; Box 1 is progressive with two brackets, Box 2 is taxed at 24.5% and 33%, and Box 3 is taxed at 36% on a presumed return; before 2021 Box 3 worked more like a wealth tax, and after a court ruling the tax is now assessed on the actual distribution of assets.

  Source: Wikipedia — Taxation in the Netherlands · checked 10 October 2026 ↗

• The Dutch '30% facility' lets an employer pay a worker recruited from abroad up to 30% of salary tax-free for up to five years — capped at €78,600 in 2026, which is reached at a salary of €262,000.

  Belastingdienst: 'your employer may also pay up to 30% of your salary, including compensation, to you untaxed'; 'Your decision has a duration of up to 5 years', shortened by earlier work or residence in the Netherlands; 'As of 2026, your maximum untaxed allowance is €78,600', reached with 'a salary of €262,000 or more'.

  Source: Belastingdienst — Coming to work in the Netherlands: 30% facility · checked 10 October 2026 ↗

More stories, for every country that has one, on the tax facts page.