How to start a business in Netherlands

According to the latest OECD’s report, in 2013 Netherlands had 16.8 million people and recorded a GNI (Gross National Income) per capita of 47,440USD.

In 2014 the minimum capital requirement for starting a business in Netherlands was abolished. This along with the elimination of the requirement for a declaration of nonobjection by the Ministry of Justice turned Netherlands into a friendly environment for start-ups.

If you want to start a business in Netherlands, here are some useful facts:

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       1.Where to address to register your company?

You can register your company at the Dutch Chamber of Commerce either online (http://www.kvk.nl/english/) or in person

       2. How many days are necessary to complete all the legal procedures?

It will take you only 4 days to file all the required paperwork.

       3. How many procedures to start a business?

There are 4 main procedures.

Before you get started, though, if you are a foreigner, you need to make sure that you have registered with the municipality where you are going to live within 5 days of your arrival.

Here are the procedures:

      1. Choose a company name and validate it 

As of July 2011, you can go to the Chamber of Commerce’s site and check on trade names online, free of charge. If your business name doesn’t come out in the searching engine then you’re in luck and you can validate your option.

      2. Draft and sign the company’s deed of incorporation

The company’s deed of incorporation is usually drawn by a civil law notary and costs around 1750 euro. A notary’s employee can sign it with a power of attorney.

     3. Register the company and obtain a registration number

To register your company you need to address the local Chamber of Commerce. You can either do it online or in person. If you choose to do it online you will obtain the registration number in a couple of hours; in person you will have to wait a week or so until the documents are processed. Either way you need to pay a membership fee which varies according to the number of employees and the share capital of the firm. For a small firm (fewer than 50 employees and a capital share under 90,000 EUR) the initial annual fee is 120.29 EUR. You can pay the membership fee with cash, by wire transfer or bank draft. After receiving the pay, the local Chamber of Commerce issues an invoice and sends it to you via mail.

If your company exceeds 50 employees you need to have a properly constituted workers council who will advise on important matters to the company.

     4. Register with the local tax and social security authorities

The registration procedure takes 4-6 weeks for tax office. For income tax you need to submit a separate registration and this will take around 4 weeks.

To sum up if you want to start a business in Netherlands you should address the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, spare 4 calendar days of your time and pay around 1,900EUR on administrative fees.