Income tax
Liability for income tax
An individual’s liability to Dutch personal income tax is
determined by residence status. A person can be a resident
or a nonresident for Dutch tax purposes. Residency is
determined by applying a closer connection test, in other
words, a taxpayer is considered as a resident if the center of
the taxpayer’s vital interest is in the Netherlands and if the
closest social and economic ties the taxpayer has are with
the Netherlands. Physical presence itself is not decisive.
Business travelers will probably not be considered as
resident for Dutch tax purposes.
The general rule is that a person who is a resident of
the Netherlands is assessable on worldwide income.
Nonresidents are generally assessable on income derived
directly or indirectly from Dutch sources.
Employment income is treated as Dutch-sourced income to
the extent attributable to duties physically performed in the
Netherlands.
Tax trigger points
In most tax treaties, the dependent personal services article
states that the employee will be taxed in the employee’s
home country if the employee’s stay in the Netherlands
does not exceed 183 days (in a calendar year or a 12-month
period). Other conditions are that the salary is not paid by
or on behalf of a Dutch employer during that period and
that the employment costs are not borne by the foreign
employer’s Dutch permanent establishment during the
period of assignment. Because the Netherlands has
adopted the economic employer approach in interpreting
the term employer, the employee could be taxable from the
employee’s first day of presence in the Netherlands.
According to the Supreme Court’s ruling, for the application
of the tax treaty, the employer is the company that:
• Has the authority to instruct the assignee
• Bears the risk and expense of the duties performed,
including a specific and individually traceable recharge of
the employment expenses.
There is, in principle, no threshold/minimum number of days
that exempts the employee from the requirements to file and
pay tax in the Netherlands. An exception is made for employees
of foreign companies who are assigned to the Netherlands
within an international group as part of an exchange program,
for career development, or on the grounds of specific expertise.
They are exempt from Dutch income tax on their employment
income if they work in the Netherlands for a period of no longer
than 60 days in any 12-month period. The exemption does not
apply if the Netherlands has the right of taxation based on
the dependent personal services article of the tax treaty (for
example, when the employee has stayed more than 183 days
in the Netherlands or when the employee’s remuneration is
attributable to a permanent establishment of the employer in the
Netherlands).