Working from Netherlands as a Germany resident

At a glance

Rule coverage

What the rules say about Netherlands

The rules below are the ones most likely to shape a stay in Netherlands, in plain words and with the source behind each one. Your own report tells you which of them apply to you.

1. Significant issueEmployer compliance

   Your employer has not approved working from abroad

   Working from another country without employer approval is usually a breach of instructions, can void insurance arrangements, and puts the employer at compliance risk they never accepted. Dutch employers can generally refuse or condition remote work abroad.

2. Significant issueLeaving home: exit tax and ties

   The Dutch exit tax on your company shares does not expire once you leave

   Emigration triggers a deemed disposal of a substantial interest under Article 4.16(1)(h) Wet IB 2001. The Dutch tax authority issues a conserverende aanslag, a preserving assessment, on the deemed gain, the value of the shares at emigration less the acquisition price, at the box 2 rate applicable at that moment, 24.5 percent up to 68,843 euros and 31 percent above that for 2026. Deferral of payment is automatic for a move to an EU or EEA state, with no security required and no collection interest charged. Because emigration on or after 15 September 2015 at 15:15 falls under the newer regime, the deferral is indefinite and there is no remission after 10 years the way there was for an emigration before that date. The claim simply does not expire, the Dutch tax authority holds it until a triggering event occurs. Triggering events under Article 25(8) Invorderingswet 1990 include a disposal of the shares, a dividend distribution, which leads in principle to partial collection matching the box 2 tax on that dividend with a corresponding remission under Article 26(4) to prevent double counting, or the company ceasing to exist. The Netherlands can also enforce collection after you have moved, the Dutch government's own explanatory notes point to the EU Mutual Assistance in Recovery Directive, 2010/24/EU, as the basis for recovering the claim abroad even where the applicable tax treaty itself has no collection article.

3. Significant issueMoving your company

   Meeting the Dutch substance checklist no longer guarantees the dividend exemption

   Article 4(2) Wet op de dividendbelasting 1965 exempts a payer from withholding dividend tax where the recipient is a body corporate resident in an EU state holding an interest that would have qualified for the Dutch participation exemption if held by a Dutch resident. It only applies to a body corporate, a natural person shareholder cannot use it, which is precisely why a foreign holding company gets proposed in the first place. Article 4(3)(c) then denies the exemption where the interest is held with a main purpose of avoiding tax at another person's level, tested by notionally removing the direct shareholder and asking whether the underlying shareholder would face higher Dutch tax, combined with an artificial arrangement not put in place for valid commercial reasons reflecting economic reality. The substance indicators, at least 100,000 euros of annual wage cost attributable to the intermediary's linking function and its own office space actually used for at least 24 months, used to work as a safe harbour. Since 1 January 2020 they do not, they only shift the burden of proof. Meeting them shifts the burden to the tax Inspector, who can still prove abuse and win. Failing them shifts the burden to the taxpayer, who can still disprove abuse and win. This change was made expressly in response to the CJEU's Danish beneficial ownership cases, which held the abuse-of-rights principle applies even without any domestic or treaty anti-abuse rule. Beneficial ownership itself, under Article 4(4), also has to be made plausible by the recipient.

4. Significant issuePermanent establishment risk

   Signing contracts or making management calls abroad can create a taxable presence for the employer

   Habitually concluding contracts on the employer's behalf, or exercising real management functions, from the destination is exactly what the OECD Model Convention art. 5 dependent agent and fixed place of business tests target. Host states generally apply this same framework (the Netherlands itself uses the OECD 2017 art. 5 definition for its own inbound test, a reasonable proxy for how a host state would look at a Dutch employer). A permanent establishment found this way exposes the employer to host corporate tax on attributable profit, plus host wage withholding and registration duties.

5. Significant issueSocial security

   Working abroad past 3 months for anyone but a Dutch employer drops your Dutch coverage

   BUB 1999 art. 12 gives a short assignment tolerance of 3 months (about 92 days) of exclusively foreign work before the volksverzekeringen (AOW, Anw, Wlz) stop. The only carve out beyond that tolerance is working solely for a Netherlands-established employer, which does not apply to you here (freelancer, or an employer that is not Dutch). Your werknemersverzekeringen (WW, WIA, ZW) end even sooner, on the day the work becomes wholly foreign, because the resident-plus-Dutch-employer test is not met at all.

6. Needs checkingHealthcare coverage

   Your Zvw cover only travels as far as your class allows, and it can lapse entirely

   The Zvw duty to hold Dutch health insurance is tied to Wlz cover, which is residence-based (Zvw art. 2 and art. 6, Wlz art. 2.1.1). Temporary work abroad alone does not end Wlz, but the moment you actually stop being an NL resident or subject to Dutch wage tax, Zvw ends completely, not just gets capped. While you stay NL-insured, what your Zvw actually buys you abroad depends on class. In the EU or EEA, the EHIC covers medically necessary public healthcare on a temporary stay, but not planned or private treatment and never repatriation, an S1 registration covers an actual relocation instead. In a treaty country, a verdragspolis via the CAK may give host system access, but only where the specific treaty has a healthcare chapter. Everywhere else, Zvw reimburses only up to Dutch tariffs with no coordination at all.

What tends to surprise people here

• Losing Dutch social security coverage on long stays abroad
• Health insurance gaps outside the EU

Tax treaty between Germany and Netherlands