You are the founder, and CEO of a growing company. You might have incorporated your company by yourself, without the help of an accountant, lawyer or tax advisor… But now that your company grows, the responsibilities also grow. You will need a full understanding of the company and fiscal regulations, in order to make proper executive decisions, or to ensure investors for your company that you have optimised your corporate structure.
In this post we will describe the 6 most important matters to consider, when your company is growing, before you contact a business tax advisor.
#1 Tax Consulting is NOT only relevant for big corporation
Any company, of any size requires attention to it’s tax and administrative requirements. Even in case your operate a simple Dutch branch, which is technically not even required to prepare its financial statements, you have to understand the relevant tax issues. Especially in case of a branch, the consequences of non-compliance can be severe, because they also reflect on your HQ.
#2 You DON’T only need a tax advisor when your tax returns are due…
It’s never too soon to involve your tax advisor. Even when you have registered a company in the form of a branch, and you are not expecting any profits at all, it makes sense to discuss a timeline on the tax (filing) requirements that you can expect in your first book year.
Besides that, there are certain basics that are relevant for each company of any size. For example;
- Can I file for extension of my filing due date?
- Are there tax liabilities I need to consider (such as minimum wage salaries, freelancer vs. employee considerations, etc.)
- How do you deal with intra-group transactions?
- What are the invoicing (VAT!) requirements?
When you do expect to have turnover in the Netherlands, the tax advisor can help you optimize your taxes and assist you to focus on your optimal Return on Investment by delivering the right numbers.
When you have successfully incorporated your company (using INCO’s services) our inhouse Dutch tax advisors and accountants will contact you for a full intake and prepare a timeline on your requirements so you can feel comfortable about your tax liabilities. This even applies when you decide to do most of the bookkeeping yourself.
It can be of vital importance to work with a tax advisor, who actually answers your call when unexpected things happen. Although there are many ‘online’ tax advisors nowadays, that discount their services during the ‘tax filing season’, you might not hear from them, when you need them the most. And unexpected tax matters always happen. From unexpected VAT complexities, to determining the fiscal-friendly way to buy you favorite company car, to dealing with any tax letters from your Tax & Customs Administration,
A tax advisor might be needed at any time, not only when you need to submit your tax returns.
#3 Tax consulting is NOT taken over by computers
In the current fast-changing entrepreneurial landscape, we expect to become more and more automated.
We expect our tax advisors, and their software, to automatically process invoices and receipts and preferably not charge for this service at all. Because why would you? If the software is doing all the work…
Unfortunately, this is not the case (yet). Although there is accounting software out there that makes life easier, there are still dozens of important fiscal matters, which require personal attention, and which might not be grabbed by standard subscription models of bookkeeping firms.
#4 Tax Advisory is NOT easy
Keeping your books in order is more difficult than you think if you have to consider the accounting rules of a country that you are not familiar with. Vice versa, it requires some extra attention (for a Dutch tax advisor) to process invoices and receipts which originate from a different country, and are often in a foreign language.
Many of our clients work with foreign banks, which often implicates that the online software is not able to process those statements. We also notice that many entrepreneurs use their overseas holding company or HQ to deal with certain transactions on behalf of their Dutch subsidiary, which requires careful attention.
Apart from the practical affairs that a tax advisor has to deal with on each transaction that takes place in your company, the tax advisor keeps an eye on the tax consequences and how to optimize your taxes! There might be special incentives or deductions in place for the type of expenses that you make, or you might be better off structuring certain transactions in a different manner.
In short, there are numerous practical issues and accounting considerations that are involved in keeping your books. Even if your company is just starting. It’s reasonable to expect that you will require the help of a Dutch tax advisor for at least 1-2 hours per month.
#5 Accounting is NOT only data entry
If you are still not convinced that you need a tax advisor , after reading the first 3 myths …well, you might be a tax advisor yourself!
In any other case, you should consider that opening an overseas company requires a lot of energy. In the form of time, and money. A tax advisor can help you to efficiently spend this energy, but can also help you to have the right expectations of your overseas adventure. How much result do you expect, based on the energy you are putting into it? Furthermore, a tax advisor can recognize if, and how, you should attract funding, and support in your communication with banks and investors…who often prefer the insight of a tax advisor , rather than of an entrepreneur. (and who can blame them!)
Our other Important pages –
https://www.incobusinessgroup.com/company-formation-netherlands
https://www.incobusinessgroup.com/legal-consulting-netherlands
https://www.incobusinessgroup.com/expat-services-netherlands
https://www.incobusinessgroup.com/dutch-accounting-financial-service
https://www.incobusinessgroup.com/start-a-business-in-netherlands
https://www.incobusinessgroup.com/reasons-invest-netherlands
https://www.incobusinessgroup.com/business-toolkit
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