Starting

Since you are an international company you may have already come into contact with ‘foreign’ employees, so-called ‘expats’. 

Expat from the EU 

If you want to hire an employee with a non-Dutch origin, there are several things to think about. If the employee has a European identity, he or she can work in the Netherlands without any problems. The employee must settle here and can apply for a BSN. Then the employee can start working for you just like a Dutch employee. 

Expat from outside the EU 

In this case, a work and residence permit must be applied for. Depending on the nationality and the salary, this may require an application to be made either through the UWV or the IND. If it concerns a highly skilled migrant from, for example, China or India, in many cases it cannot be arranged without due process. 

As an employer in the Netherlands, you must be in possession of an IND sponsorship. This is a kind of certificate from the IND that allows you to hire highly skilled/knowledgeable migrants. This sponsorship is a difficult certificate to obtain when you are just starting up a business. There are several options for still hiring such an employee, such as outsourcing the employment of the employee to a payroll organization that does already have said IND sponsorship. 

30% ruling

For quite some years already, the Dutch government has had a very interesting and beneficial arrangement for expatriate employees, the 30% ruling. In short, this regulation ensures that if you are recruited as an expatriate abroad to work in the Netherlands, you will receive 30% of your gross salary as if it were net salary. This is a great advantage for the employee. For you as an employer this is also an advantage because you do not pay employer’s costs on that 30% of the salary. 

The application and conditions of this ruling are complicated and deeply involved. A tax advisor can assist you perfectly with this. 

Income tax

If you employ an employee who also has an income outside the Netherlands, we speak of a world income. This is of great importance when submitting the annual tax return on the income of your employee. In order to prevent your employee from having to pay too much to the Tax Authorities in the Netherlands, it is a good idea to inform the employee of this early on, so that he or she can seek advice and support in a timely manner. 

Conclusion

A tax advisor or expat benefits specialist is not only useful for you as a businessman but can also make things easier for your hired expat employee. In addition, there are a number of things that need to be arranged for you as an employer and for the employee. If this is not done in the right way, you may miss out on benefits and have a higher chance of fines from, for example, the Tax Authorities.