Home Foreign businesses Swiss and Norwegian companies in the Netherlands
Swiss and Norwegian companies in the Netherlands
Switzerland and Norway are not part of the EU. For Dutch VAT, a company from either country is a business from outside the EU, and goods it sends to the Netherlands are imported. Here is what usually applies.
Registration and returns, at a fixed fee
If your company needs a Dutch VAT number, we arrange it with everything included and file every return in one monthly package of € 100, € 150 with the OSS return.
Goods: import, EORI and import VAT
Goods from Switzerland or Norway enter the Netherlands through customs. Your company needs an EORI number from an EU customs authority, applied for in the EU country where it files its first declaration, and import VAT is due at import. If your company imports in its own name, it registers for Dutch VAT and deducts that import VAT in its Dutch VAT return.
Supplies with installation
Do you deliver equipment and install or assemble it in the Netherlands? Then the supply takes place where the installation is done: in the Netherlands. To a business customer established in the Netherlands the VAT is reverse-charged; to other customers you charge the Dutch VAT yourself and register for it.
Construction and installation work has its own reverse-charge rules, also for subcontractors. See foreign contractors: construction and installation.
What else usually applies
- Services to Dutch businesses: the VAT is usually reverse-charged to your customer, so you often do not need a Dutch VAT number
- Stock in the Netherlands, with a 3PL or for a marketplace: you register for Dutch VAT
- Digital services to consumers in the EU: the non-Union OSS, in one EU country
- Dutch VAT on your costs without a Dutch VAT number: a refund request with the Dutch tax authorities, within six months after the end of the calendar year
- Staff working in the Netherlands: Dutch payroll, and the question whether there is a permanent establishment
A Swiss or Norwegian VAT number is not an EU VAT number
A supplier in the Netherlands can only zero-rate an intra-Community supply to your company with a VAT number from an EU country, and the simplified triangulation rules need an intermediary identified for VAT in an EU country. A Swiss or Norwegian VAT number is not enough for either.
What we do
We look at your sales, goods flows and people in the Netherlands and tell you which registrations you need. Then we arrange the Dutch VAT registration (€ 275, everything included), an EU EORI number if needed (€ 59), and file every Dutch VAT return in our package: € 100 per month, € 150 with the OSS return. Staff in the Netherlands? We also run the payroll: see payroll for foreign employers.
Frequently asked questions
Does a Swiss company need a fiscal representative?
Usually not. It can register for Dutch VAT directly. A representative is only needed in specific situations, and for an Article 23 licence on import VAT; then we refer you to a licensed partner.
Our customer is a Dutch company. Do we still need a Dutch VAT number?
Often not for the supply itself, because the VAT is reverse-charged to your Dutch business customer. You do need one if you import the goods in your own name and want to deduct the import VAT, or if you also supply to customers who are not established in the Netherlands.
Can we reclaim Dutch VAT on our costs?
Yes, through the refund procedure for businesses from outside the EU: a request to the Dutch tax authorities within six months after the end of the calendar year. We file it for € 395 per year, including the registration as a foreign business that comes first.
A Swiss or Norwegian company with Dutch customers? Tell us what you supply and how.
Tell us briefly what is going on. Within one working day you hear what we can do for you and what it costs, before we start.
Rather talk it through? Call now