Moving a company out of the Netherlands

One of our clients is a Dutch holding company held by two Maltese corporate shareholders. The Maltese shareholders have decided – due to organizational reasons – to move the Dutch holding company to Malta.

As the holding company was incorporated under Dutch law, but now registered in Malta, it will be considered as a tax resident of both the Netherlands and Malta on the basis of their respective tax laws. This means that they will be subject to tax in both countries and are confronted with double taxation.

Luckily the Netherlands and Malta have concluded a treaty for the avoidance of double taxation with each other. This tax treaty decides that in this situation only one country can tax the holding company. This is the country where the company has its effective management: Malta.

Leaving Netherlands nevertheless triggers certain anti-abuse measures in Dutch corporate income tax and dividend tax.

We were able to describe the Dutch tax aspects of the migration of the holding company to Malta. At the end of the day, the holding company does not have to pay any tax in the Netherlands due to its move to Malta.