Contract work in continental Europe

[creampuff]

Right, as per my other thread I may have a job coming up in Holland.

It will be contract with a duration of <6 months (hopefully a lot less as I don't really want to go to Holland and the pay sucks).

I've worked contract in the UK for a long time and have my own limited company.

The plan is, I'll use my UK limited company to work in Holland.

My understanding is:
- I will not have to pay Holland income tax
- I'll have to add Holland VAT to invoices and pay that in Holland
- I will not have to pay UK VAT
- I will have to pay the UK 20% company tax on profits

Is this correct? The agent is going on about applying the Dutch "30% rule" which reduces your Dutch income by 30% for income tax purposes for foreigners. But as far as I see it, I will not have any income, Dutch or otherwise. My company will have profits and I can pay myself dividends out of those profits or not but that has nothing to do with anything going on in Holland.

[creampuff]

Thanks for the link. The latest plan from the Dutch agent (as per other thread I've got one possible contract job in the Netherlands and one permanent job in London which are likely to happen) is that I'll just be paid out of the agent's UK office in pounds and pay 20% UK company tax and either no Netherlands tax at all or maybe NL VAT which would be added to the invoice. This should work out as it is only a few months work.

[creampuff]

FredClogs said:

Are you working direct to the end client or through a UK agency?

You'd need to be a permie with a contract specifically stating you're on the 30% rule to be eligible for it (at least that was the system in Denmark).

If you were a sole trader of employed this would be more straight forward but as a ltd company you have more options, but it depends on quite a few factors. I'd get some proper advice, if I were you...

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/taxes/in...


http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/taxes/in...

Edit: You'll want to avoid dutch income tax, I think they'll assume dividend from your LTD company as straight income.

If it goes ahead I'll make sure I'm in the Netherlands for less than 6 months so I would remain resident in the UK for tax purposes.

The contract would be between my LTD company and the UK branch of the agent, who have both a Dutch and a UK office.

The second of your links says I'd still pay Dutch income tax on Dutch income, but as I see it I still have zero Dutch income - it would be UK company income subject to UK company tax. The only personal income is dividends, which I can take or not take or take when I happen to be in the UK.