Contracting in Netherlands..........
Discussion
Not much help but I'm pretty sure the Netherlands comes up about the same as the UK on contractor taxations as there are a few allowances for certain situations.
If you end up paying employee rate tax you will be hit for about 15% more iirc.
The first bit is only a snippet I heared from a guy who had contracted over there.
When I was working in Holland my firm stumped up the extra to pay for the increased tax.
If you end up paying employee rate tax you will be hit for about 15% more iirc.
The first bit is only a snippet I heared from a guy who had contracted over there.
When I was working in Holland my firm stumped up the extra to pay for the increased tax.
I contracted over there back in '99/'00 and it was very easy as by Dutch law you have to work for a Dutch company (at least that's what I was told 
) There are a number of umbrella companies that will deal with everything for you and I literally just turned up at work and faxed in my timesheets every month. Nothing to it.
Make sure you claim absolutely everything - rent, travel, bog rolls, bar tabs - and you can wind up paying relatively little tax. As it was my first contract I didn't really pay too much attention to that kind of stuff so I don't know if I was actually getting shafted or not but I was happy enough.
I used Giant as my umbrella who were perfectly adequate if not totally inspiring, although other people have had bad experiences.
Holland itself is, tbh, a pretty dreary place - crap weather, terrible traffic and FLAT FLAT FLAT (I like my hills you see). Hopefully your contract is in Amsterdam which, in contrast to the rest of the place, is fab. Make sure you rent an apartment as close to the centre as you can - preferably inside the Singelgracht - and on one of the inner 'grachts if at all possible. A little pricier than being further out but made much better by being no more than a 10 minute stagger from pretty much anywhere. When I was there you were talking at least 2,500 guilders/month for a place on one of the central canals which was around £800...no idea what they would cost now. Again, renting an apartment was ludicrously easy as everybody - and I mean absolutely everybody - speaks English as least as well as we do.
) There are a number of umbrella companies that will deal with everything for you and I literally just turned up at work and faxed in my timesheets every month. Nothing to it. Make sure you claim absolutely everything - rent, travel, bog rolls, bar tabs - and you can wind up paying relatively little tax. As it was my first contract I didn't really pay too much attention to that kind of stuff so I don't know if I was actually getting shafted or not but I was happy enough.
I used Giant as my umbrella who were perfectly adequate if not totally inspiring, although other people have had bad experiences.
Holland itself is, tbh, a pretty dreary place - crap weather, terrible traffic and FLAT FLAT FLAT (I like my hills you see). Hopefully your contract is in Amsterdam which, in contrast to the rest of the place, is fab. Make sure you rent an apartment as close to the centre as you can - preferably inside the Singelgracht - and on one of the inner 'grachts if at all possible. A little pricier than being further out but made much better by being no more than a 10 minute stagger from pretty much anywhere. When I was there you were talking at least 2,500 guilders/month for a place on one of the central canals which was around £800...no idea what they would cost now. Again, renting an apartment was ludicrously easy as everybody - and I mean absolutely everybody - speaks English as least as well as we do.
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