Possible work opportunity in Netherlands
Discussion
Not really sure where to start. I've been contacted about a possible job opportunity in the Netherlands. I've never worked overseas before so no idea how this works. I've also no idea on what the tax structures are like over there and if I'd have to pay tax on earnings over there, over here or both. Can anyone give me a very quick primer?
Are you looking to move there, lock-stock? Or is it a case of nipping over every now and then? Which ever of these applies will determine how much tax you pay and to who.
Like all Scandinavian countries, income tax is very high (52%) but key professions are afforded a 30% tax-free allowance.
This is probably your best starting point.
Like all Scandinavian countries, income tax is very high (52%) but key professions are afforded a 30% tax-free allowance.
This is probably your best starting point.
StevieBee said:
Like all Scandinavian countries
????OP, I've not lived there, but end up heading over for a week or so at a time quite often. I find the Dutch very easy to work with, and I've a few friends currently living just outside of Zuid who speak highly of the country in general. Best of luck either way.
Whilst I haven't been employed directly by a NL company, I did spend a bit of time working in Marknesse for DNW a few years ago.
All in all I spent around 6 months there and I have nothing but high praise for the country and the people I worked alongside.
I can't comment on the tax situation, other than I do believe that their road tax (or whatever they call it) is quite high and based partly on vehicle weight???
If I had the opportunity to move and work there full time, and if the numbers were right I wouldn't give it a moments thought.
All in all I spent around 6 months there and I have nothing but high praise for the country and the people I worked alongside.
I can't comment on the tax situation, other than I do believe that their road tax (or whatever they call it) is quite high and based partly on vehicle weight???
If I had the opportunity to move and work there full time, and if the numbers were right I wouldn't give it a moments thought.
For a petrolhead the taxes are a nightmare, one of my colleges in The Hague has a V8 Mustang that would have been about £80k in NL compared to £30ish in the UK. 
This is quite a useful website https://www.iamexpat.nl/
Some expat jobs are eligible for the 30% tax rule but not all, so worth reading up and and checking with your employer.
There is a Netherlands section on the forum here, it's quite quite but someone may be able to help you with the area. I move the Hague on Sunday...
This is quite a useful website https://www.iamexpat.nl/
Some expat jobs are eligible for the 30% tax rule but not all, so worth reading up and and checking with your employer.
There is a Netherlands section on the forum here, it's quite quite but someone may be able to help you with the area. I move the Hague on Sunday...
General rule you will pay tax where you work and where you live, where you work will get first call and if the tax rate where you live is higher they will allow the tax where you earn as a deduction against the amount due (either by tax treaty or unilateral relief). Basically if you go abroad and are paid by the UK company you will not be troubled for the foreign tax for the first 183 days.
Be careful if you work for a British company in Holland,after 183 days they should start to pay the dutch tax, but some don't know how to do that. I worked for a major German company in the UK who sent people to Norway and didn't pay Norwegian income tax, because they didn't know how to register, they learnt pretty quick when they got caught.
There are different rule for offshore, in Norway you pay from day one, regardless of employer.
Outside Europe the tax trigger is generally having a work permit, lots of people doing short term assignments on say commissioning jobs, work on tourist visa's for this reason. But lots of industries wont give you a permanent access card to their premises without site of a work visa, so that old trick is in decline..
before Eric comment, I accept the above rule is general (very) you need to look at specifics, and take advice, and not necessarily from your employer, on your circumstances, but that rule will get you started.
Some place in the world will tax you from day one if your time sheet is used as the basis to charge a client in country, I've even seen that with inter group work where a management fees is charged to the host country.
Where I work at the moment you wont get on site without a work permit and a local tax reference number.
Be careful if you work for a British company in Holland,after 183 days they should start to pay the dutch tax, but some don't know how to do that. I worked for a major German company in the UK who sent people to Norway and didn't pay Norwegian income tax, because they didn't know how to register, they learnt pretty quick when they got caught.
There are different rule for offshore, in Norway you pay from day one, regardless of employer.
Outside Europe the tax trigger is generally having a work permit, lots of people doing short term assignments on say commissioning jobs, work on tourist visa's for this reason. But lots of industries wont give you a permanent access card to their premises without site of a work visa, so that old trick is in decline..
before Eric comment, I accept the above rule is general (very) you need to look at specifics, and take advice, and not necessarily from your employer, on your circumstances, but that rule will get you started.
Some place in the world will tax you from day one if your time sheet is used as the basis to charge a client in country, I've even seen that with inter group work where a management fees is charged to the host country.
Where I work at the moment you wont get on site without a work permit and a local tax reference number.
Thanks for all the info, very useful.
To give some context (sorry I should have done that from the outset), it's not a British company. Apparently relocation is a requirement. We have two young children (2 and 4) so between that and the cost of flights between here and there it wouldn't be possible really for me to work there and come home at weekends so it would really mean all of us going there and my wife giving up her current part time job so a drop in overall income there.
Apparently the position should qualify for the 30% ruling and an additional relocation grant of about EUR 7k tax free, paid over the first twelve months. The remuneration on offer is a little less than I make now but the money is not the reason we're considering it, it's more the chance to live and work in another country and culture etc. as we've both said we'd like to.
We've sort of skirted round the subject in the past but the opportunities that have come up have generally not been worth considering, either for financial or destination reasons so we're sort of using this to at least go through all the conversations and considerations. The job sounds really good though and it's with a probably pretty cool employer but obviously we have to consider our kids and our own parents, none of whom are getting any younger or healthier.
The location would be roughly half way between Amsterdam and The Hague, around Leiden. I've never been there but have been to Amsterdam although memories of that weekend are somewhat vague
It all looks pleasant enough from Street View I guess.
To give some context (sorry I should have done that from the outset), it's not a British company. Apparently relocation is a requirement. We have two young children (2 and 4) so between that and the cost of flights between here and there it wouldn't be possible really for me to work there and come home at weekends so it would really mean all of us going there and my wife giving up her current part time job so a drop in overall income there.
Apparently the position should qualify for the 30% ruling and an additional relocation grant of about EUR 7k tax free, paid over the first twelve months. The remuneration on offer is a little less than I make now but the money is not the reason we're considering it, it's more the chance to live and work in another country and culture etc. as we've both said we'd like to.
We've sort of skirted round the subject in the past but the opportunities that have come up have generally not been worth considering, either for financial or destination reasons so we're sort of using this to at least go through all the conversations and considerations. The job sounds really good though and it's with a probably pretty cool employer but obviously we have to consider our kids and our own parents, none of whom are getting any younger or healthier.
The location would be roughly half way between Amsterdam and The Hague, around Leiden. I've never been there but have been to Amsterdam although memories of that weekend are somewhat vague
It all looks pleasant enough from Street View I guess.Bear in mind the cost of living is quite high in NL, take a look at www.funda.nl for an idea of rental prices, but I'm looking at around €1800-2000 for a 2 bed flat in Scheveningen. That's a reasonably expensive area as it's on the coast, but Leiden is a nice area and I suspect not massively cheaper if you want to be in the town center.
There's a British school between The Hague and Lieden, no idea how much it costs though, however I have several colleagues with kids in Dutch schools with no problems. Everyone speaks English and they'll pick up Dutch really quickly at that age.
The train from Schiphol to Leiden takes about 10 minutes, and if you book far enough in advance a return flight from Gatwick is about £70 (dunno about from Scotland though) so not actually to bad for family coming to visit.
There's a British school between The Hague and Lieden, no idea how much it costs though, however I have several colleagues with kids in Dutch schools with no problems. Everyone speaks English and they'll pick up Dutch really quickly at that age.
The train from Schiphol to Leiden takes about 10 minutes, and if you book far enough in advance a return flight from Gatwick is about £70 (dunno about from Scotland though) so not actually to bad for family coming to visit.
Edited by RizzoTheRat on Friday 27th July 14:39
OP. Where do you live?
Could you and the family not spend the weekend there to get a general feel of the area?
Obviously a weekend will not tell you everything, but if it doesn't feel right over the course of a weekend it's never going to feel right is it?
If you can spend longer there then even better.
I know it's very easy for others (myself included) to say what we would do, but from what you have described so far, and if I was in the same situation as yourself then I would jump at the chance. The kids are at the ideal age to relocate and while leaving behind parents is always a factor, they are only half a day away from you at worst.
Could you and the family not spend the weekend there to get a general feel of the area?
Obviously a weekend will not tell you everything, but if it doesn't feel right over the course of a weekend it's never going to feel right is it?
If you can spend longer there then even better.
I know it's very easy for others (myself included) to say what we would do, but from what you have described so far, and if I was in the same situation as yourself then I would jump at the chance. The kids are at the ideal age to relocate and while leaving behind parents is always a factor, they are only half a day away from you at worst.
Thanks guys. Rizzo, after posting this I was looking in the Netherlands forum (as helpfully suggested by someone else on this thread, thanks) and saw your threads there, I was planning on posting on one of them to see how you were getting on.
So we're in Aberdeen, you can fly direct to Schipol from here but it's around £450 return per person. To/from Edinburgh is around half the price but that's a good 2.5 - 3 hours drive as well, depending on traffic, roadworks etc.
The role is near Lieden so that would be pretty handy, I think someone on one of your threads mentioned Delft being a decent option which looks to be under an hour away so that might work too.
I have until the middle of next week to apply if we decide to go for it so we're going to try and talk through all the ins and outs over the weekend.
So we're in Aberdeen, you can fly direct to Schipol from here but it's around £450 return per person. To/from Edinburgh is around half the price but that's a good 2.5 - 3 hours drive as well, depending on traffic, roadworks etc.
The role is near Lieden so that would be pretty handy, I think someone on one of your threads mentioned Delft being a decent option which looks to be under an hour away so that might work too.
I have until the middle of next week to apply if we decide to go for it so we're going to try and talk through all the ins and outs over the weekend.
Slow down and look at schools, I've lived overseas most of my adult life, my kids are all duel nationals. My oldest two are Norwegian they went back to Norway at 6, and spoke very basic Norwegian at the lime, mainly learned on the phone with Grandparents, They had loads of help from a very rich state and both have Masters now but we consciously left them in the Norwegian system for all their school years, I would think very carefully about putting kids into a European state system for a few years, language is one thing, but going back to the UK system latter is another.
My youngest went to international schools cost best part of 25K a year, plus all the add ons, Like school trips went to Taja Mahal one year great wall another, only apple computers and phones, which you had to have as home work was all assigned and submitted electronically. not cheap.
A mate of mine moved back to Yorkshire last year, his kids were around 14 he had a huge problem getting them accepted into a good school he found acceptable.
My youngest went to international schools cost best part of 25K a year, plus all the add ons, Like school trips went to Taja Mahal one year great wall another, only apple computers and phones, which you had to have as home work was all assigned and submitted electronically. not cheap.
A mate of mine moved back to Yorkshire last year, his kids were around 14 he had a huge problem getting them accepted into a good school he found acceptable.
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