Spouse, civil partner, or children working in the company

Your spouse or partner joins your company

You can arrange this in 3 ways:

Tips

• Discuss your situation with your accountant to find out which solution is best for you and your partner or child.
• Also consider liability for debts if your partner or child joins your company or becomes a co-owner. The liability depends on the legal structure of your company. The form of cohabitation with your partner, or of your child with their partner is also important.
• Your child working in your company

  You can arrange this in 3 ways:

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  1. Your child becomes an employee

  You give your child an employment contract. Your child will then have the same employment conditions as other employees and will be insured under the employee insurance schemes. You must withhold and pay payroll taxes on the wages that you pay your child. If your child is the first employee of your company, you must register as an employer with the Tax Administration and KVK (form 14).

  Is your child 17 years old or younger? Follow the rules for work by minors and young adults.

  2. Your child receives a ficitious employment

  Your child is at least 15 years old and does not receive any profit from the company. The family relationship makes the working conditions different from those of the other employees. This means your child has a fictitious employment (fictieve dienstbetrekking).

  In the case of a fictitious employment relationship:

  • you must withhold wage tax/national insurance contributions and pay the healthcare insurance contribution (Zvw).
  • your child is not insured under the employee insurance schemes.
  • you must comply with all administrative obligations (such as keeping a copy of the identity document in the records).

  Simplified payroll tax scheme

  Under certain conditions you may use the simplified scheme for wage tax/national insurance contributions and the Zvw for children working in your company. Among other things, you only need to file a payroll tax return for your child(ren) once a year. You need a separate payroll tax number, which you can request using the form ‘Notification of payroll tax for employer of cooperating children’ (in Dutch).

  Read about the simplified scheme and conditions in Chapter 18, Section 11 of the Payroll Taxes Handbook (in Dutch).

  3. Your child becomes a co-owner

  For your child to become a co-owner, your company must be a private limited company (bv) or a general partnership (vof). For a bv, you must have this recorded by a notary. Your child can then become a co-director/major shareholder. You do not have to arrange a general partnership with a civil-law notary. It is, however, wise to set out the agreements about your cooperation in a general partnership contract.

  You must always inform KVK and the Tax Administration that your child has become a co-owner.

  Does your company have another legal structure? Then you must first change the legal structure.