Dutch citizens and businesses often work and operate across borders. Tax treaties strengthen the economic relationships between countries by preventing citizens and businesses from paying tax more than once on the same income or assets. A tax treaty is important, for example, to determine in which country cross-border workers pay taxes.
Negotiations
In 2025, the Netherlands is negotiating a tax treaty with 11 countries: Aruba, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Ecuador, Mozambique, Uganda, Portugal, Romania, Suriname, and Sweden. Throughout the year, new negotiations may also be initiated. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (BZ) publishes a quarterly overview of the countries with which negotiations are currently taking place. Morocco is not part of this years negotiation plan. After a third negotiation round last year, it was found that a new negotiation round in the short term was not meaningful and realistic.
An agreement has previously been reached with Germany, Spain, and Thailand, and a signing date is being arranged with these countries. The signed tax treaties with Bangladesh and Sint Maarten will be submitted to the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Combatting Tax Avoidance
In addition to strengthening economic relationships, the Netherlands also aims to combat international tax avoidance through tax treaties. The Netherlands maintains a list of low-tax countries that impose less than 9% corporate tax. To prevent profits from being shifted from the Netherlands to these countries, anti-abuse rules apply, including an additional withholding tax.
Existing tax treaties with these countries, such as Barbados and Bahrain, limit the Netherlands ability to impose this withholding tax. Therefore, the Netherlands has approached these countries to amend the tax treaty. Barbados and Bahrain are now taking steps to raise their corporate tax rate to at least 9%, which likely means the tax treaty will not need to be renegotiated.
The Netherlands also agrees in negotiations with other countries to incorporate international minimum standards against treaty abuse into the tax treaty – where they are not already applicable. This applies, for example, to negotiations with Sweden, as well as to negotiations within the Kingdom of the Netherlands with Sint Maarten and Aruba.
Information
Companies and citizens who have fiscal information that may be relevant to ongoing or planned negotiations are invited to contact the Ministry of Finance at belastingverdragen@minfin.nl. The ministry can then take this information into account during the negotiations. Looking to the future, information about double taxation issues with countries other than those mentioned above is also welcome.