A month ago, the government announced its financial plans for the coming year. Changes will be implemented in 2025 or 2026 for all kinds of taxes and subsidies. In some areas, your company will benefit from favorable arrangements, while in other areas, there will be an unfavorable change. We have listed the most important announcements from last Prinsjesdag for you here.

Unfavorable tax changes

The SME profit exemption will decrease from 13.31% to 12.7% in 2025. This means that you will have to pay more income tax from the new year. In addition, the higher your profit, the harder you will be hit. The phasing out of the self-employed person's deduction had already been announced and will be continued in the coming years.

The tax benefits for expats will be reduced. Highly educated foreign employees can currently receive an annual tax benefit of 30% on their salary. From 2027, this percentage will decrease to 27%. In addition, the employees' wages must be higher in order to be able to use the scheme. If the 30% scheme came into effect before 1 January 2024, you can still use the high rate for a maximum of 5 years based on an income standard that initially remains the same. The consequences of this change will therefore only be noticeable in a few years' time in many cases.

For the cultural sector and the sports sector, VAT will be increased to 21%. This means that books, gyms and concerts, among other things, will become more expensive. The change will come into effect from 1 January 2026 and will also apply to advance payments before that date.

Potential windfalls

A change in labour legislation will make it easier to have staff work overtime from 2025. At present, staff may work a maximum of 30% extra hours, otherwise the employer must pay a higher contribution to the general unemployment fund. From January, employees who work more than 30 hours on average will be exempt from this rule. This will make it slightly easier to have staff work overtime.

During the energy crisis in 2022, the excise duty on petrol, diesel and LPG was temporarily reduced. This arrangement will be extended until the end of 2025, which means that the excise duties will remain the same next year. You pay €0.79 for petrol, €0.52 for diesel and €0.19 for LPG. Road transport will therefore remain slightly cheaper next year.

The energy tax on natural gas will be reduced as of 1 January 2025. Up to an annual consumption of 170,000 m³ you pay €0.028 per m³ of gas. This financial benefit can amount to almost €5,000 per year. On the other hand, the netting arrangement for solar panels will stop from 2027. From that moment on, you will no longer receive compensation for the electricity that you supply back to the grid.

Summary 

The new arrangements that the government announced on Prinsjesdag have both favourable and unfavourable outcomes for companies. A decrease in the profit exemption means that you will have less left at the bottom line. A change in the 30% scheme for expats may make recruiting highly educated personnel more complicated in the long term. On the other hand, using overtime will entail lower costs and both natural gas and fuel will be cheaper next year. The cabinet plans are subject to change, because most of the plans still have to be approved by the Senate and House of Representatives.