Outline agreement 2024

 In the introduction to the outline agreement, entrepreneurs are promised tax relief. But this does not guarantee that you will benefit fiscally in the coming cabinet term. Lupacompany has analysed the budget appendix of the outline agreement to investigate the (tax) consequences for entrepreneurs. The Dutch government coalition parties have agreed in their outline agreement that various measures applicable to companies will be reversed. Other rules will be modified and some news ones will be added. Will you have to deal with the consequences of these (intended) changes? And if so, are you going to gain or lose financially? Lupacompany has listed the 10 most striking changes below.

The outline agreement states that a number of current and proposed provisions and rules will be abolished. If you are currently making use of any of the schemes in the list below, you will feel the consequences in your business wallet.

1. Reversal of the measure to abolish the dividend withholding tax buyback facility as of 2025;

2. Reversal of the reduction on the SME profit exemption announced in the 2024 Spring Memorandum (from 12.7% to 12.03% by 2025);

3. Reversal of the intention to increase the 3rd, 4th and 5th brackets of Energy Tax on Natural Gas by 22.4% by 2025 and an additional 2.7% by 2030;

4. The plan to make large polluting companies pay more for their CO2 emissions from 2028 will be reversed. The announced increased CO2 tax is off the table in the new agreement;

5. The National Growth Fund. Have you applied to the National Growth Fund to financially support the digitisation and development of innovative technology for healthcare, education and energy transition? This will no longer be possible in the future: The agreements reached in rounds 1 to 3 will still be kept, but rounds 4 and 5 will be cancelled.

In addition to the reversal of some (intended) measures, restrictions on various measures are also imminent, which could have consequences for entrepreneurs:

6. There are plans to limit compensation given to employers for dismissal compensation to small scale employers only: From the second half of 2026, the compensation given to employers in the event of dismissal due to long-term incapacity to work (at the end of their two-year obligation to continue to pay wages) will be limited to employers with fewer than 25 employees. Do you have 25 or more employees? Then you will no longer be compensated.

7. The tax benefits for the deduction of donations from income tax and corporation tax as well as donations from the company will also be limited. The first step will be taken in 2025, as of 2028 the donation deduction for income tax will be standardized, so that all donations will be treated equally.

By increasing taxes, premiums and VAT rates, the government aims to generate extra revenue during its term of office:

8. Various VAT rates will be increased under the new government. The reduced VAT rate of 9% for accommodation, cultural goods and services (with the exception of campsites, day recreation and cinemas) will be abolished as of 2026. As of 2026, these sectors will have to invoice 21% VAT.

9 .The incoming government intends to implement various tax increases: For example, taxes on longer air travel and gambling will be increased.

10. The AWF premium (the compulsory employee insurance that you pay for your employees' unemployment accrual) for both permanent and flexible contracts will be increased by 0.1 percentage points as of 2026. The current premiums (2024) are 2.64% (permanent contracts) and 7.64% (flexible contracts).

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The article above gives a broad outline of the consequences of the new measures for entrepreneurs. Would you like more information? You can download the outline agreement and the budget appendix here. In this article, we have listed which sectors will be most affected by the changes proposed in the outline agreement. To put it bluntly, doing business in the softer sectors will present new challenges, harder sectors such as infrastructure, housing, industry and agriculture are likely to see improvements. The effect the outline agreement may have on people already struggling financially discussed in detail, in this article  from Aeslupa. Our subsidiary Aeslupa provides help for people in times of financial difficulties, if you or someone you know is worried about the new measures, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are here to help.