Coalition agreement 2026 budgetary and fiscal

While the incoming government is preparing for a new cabinet term, as an entrepreneur you are probably curious about the financial impact of the proposed policies. Only time will tell of course which regulations will eventually be implemented. The coalition agreement provides an outline of the course that the Jetten cabinet intends to take. Lupacompany Has highlighted  the main points of the agreement in an earlier article, but here we intend to go a little deeper into the matter. Below you will find a brief analysis of the budgetary appendix to the coalition agreement, focusing on the expected tax and financial impact of the plans laid out in the coalition agreement and the four most striking budgetary decisions.

1.      Continuing Facilities

In the government's tax plans, a number of existing schemes for entrepreneurs will remain unchanged, and that is good news. It is explicitly stated that corporate income tax will not be increased and important tax schemes for companies, such as the innovation box, loss compensation, participation exemption, business succession, transfer schemes and the WBSO will be retained. The latter scheme is expected to be expanded for AI and technology.

Although these agreements provide peace and stability in the Dutch business climate, your company may have to get to grips with new regulations potentially leading to shifts and extra costs. In particular, the freedom contribution proposed in the coalition agreement may impact the financial situation of your company.

2.      Freedom contribution

One of the most striking financial proposals contained in the coalition agreement is the so-called freedom contribution. With this new concept put forward by the incoming government, companies and citizens will be expected to make a contribution towards safety and other defence investments. The return from the freedom contribution by companies is already specifically mentioned in the agreement: it should yield about 1.5 billion euros in 2027 and about 1.7 billion euros in 2028. A higher total is estimated for citizens: from 1.5 billion in 2027 to approximately 3.4 billion in 2028.

In real terms, the introduction of the freedom contribution means extra tax for companies and businesses. Only when this fiscal policy is fully developed and implemented will the impact and cost to companies and businesses become clear.

3.      Reducing the regulatory burden

The freedom contribution not only leads to additional financial burdens, but may also lead to more administrative pressure for entrepreneurs, with this in mind the new government has placed an important focus on reducing the administrative burden for businesses. Such as the effort being made to scrap or simplify 500 rules every year, issuing permits more quickly and possibly bringing the EIA, MIA and VAMIL together under one unambiguous investment scheme.

The promise of less paperwork, faster procedures and simplified regulations undoubtedly sounds like music to your ears as an entrepreneur. If these resolutions are fulfilled, you  certainly stand to benefit. Here too however, decision-making, discussion and implementation processes will precede the final changes.

4.      Task based shifts in spending

Finally, although not directly applicable to tax rules for entrepreneurs, the intention to shift expenditure in a task based manner is striking in the coalition agreement. The budgetary appendix makes it clear that certain expenditure will be deferred to later years in order to maintain budgetary space.

In order to create financial space for housing construction, the government is committed to cuts in the civil service (no wage increase for civil servants in 2026) and ICT development budgets. Various subsidies within education and cultural policy will also be reduced and the Dutch Public Broadcaster must structurally save millions.

With these decisions the coalition wants to reduce structural costs and deploy resources in a more targeted way where it deems them most necessary. Although the government is trying to limit the pressure on the budget deficit, analyses of the budgetary appendix indicate that spending will still increase substantially.

In conclusion

Having seen the key points of the budgetary appendix, it is important to emphasise — once again and by way of disclaimer — that the decisions in the document are proposals. The budgetary appendix has no legal effect, but forms the financial foundation on which the government will set up budgets and expenditure. The consequences will only be felt in concrete terms after they have been implemented by government agencies through legislative proposals and parliamentary decision-making.

Want to know more?

This Lupacompany article about the coalition agreement gives a brief picture of the most important policies to be expected in the coming years. Would you like more information? The NOS provides a thorough summary in Dutch on this page. If you really want to go into depth, we recommend that you read the coalition agreement yourself. You can find it here. You can download the budgetary appendix to the agreement here .

Do you want to know what these measures mean for your specific financial situation? Feel free to contact us.