Is it fiscally attractive to have dividend or salary paid out?
If you have your own private limited company (BV), you can choose to have yourself paid out wages or dividend. But what do you choose? As a Directeur Groot Aandeelhouder (DGA) you have to pay yourself a legally determined salary. If you need extra income in addition to this salary, this can be paid out by means of an extra salary or dividend. In almost all cases, dividend is more attractive than salary. The DGA salary for 2022 has been set at €48.000,-.
The tax consequences of paying out wages or dividends are different. You pay tax on wages according to the regular income and wage tax rate. Up to €68.507,-, you pay 37.35% in income tax on your income (in 2021). Is your income higher than this amount? Then you pay 49.5% tax on amounts of €68.507,- and above.
Dividend is a payment from profit, on which you pay tax. You pay 15% tax on the profit of the BV. up to €245.000,- and 25% on the profit of the B.V. above €245.000,-. You also pay income tax. You pay 26.9% income tax on the amount that you pay out to yourself as a shareholder as net profit after the aforementioned taxes. This brings the total tax on a dividend payment to a minimum of 37.87% and a maximum of 45.18%.
It is important that you also benefit from the tax credits for income tax. These decrease as you earn a higher income. Consider, for example, the general tax credit and the employed person’s tax credit. If you then pay out wages instead of dividend, you can make use of fewer tax credits. The general tax credit will be lower by 5.977% from an income of €21.043,- and the employed person’s tax credit will be lower by 6% from an income of €35.652,-.
Do you own a BV or NV?
Are you the owner of, for example, a BV or NV? Then you have to file a corporate tax return for your company. You pay corporate tax on your profit. If the profit is subsequently distributed as a dividend to private individuals, this is taxed as income from a substantial interest (box 2). In box 2, income from a substantial interest is taxed. You have a substantial interest if you, possibly together with your tax partner, directly or indirectly own at least 5% of, for example, shares.
Choose between dividend or salary
With a higher wage and a higher taxable income, dividend payment is often more beneficial than paying out more wages. Also think of the benefits that apply with a higher wage (such as higher pension accrual, etc.).
Choosing between dividend or wage also has consequences for your allowances, mortgage interest deduction, pension accrual, etc. So always be well informed about this subject.
