Fiscally beneficial business gifts in 2024 (for the Netherlands)

Business gifts

Both existing and potential business partners deserve the same level of attention and appre­ci­a­tion you give to your employees. But sometimes words aren’t enough to express how important they are to you. That’s what makes a business gift the perfect solution. But remember that there are so many different types of gifts. So think carefully about the message you want to send, then choose the most appro­pri­ate gift.

VAT

The VAT on business gifts can be deducted for gifts up to a value of €227 (ex. VAT). This amount is per recipient and per year.

Note:

If you give gifts to several people within the same company, the total value of these gifts may not exceed this limit.

If you give a business gift with a value higher than €227, the tax author­i­ties consider the following conditions to determine deductibil­i­ty:

• If the recipient of the gift bought it themselves, and could have deducted less than 30% of the VAT, the VAT is not deductible.
  Example: if the recipient is a private individual, the VAT is not deductible.

• If the business gift serves a commercial purpose for the recipient.
  Example: if you give a plumber a surfboard, this gift serves no commercial purpose.

Note:

The VAT is 100% deductible if your gift serves a commercial purpose and the recipient can deduct more than 30% of the VAT if they bought it themselves. 

Important: Do you receive a personal con­tri­bu­tion for corporate gifts from your business partners? Up until the end of 2023, you could deduct this personal con­tri­bu­tion (excluding VAT) from your expenses. If the expenses fell below the Deduction Exclusion Decree (BUA) threshold amount, you were allowed to deduct the VAT on the expenses. The Decree sales tax cal­cu­la­tion method for the BUA threshold amount states that this is no longer allowed from 1 January 2024. From that date, when cal­cu­lat­ing whether the BUA threshold amount has been exceeded, you may no longer deduct the personal con­tri­bu­tion from your expenses. Total expen­di­ture must then be assessed against the threshold amount.

General tax rule:

According to Dutch tax rules, a business gift is occasional, unrec­i­p­ro­cat­ed and for an existing rela­tion­ship. Gifts to attract new customers therefore simply fall under business expenses and are fully deductible.

Income tax

For income tax purposes, business gifts fall under ​‘rep­re­sen­ta­tion costs’. These are part of the mixed costs category, which means they are only partly deductible. The costs for business gifts are 80% deductible and the remaining 20% of the amount is added to the profit again at the end of the financial year.

In 2024, mixed costs are not deductible from profits up to a fixed amount of €5,600 (2023: €5,100 / 2022 €4,800). You can also choose not to deduct 20% of the expenses and therefore not to opt for the fixed amount.

Corporate tax

For corporate tax, things work slightly dif­fer­ent­ly. A company subject to corporate tax may not deduct up to €5,600 of mixed costs from its profits. Or 0.4% of the company’s total wage bill, whichever is higher.

There is also an alter­na­tive corporate tax arrange­ment that allows companies to as standard deduct only 73.5% of mixed costs, and therefore 26.5% are non-deductible.

Gifts

Physical gifts

Build better rela­tion­ships with beautiful gifts for any occasion. Would your business partner / employee prefer fragrant flowers, delicious chocolate or a sharing basket? You know best what to choose.

Score some extra points by per­son­al­is­ing your gift or its packaging. This way the lucky recipient will never forget who the gift was from. You can also add a message to thank, con­grat­u­late or give your employee or business partner a bit of a boost – turning it into a unique gift.

Gift cards

Trying to find a personal gift for everyone often seems like an impossible task. But it can be done. More and more companies are turning to gift cards that the employees or business partners can use to choose their own gift from a range of par­tic­i­pat­ing retailers. Gift cards also come with another benefit: they aren’t subject to VAT. For this reason, and the fact that employees get to choose for themselves, gift cards are becoming more and more popular each year.

A lot of retailers offer gift cards. The downside is that gift cards often have a limited validity and, as the giver, you are again choosing the gift on behalf of the recipient. To avoid that, consider using providers like Giftcards​.nl, Primera and Kadonation.

These companies offer gift cards redeemable at a range of affiliated partners so that every employee or business partner has plenty of choice when it comes to spending their gift card. This way, the recipient can choose the gift they really want.

Kadonation Gifts

At Kadonation, we even take it a few steps further. Firstly, we offer a range of physical gifts: brownies, drinks, flowers, cake, gift baskets… There’s something for everyone. Secondly, we also have the Kadonation Gift Card that can be combined and split, and is redeemable at over 90 popular shops (such as Bol​.com, Rituals, Coolblue, Zalando, HEMA, Dille & Kamille & Decathlon …) and charities.

The gift voucher can also be completely customised with the recipient’s name, a personal message and your company logo or other branding. Our physical gifts can also be per­son­alised with a logo and/​or a personal message.

On top of that, we offer the ultimate choice concept: Kadonation Smile. The simplest way to give the freedom of choice. Together, we’ll put together a range of gifts to match your budget. The recipient can then choose their dream gift on a gift website that is completely per­son­alised with your logo, company colours and personal messages.

And of course, our gifts also meet all the conditions for you to get the most out of the legal conditions described in this white paper.