Box 2 and Box 3 reward a full cash calculation, not an annual tax reflex.
A DGA sits with two balances on the screen. The BV has accumulated cash after a good year. The household has plans too: investments, mortgage reduction, perhaps a future property purchase. Paying a dividend appears to connect the two. Yet the same company cash may still need to cover wages, VAT, corporation tax, a slow-paying customer or new equipment.
The tax question sounds simple: keep the money in the BV or move it into private Box 3 wealth? It becomes less simple once the money is followed from profit to dividend, investment return and eventual use.
I would not begin with an expected investment percentage. I would begin with a sharper question: what are we accepting by moving this money, and what cash, people, tax and business result could that decision produce?
The lower band is not a yearly coupon
For 2026, Box 2 income is taxed at 24.5 per cent up to €68,843 and at 31 per cent above that amount. Box 2 includes dividends and gains from a substantial interest. The lower band creates a genuine timing consideration, but the threshold is not an annual dividend exemption.
That distinction matters. A founder may see unused space in the lower band and feel that value is being wasted. In reality, a dividend creates an immediate private tax event and removes liquidity from the company. Whether that is sensible depends on total Box 2 income, available losses, fiscal-partner allocation where relevant and, above all, what the BV still needs to carry.
Money retained in the BV is not outside taxation either. In 2026, corporation tax is 19 per cent on taxable profit up to €200,000 and 25.8 per cent above that amount. Investment results can enter the corporate tax position. A later distribution may then bring Box 2 into the picture.
There is no honest universal percentage that settles this comparison. The result changes with the asset, costs, holding period, company profit, future extraction and private need for cash.
Cash has more than one job
Consider the DGA who distributes €60,000 because the lower Box 2 band appears attractive. Three months later, a major customer postpones payment while the company’s wage and tax dates remain fixed. The private investment may be performing well, but it cannot protect the BV without another transaction.
This is where tax planning meets governance. The question is not only whether a private portfolio could earn more. It is whether the board can explain why the cash was surplus when it left. A dividend resolution, liquidity forecast and clear view of upcoming obligations turn a tax idea into a considered company decision.
Apparently spare cash often carries several invisible duties. It protects salaries during a quiet month. It supports a lender conversation. It funds stock before the customer pays. It gives an owner the freedom to reject a poor contract. Once distributed, that same euro serves the household instead.
Neither purpose is automatically better. The weakness begins when the money is described as surplus without testing the next twelve months of tax, wages, debt, investment and customer behaviour.
Private wealth brings its own administration
For the 2026 provisional Box 3 assessment, bank balances and cash carry a 1.28 per cent forfaitary return, other assets 6 per cent and debts 2.70 per cent. The calculated Box 3 income is taxed at 36 per cent. The tax-free allowance is €59,357 per person, or €118,714 for fiscal partners together.
These are provisional figures, and asset categories matter. Cash, securities, property and debt should not be pushed into one blended expected return. A portfolio of listed shares behaves differently from a second home. Securities can usually be sold quickly. Property brings valuation, financing, private use and transaction timing into the decision.
The actual-return route adds another layer. Where actual return is lower than the forfaitary outcome, a taxpayer may report that lower return. The calculation covers the complete annual Box 3 position. Interest, dividends, rent and positive or negative value movements are combined across the relevant assets and debts. General costs are not deductible, although the official calculation recognises limited exceptions, including certain debt interest and property-related adjustments.
A broker statement alone may therefore be insufficient. Private loans, foreign accounts, property, debts and other holdings can all affect the annual picture. Moving money into Box 3 can reduce one company concern while creating a wider household recordkeeping duty.
Flexibility is worth something
The government intends the proposed actual-return Box 3 system to start on 1 January 2028, but the legislative process is still moving. That is a reason to preserve flexibility, not a reason to wait without deciding anything.
A strong calculation follows the money through time. It separates the operating reserve from capital that is genuinely available for long-term investment. It shows the tax cost of extraction, the return and costs inside each route, private spending needs and how easily the asset can later be sold or moved.
The ledger also needs an honest boundary. An invoice paid by the BV is not automatically a deductible company cost. The expense must serve the company’s business interests, mixed costs need proper allocation and the records must support the treatment. Private wealth planning does not acquire a business purpose simply because the company bank account paid the adviser.
Back at the table, the DGA still has two balances on the screen. The answer may be to retain the cash, distribute part of it or spread decisions over time. Spreading the decision, however, should not become a way to avoid judgment.
The best position is rarely the one with the neatest headline rate. It is the one the company can afford, the household can live with, the records can explain and the owner will still understand when market conditions change.
Before declaring a dividend, let us test the tax outcome against the company’s liquidity and the household’s plans.
The data, sourcing, and analysis behind this article were conducted by Linda Pavan Geraedts. AI was not used to identify sources, build the factual basis, or produce the analytical judgment contained here. AI was used only as a drafting aid. The final English text was personally reviewed, edited, and approved by Linda Pavan Geraedts before publication.
References
- Box 2 of box 3 vraagt om rekenen én spreiden - Taxence
- Belastingdienst - 2026 box 2 dividend bands
- Belastingdienst - Corporate tax layer and the cost distinction inside the BV
- Belastingdienst - Current 2026 box 3 forfaits and tax base
- Belastingdienst - Box 3 actual-return counter-evidence is a whole-portfolio proof file
- Rijksoverheid - Box 3 remains transitional through 2027
- Belastingdienst - Costs in the BV require a business purpose and records
- Belastingdienst
