Has anyone here flagged out to holland, and have any experiance they could impart on us? .I am interested in starting a company ou there with a dutch operators license to do international work.
richmond:
Has anyone here flagged out to holland, and have any experiance they could impart on us? .I am interested in starting a company ou there with a dutch operators license to do international work.
I don’t see any point in it any longer, the road tax was the big thing in the past, now that has dropped, the only positive advantage must be to avoid Ms Bell.
Although your CPC may be recognised, unless you are fluent in Dutch, both written and spoken, I think you could find jumping through hoops difficult
I am fairly sure the cpc is recognized, not too bothered about the language as i think i can get around that fairly easy, has anyone done it, i want to go the whole way.Want out of the uk system, spending too long with the uk ministry, although im not bad, just i find the system overzealous, and we are all euopeans now, if ya dont ask you will never know.!.I cant believe i am the only person thinking this. The job i have i mind for this is out of holland to spain so i dont think the cabotage rules will affect it, so are there any drawbacks.
why not flag out to spain. i’ve heard it’s much easier to get an o’licence there.
Im thinking along the lines of an office in amsterdam, better views and coffee breaks much more fun !, nope its holland for me, just cant find the way, yet
if you open up in Holland then you will have to work to Dutch rules and regs
VAS may be better here at explaining these and be aware that rights for workers
are better than for a UK worker,and you will have to respect these or face the
problems that will occur,
Think carefully about it and talk to a few guys who are doing it/have done it. Two operators in Scotland who flagged out to Holland have in the past couple of weeks been literally forced out of business. They had lost their UK O licences previously and then used the Dutch route to continue in business, which was fine for a while. However, the TC didn’t like this ‘arrangement’ and screwed them into the deck slowly. She took a very keen interest and put their operations under the microscope until she found ways to finish them off both in Holland and the UK.
Don’t be fooled into thinking you’ll avoid UK laws by operating on Dutch plates…if the TC and/or VOSA want you they’ll get you…they have the time, money and manpower to do it.
Thanks for that scanny, at last some productive answer, i am trying to get some answers! I want to have a dutch o license, with dutch trucks with a dutch company, but british drivrs, not sure if thats possible or if you have to have dutch staff and dutch tax and paye systems etc…
Hi Richmond, yes everything is possible, but there are a lot of buts in this.
Your operators CPC is recognized in the EU, so also in the Netherlands
You need to start an Dutch company, and need a substantial capital for that
You will need a start capital of € 18.000,00 in a blocked account to start an Ltd company
Need to apply for a BTW number (VAT) there is no free level for BTW, when you have a business you need to pay and charge VAT.
You will need to pass a check bij the NIWO (Dutch institute for operator licenses) and you need to prove there that you are finacial stable, no convictions and have a CPC (hiring a CPC even on a temporary base is illigal in Holland)
You will need an office in Holland with a Dutch based holder of the operator license.
To operate UK drivers in Holland, you will need an company in Britain, who pays the drivers in the UK, any person who don’t pay tax in Holland must not stay longer than 90 days in one go in the country, otherwise he will need to pay tax in Holland ( income tax to give you a slight idea, is betwween 35 -64%)
Overtime is charged against the highest rate.
If you operate truck, registred in the Netherlands, you can only do very restricted cabbotage in the UK
If you contact the NIWO they will be able to give you the whole lowdown on this
Thanks for that, i am sure that i can cover all that, do you know if its ok to employ brits, on brit tax an paye , driving dutch trucks for what will be a dutch truck, or would you then have to go under dutch income tax and paye system, which i dont really want to get into.
richmond:
Thanks for that, i am sure that i can cover all that, do you know if its ok to employ brits, on brit tax an paye , driving dutch trucks for what will be a dutch truck, or would you then have to go under dutch income tax and paye system, which i dont really want to get into.
Yes you can if you have a British company who supply the drivers, like an agency.
The Dutch law on self employed is very difficult, owner drivers, or self employed who work for one company only are thought to be employed by that company and there is the need to pay the Dutch taxes etc. in such a case.
Also the “Dutch Chain responsibility” companies are very wary to do business if you cannot show where taxes are paid for employees.
This means that that the whole chain (Yourself- shipping agent- his customer- up to the main manufacturer) is responsible that all the taxes etc are paid. for example if your subcontractors driver hasn’t paid his tax and NI, than the Dutch tax man will go up the chain until they have their money.
The Dutch chamber of commerce (Kamer van Koophandel) give good information how to start a company in Holland, and do that in good Dutch Tradition in more languages.
Thanks, i think we are getting here on this one now, you say 18k euro in a blocked account, i read that as , not an overdraft and in the bank account, and i guess that 18k euro must always be in there, .Right, so i want a dutch bv company, a dutch operators license and to employ brits to drive, pay the brits under uk tax and paye system, which i already do, and then run them from holland to spain with the occasional trip to uk, say about twice a month, this in your opinion is a do able plan.This is my plan !
From what’s been said so far, yes it looks do-able, but there will be quite some investment involved to get it all set up.
IIRC didn’t many large co’s “flag out” (as it was called at the time) some years ago, including ES, only to find themselves falling foul of the cabotage rules?
Not that that will be an issue for you OP.
it all sounds very complicated.
try IRAN. 
maybe you should investigate flagging out to bulgaria, romania or slovakia as all i see nowadays loading spain to the uk are these reg trucks so there doesn’t seem to be a problem with the cabotage rules its a european thing isn’t it?
Well, thanks for the help, i think this plan is a goer, i shall look more into it now, as far as im aware, on the cabotage front, it will all be a free for all by 2104, so might aswell get used to it all now, we are all europeans now and that means we are, or will shortly be one big country, so im away !
richmond:
Well, thanks for the help, i think this plan is a goer, i shall look more into it now, as far as im aware, on the cabotage front, it will all be a free for all by 2104, so might aswell get used to it all now, we are all europeans now and that means we are, or will shortly be one big country, so im away !
by 2104 I’ll be 142 years old 
Thought you were already Denis
limeyphil:
it all sounds very complicated.
try IRAN.
Actually, i have asked kevin if i can have a trip to iran! So watch this space, im sure i will get to go there sometime soon by truck.
roadtransport.com/Articles/2 … rlands.htm
Seems like Joan has her finger on the button 