Public CbCR in NL: Insights & Implementation Guide

What does this mean for your organisation?

Dutch entities required to publish a report on income tax information should be fully aware of their reporting obligations, whether they are ultimate parent entities or subsidiaries of a non-EU headed group or maintain a permanent establishment or permanent business activity abroad.

Unlike the private CbCR information submitted to tax authorities, the  pCbCR data is accessible to a wide audience, including journalists, the general public, NGOs, and tax authorities themselves. Ensuring the accuracy of this data and its consistency with other reporting obligations that Dutch entities may have — such as private CbCR and ESG reports — is crucial, both now and in the near future. PCbCR should be considered alongside the application of the Pillar Two Safe Harbour rule. 

When a Dutch entity is required to report, it must publish the pCbCR both in the Dutch Business Register and on its own website.

Publishing the report on the entity’s website allows for the inclusion of additional narrative, which can help clarify and contextualise the otherwise "dry" data mandated by the European Commission’s reporting template.

In addition, the entity must carefully consider whether any sensitive information should be omitted from the report for a specific period. If such omissions are made, the entity is required to provide justification for them. It is important to note that omitting certain data may attract scrutiny or raise questions from journalists or tax authorities, particularly if the omitted information is present in the private CbCR but not in the public version.

Finally, non-EU headed groups should be aware that the Netherlands can act as a filing hub for pCbCR purposes. A Dutch entity can serve as a filing hub, thereby centralising the separate reporting obligations of EU entities within the non-EU headed group. It is essential for the non-EU headed group to make a timely decision in this regard, as the first reporting obligation will arise at the end of 2026, concerning financial data from the current fiscal year (2025).

Non-EU headquartered groups 

If the UPE is based outside of the EU/EEA, every “medium” and “large” subsidiary undertaking or “qualifying” branch in the Netherlands shall publish and make accessible a report on income tax information concerning that UPE. If this report or information is not available, it shall draw up, publish, and make accessible a report on income tax information containing all information in its possession, obtained, or acquired. At the same time, all other “medium” and “large” subsidiaries or “qualifying” branches in the EU need to report. 

To qualify as a medium-sized or large subsidiary in the Netherlands, two of the following three criteria must be met:

• a balance sheet exceeding EUR 7,5 million;
• a net turnover exceeding EUR 15 million; and
• an average number of employees exceeding 50.

For qualifying branches: the net turnover shall exceed EUR 15.000.000. 

Observation: It is not known how many medium-sized and large subsidiaries of non-EU/EER UPEs fall under Dutch law. As part of the tax reporting for the calendar year 2021, the Tax Administration received 3,148 country reports from abroad.

Filing hub option for non-EU headquartered groups 

If the UPE is located outside the EU/EEA and publishes a qualifying CbCR report on its website in one of the official EU languages, and designates an EU or EEA undertaking or branch (including a Dutch entity or branch) to ensure the report is published, then the other undertakings or branches within the EU are not required to publish the report themselves. 

Standalone undertakings

There is no reporting obligation if the group consists exclusively of Dutch entities. However, Dutch standalone companies with a branch outside of the Netherlands are obliged to publish a report on income tax information. Similarly, if the branch is in the Netherlands and the head office outside the EU, there may be reporting obligation in the Netherlands if the branch has a net turnover above EUR 15.000.000.

Observation: The number of standalone companies is unknown. However, it is expected that there are few or no companies of this size (revenues of more than €750 million) that consist of a single public limited company (NV) or private limited company (BV), without subsidiaries, and that also have branch offices outside the Netherlands.

Omission of data whose publication would seriously harm the commercial position of the undertaking

The Netherlands, exercising an option in the EU Directive, permits companies required to publish a report on income tax information to omit sensitive data if its publication would seriously harm the commercial position of the undertaking. Any omission must be clearly indicated in the report, accompanied by a well-reasoned explanation for the omission. Such omissions are allowed for a period of five years, meaning that in the sixth year, the report must include the information that was omitted from the first year's report. Importantly, information related to EU blacklisted and greylisted jurisdictions cannot be omitted. 

Observation: Unfortunately, the EU Directive does not provide guidance on what constitutes “sensitive” data. The Explanatory Memorandum of the Dutch decree offers an example: when a company launches only one product or sets up a new legal entity in another EU Member State to develop and market a singular new product, the profit margin of that product could be calculated from the corporate tax report. With this information, potential) competitors could easily discern strategies to secure a competitive market position.

Administrative aspects 

The pCbCR obligations in the Netherlands apply to fiscal years beginning on or after 22 June 2024. The reporting deadline is no later than 12 months after the end of the fiscal year. This means that data relating to the year 2025, must be published by the end of 2026 at the latest. 

Observation: In an implementation meeting organised by the European Commission, the Commission and the EU Member States discussed that in the (rare) case of a qualifying EU subsidiary required to publish the pCbCR of its non-EU UPE, if its fiscal year does not align with that of the UPE, the subsidiary should follow the parent's fiscal years in the report, rather than its own.

The pCbCR report is published both in the Dutch Commercial Business Register (Kamer van Koophandel) and on the Dutch entity's website, indicating that the Netherlands has opted not to employ the website exemption offered by the EU Directive. Access to the Dutch Commercial Business Register is not for free and in any case, as per the Explanatory Memorandum of the Dutch decree, when the exemption is utilised by EU Member States, companies are still required to display information about the website exemption and provide a link to the commercial register. Publishing the pCbCR report on the company’s website is also effortless and ensures no loss of information.