All articles · 2025-12-31 · Taxation
Thinking smarter fiscally as a business manager
Many business managers rely, quite rightly, on their accountant. The accountant guards correctness, deadlines, and the financial hygiene of your company.…
By Jan Hermans, CEO & founder of Lyff.
Your accountant often looks from the logic of the file: what is correct, what is defensible, what is feasible within this year's figures. That is valuable. But you are the one who determines the direction: where do you want to go, and what should your structure enable for that?
That's why proactive thinking is so important: not "collecting tips", but comparing scenarios based on your context. Consider:
- salary versus dividend (not only fiscally, but also for creditworthiness and security)
- liquidation reserve (liquidatiereserve) versus other distribution forms (timing and flexibility)
- pension accrual versus cash flow (long-term accrual versus short-term flexibility)
Different advisors will often look at this differently. An accountant will sooner emphasize cash flow and stability. A financial advisor will sooner see the benefit of pension accrual and asset protection. Both can be right within their expertise. Your task is to clarify the tension and have it worked out in scenarios with pros and cons.
The best fiscal choices are rarely "the smartest on paper". They are the choices you can explain, that fit your plans (real estate, buffer, winding down, growth) and that you can adjust annually.
In short: fiscal intelligence is not a competition against your accountant. It is the ability to ask the right questions, to bring the right people to the table, and to make choices that continue to work as your business evolves.
The control room of your management company
In my book "Fiscale Shortcuts voor managementvennootschappen" (Fiscal Shortcuts for Management Companies), I often compare the company to a shoebox with taps. Money first flows into the box, and through different taps, you determine how it comes out. The art is not to open one tap fully, but to find the right mix between salary, dividend, reserves, and pension accrual. Many entrepreneurs are passengers in their own structure and let the tap be operated by the demands of the day or standard advice. Fiscal intelligence means you are in control.
A concrete example is the balance between salary and pension. Anyone who limits their salary to the absolute minimum to save taxes unconsciously blocks their own pension machine. The 80 percent rule (80 procent regel) stipulates that your supplementary pension (aanvullend pensioen) may not exceed 80 percent of your last normal gross annual salary. A too low salary today therefore means a smaller fiscal pot for later. By working with a compliant remuneration, possibly supplemented with warrants that count towards your pension space, you create leverage that makes a difference of hundreds of thousands of euros in the long run.
Real estate as leverage through your pension plan
Another shortcut often overlooked is financing private real estate with gross money from your company. Instead of paying off a private loan with net capital that is already heavily taxed in personal income tax (personenbelasting), you can use a bullet loan linked to your Individual Pension Commitment (Individuele Pensioentoezegging or IPT). You then only pay the interest privately, while you build up the capital within Lyff. with tax-deductible premiums.
This yields a gigantic advantage because you shift the capital repayment from the expensive private tax sphere to the advantageous company sphere. In practice, this can reduce the total gross cost of a real estate investment by more than 300,000 euros for a 300,000 euro loan over twenty years. That is smart salary optimization where real estate and pension accrual reinforce each other instead of competing. Do you want to know how this works for your specific case? View our services on real estate financing or read the details in my book.
Frequently asked questions
Is a liquidation reserve always the best choice for my cash surplus?
Not necessarily. Although the rate of the liquidation reserve (liquidatiereserve) after five years (or three years under the new rules) is fiscally attractive, your money is tied up all that time. If you can make that cash yield a higher return elsewhere in the company than the tax savings, or if you need liquidity for an acquisition, a regular dividend distribution or investment via a branch 6 contract (tak 6 contract) is sometimes smarter.
What is the risk of too low remuneration?
Besides limiting your pension space, the tax authorities (fiscus) critically examine the relationship between your performance and your salary. An unrealistically low salary in a well-functioning management company raises questions about the true nature of the structure. A defensible salary in the middle of the Gaussian curve protects you against reclassification and ensures peace of mind during a potential audit.
Do you want to discover more Shortcuts for your company? Then order the book "Fiscale Shortcuts voor managementvennootschappen" via /nl/boek.