Some Dutch people are looking at Monaco in 2026 for their taxation
Publié par Paolo Petrini le 16/03/2026
Temps de lecture
11
min.
Real Estate Advice
Some wealthy Dutch people are considering Monaco in 2026 in the context of a transition in the taxation of wealth in the Netherlands. The box 3 system remains based on a flat-rate return taxed at 36%, while a reform towards a real income tax is planned for 2028, which reduces tax predictability for certain international assets.
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For large international assets, this transition makes tax planning more complex. Monaco offers a more stable personal tax framework for individuals, provided that the residency is real, documented and complies with international rules.
What you need to know about Taxation Monaco Netherlands
What you need to remember: Monaco Netherlands taxation
The comparison between the Netherlands and Monaco becomes strategic for some investors in 2026. The subject is not only fiscal, but related to the predictability of capital in the long term.
- 📊 Dutch taxation (box 3) is transitioning to a real return model by 2028
- ⚖️ This development reduces tax visibility for complex international assets
- 🏛️ Monaco offers a simple personal tax framework: no income or capital tax (except in specific cases)
- 🔍 The key criterion for UHNWI investors is stability over 10–20 years, not the single-year rate
- 🌍 Expatriation requires a real, documented residence that complies with international standards (CRS)
- ⚠️ Dutch rules continue to apply: exit tax and inheritance tax for up to 10 years
- 👥 This strategy mainly concerns international investors, post-exit or highly exposed to box 3
- 📈 In the long term, the tax gap can represent several million euros of capital preserved
👉 For an international investor, the question is not "where to pay less tax", but where to structure and pass on one's wealth in a stable, legible and defensible framework in the long term. Petrini Exclusive Real Estate helps you answer your questions about moving to the Principality of Monaco.
Not a question of fiscal panic, but of predictability
For most entrepreneurial families and wealthy investors, an expatriation decision is not based on a simple logic of paying less tax in the short term. Rather, the central question is to know in what tax and legal environment a large asset can be built, structured and transferred in a predictable manner over several decades.
This has become more common in the Netherlands in recent years. The Dutch tax system is based on a particular architecture that distinguishes between several categories of income and assets, each subject to specific rules.
The Dutch regime is structured around three tax categories:
-
Box 1, which concerns income from work and assimilated income, with a maximum rate of approximately 49.5%
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Box 2, which applies to substantial shareholdings in companies, with rates between 24.5% and 31%
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Box 3, which concerns private assets and is currently based on a flat-rate tax of around 36%
For the majority of taxpayers, this structure is mainly a technical organization of the tax system. For investors with larger assets, the situation is different. When assets include international stock market portfolios, holdings in family businesses, investment holdings or real estate held in multiple jurisdictions, tax choices become closely linked to wealth and strategic decisions.
In this type of situation, investors don't just look at the tax rate for a given year. They must also anticipate the stability of tax rules in the long term, as their decisions such as the sale of assets, the restructuring of a family group, the organisation of an estate or the location of international investments are often made over a period of ten to thirty years.
It is precisely for this reason that the issue of fiscal predictability takes on particular importance. A stable tax framework makes it possible to structure an asset and organise its transfer without having to regularly review the strategies put in place.
Conversely, when tax rules are set to evolve, as is currently the case with the transition from box 3 to a real return model, some investors start to look at other jurisdictions where the personal tax framework appears clearer and more stable over the long term.
When the comparison between jurisdictions becomes structuring
As the issue of fiscal predictability becomes more important, some investors are no longer limited to analyzing their domestic environment. They are broadening their thinking to other jurisdictions that may offer a different framework in terms of personal taxation, regulatory stability and wealth planning.
In this context, Monaco regularly appears in international comparisons. The Principality is distinguished less by specific tax incentives than by the simplicity and continuity of its framework applicable to natural persons. This stability contrasts with a Dutch environment in transition, particularly around the box 3 regime.
This comparison becomes more concrete when it is put into perspective on key criteria:
Over a 10 to 15 year horizon, the cumulative effect of an annual tax on wealth can represent several hundred thousand or even several million euros for the largest assets, regardless of the performance of the assets.
For the investors concerned, the issue is not limited to this differential. It concerns the ability to evolve within a clear tax framework, where the rules applicable to the holding, sale and transfer of assets remain sufficiently stable to allow long-term decisions.
From this point of view, the comparison between the Netherlands and Monaco does not refer to a simple opposition between two levels of taxation. It reflects two approaches to tax risk: one embedded in an evolving system, the other based on a more stable framework for individuals.
Should you leave the Netherlands for Monaco?
The answer depends mainly on the structure of the assets, the level of internationalisation of the assets and the long-term objectives.
- ✔ Relevant: significant financial assets, international, capitalization logic
- ✔ Relevant: Post-sale of a business (high liquidity)
- ❌ Less relevant: Entrepreneurial activity with strong roots in the Netherlands
- ❌ Less relevant: primarily operating revenues
Risks and constraints often underestimated
An expatriation to Monaco is not just a tax comparison. It involves legal, fiscal and operational constraints that can be significant depending on the investor's profile.
Tax residency must be real, documented and consistent with the overall personal and economic situation. The tax authorities examine, among other things, the actual presence, the centre of economic interests and the coherence of the asset structures.
In addition, some Dutch tax mechanisms continue to have effects after departure. Substantial shareholdings may give rise to exit taxation, and inheritance tax may remain applicable for a period of up to ten years after expatriation.
The lack of a comprehensive tax treaty between Monaco and the Netherlands also requires special attention to double taxation risks and the qualification of tax residency.
In this context, a poorly structured expatriation can generate more uncertainty than it solves. This is why a coordinated approach between taxation, asset structuring and effective residence is essential.
For an investor with tens of millions of euros, the question is not how much tax will be paid this year, but how much capital can be kept and passed on over a period of 10 to 20 years within a stable tax framework.
For which profiles this strategy becomes relevant
Moving to Monaco does not concern all Dutch investors. This decision generally becomes relevant for specific profiles, whose constraints and wealth objectives are different.
- Investors with a high exposure to the taxation of box 3, with significant financial assets
- Post-exit entrepreneurs who have converted their capital into a portfolio
- Families with international assets looking for long-term stability
- Existing asset structures, with little dependence on local Dutch activity
Conversely, active entrepreneurs, whose income depends mainly on an operational activity in the Netherlands, generally find in the Dutch framework an environment more suited to their situation.
Why does Monaco attract Dutch investors?
An investor with 5 to 10 million euros invested in his portfolio can be subject to an annual recurring tax on his capital in the Netherlands. Over 10 to 15 years, this taxation can represent several hundred thousand euros.
In a context such as Monaco, the absence of capital taxation allows for a more linear capitalization, which significantly modifies the long-term wealth trajectory.
When tax risk management becomes a residency decision
Monaco does not tax personal income, which allows for capitalization without recurring taxation. Conversely, the Dutch system taxes wealth via box 3, which reduces long-term predictability.
The comparison between the Netherlands and Monaco goes far beyond a simple reading of tax rates. It highlights a more profound evolution: the transition from a historically stable tax environment to a changing framework, faced with a jurisdiction that is based on assumed regulatory continuity.
In the Netherlands, the gradual reform of the box 3 regime illustrates a broader movement observed in many developed economies: a desire to better align the taxation of capital with its economic reality, but at the cost of increasing complexity and reduced visibility in the short and medium term. For the majority of taxpayers, this evolution remains absorbable. For significant and internationalized assets, it changes the wealth equation more profoundly.
In this context, Monaco is not an opportunistic break, but a point of reference. The Principality offers a remarkably stable, legible and consistent personal tax framework over time, which allows the management of capital to be part of a logic of continuity. However, this stability should not be interpreted as an absence of constraints: on the contrary, it is part of a demanding environment in terms of effective residence, international transparency and coherence of asset structures.
The real distinction between the two models therefore lies not only in the level of taxation, but in the way in which the tax risk is distributed over time. On the one hand, an evolving system, potentially more accurate but less predictable; on the other, a simpler framework, but based on an implicit selection of profiles capable of settling there permanently.
For an investor with significant assets, often internationally diversified, this difference becomes structuring. Over a horizon of ten to twenty years, the ability to capitalize without recurring tax friction, to organize the transfer in a stable framework and to arbitrate its assets without regulatory uncertainty can produce significant differences, even independently of the intrinsic performance of the investments.
In the end, the choice between staying in the Netherlands or settling in Monaco is neither an immediate tax decision nor a reaction movement. It is part of a broader reflection on wealth governance, regulatory risk management and the long-term projection of capital. It is precisely in this strategic dimension that Monaco, for certain specific profiles, is now regaining its place in the international wealth equation.
FAQ
Taxation Monaco Netherlands
FAQ: Taxation Monaco Netherlands
- Why is the reform of the box 3 pushing some Dutch people to consider Monaco?
Because it reduces the predictability of wealth taxation. The announced shift to a real return logic from 2028 changes the way an investor can project the capitalization of his portfolio over ten to twenty years. - Does Monaco really allow you to avoid taxation on Dutch assets?
Monaco offers a very different personal tax framework, but it is not enough to change your address. The residence must be real and recognized. Some Dutch rules may continue to have effects after departure, depending on the structure of the assets and the timing of the expatriation. - What Dutch taxes remain after a departure to Monaco?
Substantial shareholdings may be subject to exit taxation, and Dutch inheritance tax may remain applicable for up to ten years. Leaving does not therefore automatically neutralize all the tax issues related to the Netherlands. - How to be recognised as a tax resident in Monaco when leaving the Netherlands?
It is necessary to set up an effective, coherent and documented installation. Petrini Exclusive Real Estate Monaco often intervenes on this concrete point, because the recognition of a tax residence also requires a real home, an effective presence and an overall coherence between personal life, economic interests and administrative justification. - At what level of wealth does Monaco become interesting?
Monaco becomes especially relevant when the assets are already significant, mobile and largely financial. The larger the capital, the more tax stability, the absence of recurring friction on capitalization and the quality of the transfer weigh in the decision.
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