Partnership

The legal business partnership in the Netherlands is called a VOF. This a very easy to set up business form. It is not strictly a legal entity. This means that income in the partnership will be seen as personal income of the partners in the VOF.

A vennootschap onder firma (vof) is a Dutch legal entity that is similar to a limited partnership. A vof is a partnership between two or more people, each of whom is jointly and severally liable for debt of the partnership.

This means that if one partner fails to pay their share of the debts, the other partners are liable for the entire amount. This makes the vof a jointly and severally liable partnership.

This is different than in the case of a BV. The BV is a Dutch legal entity that is similar to a limited company. A BV is a company that is owned by shareholders. The shareholders are not liable for the debts of the company. This means that the BV is not exposed to unlimited liability.

Because the VOF is much more exposed and founders are jointly and severally liable for the partnership’s debt, we strongly recommend partners to have a partnership contract in place.