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Hiring in India from the Netherlands: what Dutch founders should know

No Indian entity, one supplier invoice, and a few Dutch tax questions worth knowing in advance. A practical guide for Dutch companies adding a team member in India.

Guide · Last reviewed 1 November 2026 · 3 min read

If you run a Dutch company and want to add someone in India, the practical questions are few, and most have short answers. You do not need an Indian entity. The person is not employed in the Netherlands. And the arrangement shows up in your books as one supplier invoice a month.

Here is the detail.

You do not need an Indian entity

In a satellite office, SoTalented, a registered company in India, is the legal employer. The person is on our payroll, under Indian employment law, with:

  • an employment contract
  • statutory contributions
  • an NDA and IP assignment in place

You do not register anything in India, open a bank account there or file Indian payroll returns.

The person is not your Dutch employee

Because the person is employed in India, not in the Netherlands, the Dutch employer obligations you know do not come with them:

  • Dutch payroll tax filings
  • holiday allowance
  • continued pay during illness
  • sector pension enrolment

The Indian equivalents are part of what we run.

The 30% ruling is not relevant either. It applies to employees recruited from abroad to work in the Netherlands, and this person works in India.

One invoice, booked as a supplier

You receive one invoice a month for the seats in your satellite office. Your bookkeeper books it like any other supplier invoice. Currency and billing details are agreed with you before anyone starts.

On VAT: when a Dutch business buys services from a business outside the EU, the VAT is usually reverse-charged. You report it in your own VAT return rather than paying it to the supplier. Your accountant will know exactly how to book it, so mention it to them when you start.

Language and communication

Work happens in English. Fluent English is checked live before anyone reaches your shortlist, and you hear it yourself in the interview. Dutch startups already run in English, so in practice this is rarely an adjustment.

The exception is any role where your customers expect Dutch. Keep those local.

Time zone

Your person works in your time zone. The schedule is agreed during onboarding, so standups, reviews and handovers happen when your team is working.

Data protection

If the person will handle personal data from your customers, ask any provider outside the EU how transfers are covered under the GDPR. Ask about the agreements in place, not just the policy page. Raise it on the first call, and expect a direct answer.

When this does not fit

  • Roles that need Dutch: customer-facing work where your customers expect Dutch.
  • Roles that need the room: anyone who must be physically present in your office, at events or with customers.
  • A team of two that wants to sit together. If your company is two founders and one hire, and you want all three at one table, hire locally.

For engineering, QA, data, design, content and support, a satellite office is worth comparing on the full cost.

How it starts

  1. A call about the role and the level.
  2. A brief you approve.
  3. A shortlist of around three people, each with assessment notes and our recommendation.
  4. You interview and choose.
  5. About 3 weeks from a signed engagement to someone working.

The terms on every seat:

  • $0 until you hire
  • no lock-in
  • 30 days notice to scale down
  • the SoTalented Office Guarantee

See the line-by-line cost comparison in the same hire in the Netherlands and in India, the prices on /pricing, or talk to us.

Sources

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