Termination of your obligation to act as a withholding agent

You have no longer the obligation to act as a withholding agent when you meet both of the following conditions:

• You no longer have any employees in the Netherlands, no longer post or hire out personnel or no longer second personnel to the Netherlands.
• You no longer pay wages in the Netherlands.

Do you expect this to be the case for at least 12 months? Then notify us in writing using the form 'Melding Loonheffingen Afmelding werkgever' (deregistration form, only available in Dutch). Do this within 1 month after the end of the last return period in which you still have withholding tax obligations. You will receive a 'Mededeling Intrekking aangiftebrief' (Notification of Withdrawal of Tax Return) from us. This notification will specify the date from which you no longer have to file a tax return. Until you receive this notification, you should submit nil returns. This means you don't fill in any employee details. Leave the collective section of the return blank or enter '0' there.

Retention periods on termination of employment

When an employee leaves your retirement you must retain the following details for at least 5 calendar years after the calendar year in which the employee leaves your employment:

• the copy of the employee's ID
• the data required for the payroll taxes
• copies of decisions or certificates you have received from your employee

You must retain the other payroll records data for 7 years after the termination of your obligation to act as a withholding agent.