Thrills and Chills

The Vrijthof Square has lit up with a summer carnival just a bit ahead of the actual arrival of summer.  The Speed Tumbler looks absolutely breathtaking: I’ve been watching the arm spin above the rooftops each evening and working up the fortitude to try it.  The roller coaster was good; the haunted house was more scary on the outside than the inside.  Still, it was good fun ahead of the warm weather (and, best of all, Oliebollen made an unseasonable return!)

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  While the fair had the chills, the thrills were all in Amsterdam today.  With eventual severance from my parent company seeming increasingly likely, I’m hardening my Plan B life alternatives.  This involves two tasks: creating a new corporation (a BV, or Besloten Vennootschap in Dutch, the only form of company that preserves my 30% Tax Exclusion), and making a DAFT application (Dutch American Friendship Treaty) to reside as an American entrepreneur in the Netherlands.

The final articles of incorporation were ready for review today at Finsen's, and I signed off on the application papers for the Notary to process.  So far it’s all going according to script, and I highly recommend the accountancy for shepherding expats like me through the process. 

Preliminary incorporation should be granted in about two weeks , creating a skeleton (B.V. i.0.) that allows me to fund the business and finalize it.  Typical details of the process are summarized here. Interestingly, the papers are moving through more quickly than usual since the real estate market in Amsterdam has slowed, giving the notary more time for processing business applications.

It’s potentially a big, bold step into a very different future, and I am alternately excited and frightened as this moves forward.

 There’s going to be lots to talk about…I’ll probably be just as spun as I was on the Vrijthof rides