Total Cost of Employment in the Netherlands for 20 Employees: ICS Payroll

Twenty Employees: When EOR and Structure Meet

At one or two hires, the cost of employing in the Netherlands is a matter of getting a few numbers right. At twenty, the same numbers still matter, but a bigger question sits on top of them: should these people be employed through an EOR service at all, or through a Dutch company of your own? The answer changes the cost model, the timeline and the administrative load, so a serious plan for a team of this size has to compare both options.

ICS Payroll gives a clear framing for that comparison. Its expansion page places the EOR route as the fit for one to ten employees and a Dutch BV as the fit for ten or more employees, or for companies that need to book revenue locally. Twenty is comfortably on the far side of that line, which is why this scenario compares the structures directly.

What Stays the Same Whichever Route You Choose

Some costs belong to the people, not the structure. Salary is salary. ICS Payroll notes that employer burden is about 22-28% of gross and exists whoever is the legal employer, although who invoices it and who carries the legal role differs. As a scale reference, ICS Payroll's calculator example of a €5,000 gross monthly salary with sick-leave insurance shows a total monthly cost of €8,271, about €99,256 a year, at a factor of 1.654. Applied across a team, the factor helps you see how large the base of the budget is before any fee or set-up cost.

Because these lines are common to both routes, they should not decide the choice. What decides it is the layer that differs: the management fee on one side, and the entity and its overheads on the other.

The EOR Path at Twenty: Fee, Discount and Quote

Under the EOR route, ICS Payroll charges a flat €299 per employee per month, with employer burden and benefits invoiced at cost. Multiplied across a large team, a flat per-head fee becomes a substantial line. That is where volume pricing enters: ICS Payroll offers volume discounts on the EOR fee from five employees and a custom total-cost of employment quote on request. Twenty employees is well beyond that threshold, so the conversation should be about the discounted figure, not the flat rate.

No discount schedule is published, so treat any figure you have not seen in writing as unconfirmed. The straightforward approach is to send the full headcount and salaries and ask for the custom quote. ICS Payroll replies with a written quote within two working days, which makes it quick to test how far the discount moves the total.

The Dutch BV Path at Twenty: Set-Up, Overheads and Timing

The alternative is to incorporate. ICS Payroll estimates a Dutch BV costs about €2-4k to incorporate, plus ongoing accounting. At twenty employees, the incorporation fee is small against the payroll, so it is rarely the deciding factor. The time to first hire is more significant: 8-12 weeks, covering incorporation and payroll setup, compared with 5-10 working days for the EOR route.

The table shows why the decision is not simple. The BV has higher up-front effort and slower entry, while the EOR has a recurring fee that grows with the team. Somewhere between the two lies a point where recurring fees exceed the cost of running your own structure, and the headcount at which that happens depends on your business.

Finding Your Own Break-Even Point

To find it, write two annual totals for the same team. For the EOR route: salaries, burden, benefits and the discounted fee for twelve months. For the BV route: salaries, burden, benefits, the accounting and payroll administration you will need, and the one-off incorporation cost, spread over the period you plan to hold the entity. The difference between the totals is the annual saving, or cost, of owning the structure.

Do not forget items that are hard to price. A BV brings responsibilities that an EOR would otherwise carry, such as acting as the legal employer, and someone in your business needs to own them. If you have no one who can, a bureau or accountant becomes part of the cost. Include those items even when the figure is an estimate; a rough number is better than an empty row. For the decision points at five and ten hires, see EOR decision points.

Sequencing a Ramp to Twenty Without Losing Time

Few companies reach twenty in one step. A realistic ramp starts with an EOR to get the first hires in quickly, then moves to an entity as the case builds. The trade-off is that you carry the EOR fee on a growing headcount while the BV is being set up. Plan the entity early enough that it is ready before the fee bill outgrows its usefulness, and remember that the setup itself takes weeks, not days. The guide to hire timeline by candidate type helps you plan the early phase of the ramp.

Make sure that any quote you rely on is transparent about what it includes. The article on transparent EOR pricing gives a checklist you can apply to any provider you shortlist.

One habit pays off at this scale: agree in advance what result would change your mind. For instance, decide that if the discounted EOR total over the planning period comes within a small margin of the BV total, you will stay with the EOR for the speed and flexibility it offers. If the gap is wide, you will start the incorporation. Writing the rule down before the quotes arrive keeps the discussion focused on evidence rather than on whichever option a stakeholder happens to prefer.

What to Send to Get a Twenty-Person Quote

Assemble a single spreadsheet with each planned role, its gross monthly salary, its expected start date and any extra benefits. Say whether you already have a Dutch entity or are considering one. Send it to the EOR provider and ask for a written quote for the EOR route and, if relevant, for a payroll route once your entity exists. ICS Payroll's turnaround is two working days from receipt of the headcount and salaries. Put the quote next to your two annual totals for a clear comparison.