Guides
Bookkeeping in the Netherlands, explained
Dutch rules apply to everyone equally. The explanations about them exist almost exclusively in Dutch — which is precisely the problem if you run a business here and don't read that language.
In short
Bookkeeping in the Netherlands comes down to a handful of deadlines and threshold amounts. Your VAT return and the payment that goes with it are due on the last day of the month after your filing period: file quarterly and the third quarter is due by 31 October. You keep your records for seven years, and ten years for anything involving immovable property. Stay under € 20,000 in turnover per calendar year and the small businesses scheme (KOR) lets you stay outside VAT altogether; sell to private customers in other EU countries and the threshold is € 10,000 a year. Spend 1,225 hours a year on your business and that is worth € 1,200 in self-employed deduction in 2026. Work as a subcontractor in construction and you charge your contractor no VAT but write 'btw verlegd' on the invoice. Together with what must be on your invoice, this knowledge base explains those nine subjects in five languages: Dutch, English, Polish, Hungarian and Romanian. If a letter uses a word like voorlopige aanslag, naheffingsaanslag or suppletie, you will find it in the glossary: twenty-nine Dutch terms, each explained in two or three sentences. If you're unsure whether you can do all this yourself, the guide on doing your own bookkeeping or hiring an accountant sets out when doing it yourself works and when an accountant is a good idea.
What is due when
The deadlines and threshold amounts every entrepreneur in the Netherlands runs into, on a single list. Amounts that change from year to year are shown for 2026; everything below was checked against the Dutch Belastingdienst.
- VAT return
- Due on the last day of the month after your filing period — both the return and the payment. File quarterly and the July-to-September quarter is therefore due by 31 October.
- Income tax return
- The deadline is stated in the return letter from the Dutch Belastingdienst; it is often 1 May. Did you move to or leave the Netherlands that year? Then you file an M-form instead of the ordinary return.
- Keeping your records
- Seven years for your records as a whole: invoices, bank statements, the general ledger and the calculations underneath. Ten years for data on immovable property. Keeping them digitally is allowed.
- Small businesses scheme (KOR)
- A maximum of € 20,000 in turnover per calendar year, and that limit applies to this year as well as the year before. Join it and you charge no VAT — and you can no longer deduct the VAT on your own purchases.
- Selling to private customers in the EU
- Up to € 10,000 per calendar year across all EU countries combined you simply charge Dutch VAT. Above that, the VAT of your customer's country applies; you report it in one place through the One Stop Shop (OSS).
- Self-employed deduction
- 1,225 hours per calendar year on your business, and more time on it than on other work. In 2026 that is worth € 1,200, plus up to three times € 2,123 in starter's deduction during your first years.
- Investment deduction (KIA)
- Invest between € 2,901 and € 398,236 in business assets in 2026 and you get an extra deduction from your profit. An asset costing less than € 450 does not count towards that total.
The subjects
Calculators for freelancers
All five free calculators in one place: net income, hourly rate, hours criterion, VAT and KIA, at 2026 rates.
Read onFreelancer net income calculator
Enter your turnover and costs and see what you keep after Dutch income tax and the Zvw contribution, per year and per month, at 2026 rates.
Read onFreelancer hourly rate calculator
From the net you want to keep each month to the profit, the turnover and the minimum hourly rate you need to charge, with 2026 Dutch tax included.
Read onGlossary
Voorlopige aanslag, naheffingsaanslag, btw-id, suppletie: twenty-nine Dutch tax and KvK terms, each explained in two or three sentences.
Read onWhat is a zzp'er?
Zzp means self-employed without staff. Not a legal form, but you are an entrepreneur: what that means for registration, tax and bookkeeping.
Read onStarting a sole proprietorship
Registering with the KvK, your VAT numbers from the Dutch Belastingdienst, and records that are right from your first invoice.
Read onBecoming a zzp'er from abroad
Registering with the KvK if you do not (yet) live in the Netherlands: when you need a Dutch home address, when the RNI is enough, and what to bring.
Read onGetting DigiD as a freelancer
With DigiD you register your sole proprietorship with the KvK and log in to Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk. How to apply, with a Dutch home address or from abroad.
Read oneHerkenning: do freelancers need it?
eHerkenning is the business login for the Dutch government. When DigiD is enough for a sole proprietorship, when it isn't, and how to apply.
Read onBusiness bank account: required?
Do you need a business bank account as a freelancer in the Netherlands? When it is required, when you may use your personal account, what the bank asks for and whether a foreign account is allowed.
Read onInsurance for freelancers
Which insurance is compulsory for a zzp'er and which is not: health insurance, disability insurance (compulsory from probably 2030), business and professional liability.
Read onBookkeeping yourself or an accountant?
An accountant is not mandatory. When doing it yourself works, when help is wise, and what to do if you don't read Dutch yet.
Read onAuthorising your accountant
How to authorise your accountant at the Dutch Belastingdienst with DigiD or eHerkenning, what the registration letter is and how to withdraw an authorisation.
Read onVAT in the Netherlands
The 21%, 9% and 0% rates, what is exempt, your two VAT numbers, the quarterly return and the three exceptions: KOR, reverse charge and the EU.
Read onVAT number and turnover tax number
Your two numbers from the Dutch tax office: the VAT ID for your invoices and the turnover tax number for the Belastingdienst only. What they look like, where to find them and how to check a number.
Read onVAT return
How often you file, what boxes 1a through 5b mean, and the three mistakes that get made most often.
Read onInvoice requirements
What must be on your invoice, the deadline for sending it and how long you keep it — the rules of the Dutch Belastingdienst in one place.
Read onClient does not pay
Payment term, reminder, formal notice, collection costs and statutory interest: what you may charge when an invoice stays open, for businesses and for consumers.
Read onSmall businesses scheme
The € 20,000 threshold, what changes if you join, and the exception that gets missed most often.
Read onKeeping records
What you must keep for seven years, why digital is allowed, and which file the Belastingdienst asks for during an audit.
Read onWorking with your bookkeeping firm
Guide for clients of a bookkeeping firm: making invoices, sending in receipts and purchase invoices and answering your firm's questions, in your own language.
Read onSelling within the EU
Business or consumer is the first question: it decides whether you end up at box 3b and the EC Sales List or at the € 10,000 threshold.
Read onReverse charge (btw verlegd)
A subcontractor in construction? You put no VAT on your invoice but 'btw verlegd' — and you get the VAT on your own purchases back.
Read onDeductible costs for freelancers
Which costs a zzp'er deducts from profit: business costs 100%, mixed costs only the business part, € 0.25 per kilometre, and food, drink and entertainment above the threshold or 80%.
Read onTax breaks for freelancers
Self-employed deduction, starter's deduction, SME profit exemption and the KIA: what they are worth in 2026, in which order, with a worked example.
Read onThe hours criterion
The 1,225 hours that decide whether you get the self-employed deduction: which hours count, and why half a year in business does not mean half the hours will do.
Read onHow much tax to set aside
Three pots: VAT, income tax and the Zvw contribution. What goes in each, the 2026 rates, and how to pay monthly instead of all at once.
Read onVoorlopige aanslag (provisional assessment)
What a voorlopige aanslag is, how to check and change it, until when you can, and why starters should request one themselves.
Read onToeslagen (benefits) as a freelancer
Healthcare or rent benefit as a zzp'er: which income you report (not your profit), how to estimate it, and why you check it again with every VAT return.
Read onLetter from the Belastingdienst
Tax return letter, provisional or final assessment, additional assessment or fine: which letter is which, what to do, and by when.
Read onIncome tax return
When you have to file, when it is merely wise to, and the M-form for the year you moved to the Netherlands.
Read onInvestment deduction (KIA)
28% of what you invest off your profit — but only above €2,901, not under €450 per item, and not on your passenger car.
Read onClosing your sole proprietorship
Stopping as a zzp'er: deregistering with the KvK, your last VAT return, the cessation profit in your income tax and what you keep for seven years.
Read onAccounting software that speaks your language
Updated October 2, 2026. General explanation of the Dutch rules, not tax advice — for your own situation, decide together with your accountant or the Dutch Tax Administration.
For bookkeepers
Working in the firm workspace
A guide for bookkeeping firms: reading the work queue, doing the same task for every client in a row, planning VAT deadlines and setting permissions per staff member.
Read onImporting an audit file
Which Dutch accounting package reads in an audit file (XAF) from another package, what the file leaves out, and which version to choose.
Read onDutch chart of accounts in English
The chart of accounts a Dutch sole proprietorship starts with, account by account, in Dutch next to English.
Read onStarting a bookkeeping practice
What you arrange when you start a bookkeeping practice in the Netherlands: KvK, beconnummer, the Wwft and which title you may use.
Read onbooxx.nlYour books, in your own language
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