VAT
What goes on your invoice
Invoicing another business? Then the Dutch Belastingdienst prescribes exactly what must be on it — and when it has to go out.
In short
According to the Dutch Belastingdienst, an invoice to another business in the Netherlands must show: your full name and address and those of your customer, your VAT identification number (the number preceded by NL), your KvK number if you are registered with the KvK, the invoice date, a unique, sequential invoice number, what you supplied and how much, the date of supply, the amount excluding VAT, the VAT rate and the VAT amount. You send the invoice no later than the 15th day of the month after the month in which you supplied, and you keep it for seven years — ten if it concerns immovable property. In most cases you do not have to send private customers an invoice.
The essentials
- Sending
- No later than the 15th day of the month after the month in which you supplied. If you were paid in advance, you also send an invoice for that advance payment.
- Invoice number
- Sequential, in one or more series. Each number may appear only once.
- Keeping
- Seven years, in the form in which you sent or received the invoice. Ten years for immovable property and for sales through the one-stop shop (OSS).
- Small invoice
- If the total is € 100 or less, including VAT, you may show fewer details.
Example: an ordinary invoice to a business
A freelancer in IT sends a Dutch customer an invoice for twenty hours of work. Names, addresses and numbers are made up; every line is a detail the Dutch Belastingdienst requires.
| From | A. Nagy Webontwikkeling, Voorbeeldstraat 5, 1234 AB Rotterdam |
|---|---|
| To | Voorbeeld Retail B.V., Voorbeeldplein 2, 1234 EF Rotterdam |
| Your VAT ID | NL001234567B01 — the number preceded by NL, not your turnover tax number |
| Your KvK number | KvK 12345678 |
| Invoice number | 2026-031 — the next number in your series |
| Invoice date | 3 October 2026 |
| What you supplied | Web shop changes: 20 hours at € 60.00 |
| Date of supply | 8 to 26 September 2026 |
| Amount excluding VAT | € 1,200.00 |
| VAT rate and VAT amount | 21% · € 252.00 |
| Total | € 1,452.00 |
Try free for 90 days90 days free · no payment method needed · cancel monthly afterwards
The mandatory details, one by one
Name and address: your legal name, or your trade name if it is registered with the KvK together with your address and place of business, and the address where your business is actually established — a PO box number alone is not enough. You show the same details for your customer.
Then your VAT identification number, the number preceded by NL, and your KvK number if you are registered there. After that the invoice date and an invoice number: sequential, in one or more series, and each number only once.
What you supplied: for goods, what and how much; for services, what and their extent. The Dutch Belastingdienst's own examples are 25 pairs of jeans, or one massage of an hour. With it the date on which you supplied, or the date of the advance payment.
And the amounts: the amount excluding VAT — split out if you supply at different rates, and with the unit price where one applies — the VAT rate and the VAT amount. If the VAT amount comes to more than two decimal places, you round it.
Whom you must invoice
Every other business, and also legal entities that are not businesses, such as an association or a foundation — even if it is based abroad. In most cases you do not have to send a private customer an invoice; the exceptions concern certain wholesalers and a new means of transport supplied to another EU country.
If you take part in the small businesses scheme (KOR), or supply exempt goods or services, you do not have to meet every requirement. If you work as a subcontractor with btw verlegd, details are added instead: 'btw verlegd' and your customer's VAT identification number. The same applies when you supply a service to a business in another EU country and the VAT is reversed. If you supply goods to a business in another EU country, you must always issue an invoice.
Do you have to send an invoice, and which one?
- You have supplied goods or services → Is your customer a business or a legal entity (e.g. a foundation)?
- Is your customer a business or a legal entity (e.g. a foundation)? — yes → Is the VAT reversed (btw verlegd)?
- Is your customer a business or a legal entity (e.g. a foundation)? — no → Private customer: usually no invoice needed
- Is the VAT reversed (btw verlegd)? — yes → Invoice plus 'btw verlegd' and your customer's VAT number
- Is the VAT reversed (btw verlegd)? — no → Invoice with all required details
On paper or digital
You choose whether you invoice on paper or digitally. A digital invoice has one extra condition: your customer must agree to it. You must also be able to vouch for the authenticity of its origin, its content and its legibility.
Keep an invoice in the form in which you sent or received it: you do not print a digital invoice but store it digitally. You may scan paper invoices and receipts and keep them digitally, provided the copy is accurate and complete.
What your bookkeeping needs to handle
Most invoice errors are not ill will but manual work: a number that appears twice because two separate files are in circulation, an invoice without a date of supply, a VAT amount that does not match rate times amount. An invoicing program that keeps the numbering itself, calculates the VAT itself and does not let you skip the mandatory fields removes those errors in one go.
And it watches the deadline: if you supply at the end of the month, you have until the 15th of the following month. An invoice you make at the moment of supply never has to race that deadline.
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.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to send a private customer an invoice?
In most cases not. The obligation applies to what you supply to other businesses and to legal entities such as associations and foundations. You only have to invoice a private customer if you are a wholesaler in certain goods, or if you supply a new means of transport to someone in another EU country.
How soon must the invoice go out?
No later than the 15th day of the month after the month in which you supplied. If you supply on 20 March, 15 April is the last day.
May I restart my invoice numbering every year?
Yes, as long as each number appears only once. The Dutch Belastingdienst requires sequential numbers in one or more series; a series per year with the year in front, such as 2026-001 and 2026-002, meets that, because 2026-001 and 2027-001 are different numbers.
My invoice is € 80. Does everything still have to be on it?
No. If the total is € 100 or less, including VAT, you may show fewer details: the Dutch Belastingdienst calls that a simplified invoice. If you put all the details on it anyway, the invoice is fine too.
GuidesAccounting software that speaks your languageInvoices that are right in the NetherlandsAccountant? This explanation in your client's language