Deductible business expenses in the Netherlands: what counts and what does not

Every euro you spend for your business lowers your profit - and therefore your income tax - and usually brings back the VAT you paid. But not every cost is fully deductible, not every purchase counts in the year you make it, and none of it works without the receipt. Here is the practical guide for freelancers and small businesses registered with the KVK.

The one rule: does the cost serve the business?

The Belastingdienst (the Dutch tax office) applies a simple test. A cost is deductible when you incur it for the business - to earn revenue, to keep the business running, to do the work. What you buy privately is not, even if you pay it from the business account.

Two things follow from this. First, the label on the receipt does not decide - the purpose does. A phone bought to call clients is a business cost; the same phone bought for your teenager is not. Second, you are the one who has to prove the purpose. That proof is the receipt or purchase invoice, stored with your records, and the reason you keep it for 7 years.

Typical costs a freelancer deducts

For a zzp'er (self-employed professional) or an eenmanszaak (sole proprietorship) the list usually looks like this:

• Equipment - laptop, phone, tools, camera, machines (large purchases are depreciated, see below).
• Software and subscriptions - design tools, cloud storage, your invoicing program.
• Workspace - a rented studio, a coworking desk, a workshop.
• Materials and stock - what you build into the product or use up in the job.
• Travel - business kilometres with your private car, train tickets, parking at the client.
• Phone and internet - the business share of the bill.
• Professional services - your accountant, a lawyer, a translator.
• Insurance - liability, professional indemnity, equipment.
• Training - courses and books that keep your professional knowledge up to date.
• Marketing - website hosting, domain, advertising, business cards.
• Banking and fees - business account charges, payment provider fees, the KVK registration.
• Work clothing - only clothing you cannot reasonably wear outside work, such as safety shoes or clothing with your logo.

When a cost is partly private - the phone, the internet connection, sometimes the car - you deduct the business share and you should be able to explain how you arrived at it.

Mixed costs: 80%, not 100%

Some costs have a private flavour even when they are clearly for the business: lunch with a client, drinks at a networking event, a conference with dinner included, gifts to customers. The Belastingdienst calls these mixed costs (food, drinks, representation, congresses and seminars). For income tax you deduct 80% of them - or you choose to apply a fixed amount threshold instead, above which the costs are fully deductible. Which option is better depends on how much you spend; check the current threshold on belastingdienst.nl or ask your accountant.

In practice: book the full amount as an expense and let your accountant apply the 80% at year end. What matters day to day is that every restaurant receipt is in your administration with a note of who you were with and why.

Purchases above € 450: depreciate, don't deduct

A cost you deduct in the year you pay it. An asset you spread over its useful life. The line between the two is € 450: anything you buy for more than that and use for more than a year is an asset, and you depreciate it over at least 5 years. A € 300 office chair is a cost this year; a € 1,450 laptop is € 290 a year for five years.

This surprises many starters who buy a laptop, a van or machines in year one and expect a big deduction. The VAT side is different, and better: the VAT on that purchase you reclaim at once.

VAT on your costs comes back in the VAT return

Every purchase invoice and receipt shows btw (Dutch VAT: 21%, 9% or 0%). As a VAT entrepreneur you deduct that input VAT in your quarterly btw-aangifte (VAT return) from the VAT you collected on your own invoices. Spent € 2,000 on costs with 21% VAT in a quarter? That is € 347 less to pay to the tax office - but only if you have the receipts, and only if they show the VAT.

Two exceptions to keep in mind. If you are in the KOR (kleineondernemersregeling, the small business scheme for turnover under € 20,000), you charge no VAT and you deduct none - the VAT on your costs is simply part of the cost. And the VAT return is due on the last day of the month after the quarter (Q3 by 31 October), so receipts that turn up later have missed that return; you would then correct it with a suppletie. Our guide on the VAT return in the Netherlands walks through the quarter step by step.

Your car: private car at € 0.23 per km, or company car with bijtelling

Private car used for the business

You keep the car private and charge the business a fixed amount per business kilometre: € 0.23 per km in 2026 (for the entrepreneur - the € 0.25 tax-free reimbursement is for employees and is a different rule). That € 0.23 covers everything: fuel, parking, tolls, maintenance, insurance. You do not deduct those separately, and you do not reclaim the VAT on fuel. What you need is a mileage log (rittenregistratie) with date, addresses, kilometres, purpose and vehicle - the GPS mileage log in ProFaktura records that for you in the background.

Car owned by the business

All car costs are business costs and the VAT is deductible, but you pay bijtelling - an addition to your taxable income for private use - unless you can prove with a sluitende rittenregistratie (a complete, gap-free mileage log) that you drove fewer than 500 private kilometres in the year. For most freelancers with one car, the private car at € 0.23 is the simpler and often the cheaper route; a company car pays off with high business mileage. Let your accountant run both numbers before you decide.

Keep the receipt - 7 years

The receipt is not paperwork for its own sake. It proves the cost exists, shows the VAT you reclaim and documents the business purpose. Without it, a cost can be struck from your return during an audit years later - together with the VAT. Retention periods:

• 7 years for receipts, purchase invoices and your own sales invoices;
• 10 years for anything related to real estate.

Paper fades, especially thermal receipts from a shop or a fuel pump. A clear photo stored in your administration is the practical answer - and it means the receipt is in the same place as the expense it belongs to.

Expenses in ProFaktura: photo, scanner, done

In ProFaktura Pro you add an expense by taking a photo of the receipt. The receipt scanner reads the date, the amount and the VAT and fills in the expense; you check, pick a category and save. The photo stays attached to the expense, so the proof and the booking are one record - ready for the 7-year retention and for your accountant.

• VAT dashboard per quarter - your revenue, your costs and the VAT due appear side by side, so you know before the deadline what to expect in the btw-aangifte.
• Mileage log in the same administration, at € 0.23 per km by default.
• Export as CSV or PDF, or the whole administration as a ZIP archive.
• Your accountant sees what is missing. If you give your accountant access to your administration, they see which expenses have no receipt and can send you a request straight from that line. You get an e-mail and a notification, add the photo, and the request closes. More about that on the page ProFaktura for accountants.

Expenses are part of Pro: 30 days free, then € 9.99 + VAT per month, cancel with one click. Invoices and credit notes remain free without limit.

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