A Dutch invoice is not complicated, but it has a handful of fields that the Belastingdienst (the Dutch tax authority) treats as non-negotiable: a gapless number, both dates, your btw-id and the right wording when no VAT is charged. This guide walks through the invoice requirements (factuureisen) one by one, shows a worked example and ends with the mistakes that cost freelancers the most.
Invoices and credit notes are free without limit. No card, no trial clock - registration takes two minutes.
If you are registered with the KVK (Kamer van Koophandel, the Dutch business register) and you sell to other businesses, every invoice you send must meet the factuureisen. That applies to a zzp'er (a self-employed professional without staff), an eenmanszaak (sole proprietorship) and a limited company alike. The rules do not care whether you invoice in Dutch or English, on paper or as a PDF - they care about what is on the document.
The one group that gets a lighter version is small businesses under the KOR (kleineondernemersregeling, the small business VAT scheme): they still send invoices, but without any VAT on them. More on that below.
Every invoice needs the following. Check your template against this list once and you will not have to think about it again:
For amounts up to €100 a simplified invoice is allowed with fewer details. Most freelancers never use it: a full invoice takes the same effort in software, and clients prefer it.
The number is where most disputes with the Belastingdienst start. Invoice numbers must be sequential and gapless within a series. You may use a prefix with the year (2026-0001, 2026-0002) or a plain counter, but you may not skip a number, reuse one or renumber after the fact. A missing number is the first thing an inspector asks about, because it looks like a deleted sale.
Two dates are required: the invoice date and the date of delivery or service. The second one decides which VAT period the sale belongs to, so it is not optional even when the two dates are a day apart.
You must send the invoice no later than the 15th day of the month after the delivery or service. Work finished on 28 August has to be invoiced by 15 September. Waiting until the client asks is a breach of the rules, not just bad cash flow.
Keep every issued invoice for 7 years (10 years for anything relating to real estate). That duty is yours, not your software's, so make sure you can always export your archive.
btw is the Dutch VAT. The standard rate is 21%. The reduced rate of 9% covers, among other things, food, books, hairdressers and bicycle repairs. 0% applies to exports and to intra-EU deliveries of goods to a business. Each rate used on an invoice gets its own line with the net amount, the rate and the VAT amount.
Then there are two situations where no Dutch VAT appears on the invoice at all:
Under reverse charge you do not charge VAT; the client declares it in their own return. The invoice shows the net amount, the words btw verlegd and the client's btw-id, and no VAT amount. It applies to:
Clients outside the EU usually get an invoice without Dutch VAT too, but the rules depend on the type of service - check with your accountant before the first one. The full rules with examples are in the guide on reverse charge VAT in the Netherlands.
With an annual turnover up to €20,000 you can register for the KOR. You then charge no VAT, deduct no VAT on your costs and file no VAT return. Your invoices carry no VAT rate and no VAT amount. You register with the Belastingdienst at least four weeks before the quarter in which you want to start, and once in, you stay in for at least three years unless you exceed the threshold. See KOR: the small business scheme for whether it pays off.
The standard payment term in the Netherlands is 30 days. Between businesses you may agree up to 60 days; anything longer needs an explicit agreement. Put the term on the invoice in plain words ("Please pay within 30 days") and add your IBAN. A client cannot be late against a term that is not written down.
Invoice 2026-0007 · invoice date 3 September 2026 · service date 28 August 2026
From: Your Studio, Akerstraat 12, 1012 AB Amsterdam · KVK 12345678 · btw-id NL001234567B01
To: Bouwbedrijf Jansen B.V., Industrieweg 4, 3542 AD Utrecht
Web design, 16 hours × €55.00 = €880.00 net
VAT 21% on €880.00 = €184.80
Total payable: €1,064.80 · within 30 days · IBAN NL00 BANK 0123 4567 89
Same job for a German agency instead? The lines change to: €880.00 net, "btw verlegd", the client's German VAT number, total €880.00 - and the sale goes in your ICP-opgave.
An issued invoice is never deleted or edited. If the amount, the client or the VAT treatment was wrong, you issue a creditnota: a negative invoice with the next number in the same series that refers to the original invoice number. The VAT is then corrected in the return for the period of the credit note, and if needed you issue a fresh, correct invoice. Step by step: how to issue a credit note in the Netherlands.
You enter your business details once. Then you pick a client, type the lines and click Issue: the program assigns the next number and locks it, insists on both dates, adds your KVK and btw-id, calculates the VAT per rate and applies btw verlegd, KOR or the intra-EU treatment when you choose them. A finished invoice cannot be edited - only credited. You send it by e-mail straight from the program, in Dutch, English, Polish, Ukrainian or French, and the whole administration can be exported when your accountant or the Belastingdienst asks. All of that is in the free plan, without a limit on the number of invoices.
Yes. Dutch law does not prescribe a language for invoices. The Belastingdienst may ask for a translation if it cannot read a document, so English or Dutch is the safe choice for Dutch clients. ProFaktura produces the same invoice in Dutch, English, Polish, Ukrainian or French.
The invoice requirements ask for your name, address, KVK number and btw-id (VAT identification number) as the issuer, plus the name and address of your client. Put all of them on every invoice; missing identifiers are the first thing a client's bookkeeper will query.
Reverse charge: you do not charge VAT, the client accounts for it. You write btw verlegd on the invoice, add the client's btw-id and leave out the VAT amount. It applies to subcontracting and staff hire in construction, cleaning and shipbuilding, and to B2B services for a business in another EU country.
No. An issued invoice is never deleted or edited. You correct it with a credit note (creditnota): a negative invoice with the next number in the same series, referring to the number of the invoice it corrects. ProFaktura issues credit notes for free.
Seven years as a rule, ten years for documents relating to real estate. The duty rests with you as the entrepreneur, so keep your own archive even when you use online software. ProFaktura lets you download your whole administration as a ZIP.
Read next: VAT return in the Netherlands step by step · reverse charge VAT (btw verlegd) · how to issue a credit note