Four times a year the Belastingdienst (the Dutch tax authority) expects your btw-aangifte - the VAT return - and the payment that goes with it. The form itself is short. The work is in knowing which figures to put where and having them ready before the deadline. This guide takes you through it from the first quarter to the correction you may need later.
Invoicing is free. The VAT dashboard that shows your quarter in three figures is part of Pro - 30 days free, then €9.99 excl. VAT per month.
btw is Dutch VAT. Once you are registered with the KVK (the business register) and the Belastingdienst has given you a btw-id, you charge VAT on your sales and you file a return for every period - even a quarter with no sales at all. For a zzp'er (a self-employed professional without staff) or a small eenmanszaak (sole proprietorship) the period is normally a quarter.
The exception is the KOR (kleineondernemersregeling, the small business scheme). With a turnover up to €20,000 a year you can opt in: you then charge no VAT, deduct no VAT on costs and file no btw-aangifte at all. Whether that is a good deal depends on your costs - see KOR: the small business scheme explained.
Both the return and the payment are due on the last day of the month after the quarter:
Two things trip people up. First, the deadline is for the money as well as the form: a return filed on the 25th with a transfer that arrives on the 2nd is late. Second, the quarter is decided by the date of delivery or service on the invoice, not by when the client paid. An invoice for work done in September belongs in Q3 even if it is paid in November.
The return boils down to one subtraction. On one side is the VAT you charged your clients - output VAT - at the rate that applies: 21% standard, 9% reduced (food, books, hairdressers, bicycle repairs, among others) or 0% for exports and intra-EU deliveries of goods to a business. On the other side is the VAT your suppliers charged you on business purchases - voorbelasting, input VAT. You pay the difference, or get it back if you bought more than you sold.
Input VAT needs a proper invoice or receipt with the VAT amount on it, and you keep those documents for 7 years (10 for real estate). A bank statement alone is not enough. A photo of the receipt is fine, as long as it is legible and stored. Note that a fixed asset above €450 is depreciated for income tax over several years - but its VAT is deducted in the return for the quarter you bought it, in one go. Which costs qualify at all is a separate question, covered in deductible business expenses in the Netherlands.
You file online in Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk, the business portal of the Belastingdienst. The procedure is the same every quarter:
Make sure every invoice for work delivered in the quarter has been issued - the rules say by the 15th of the following month anyway - and every purchase receipt is in. Anything you add after filing becomes a correction.
Enter your net turnover and the VAT on it, separately for 21%, 9% and 0%. Sales under reverse charge (btw verlegd - the client accounts for the VAT) are entered as turnover without VAT; sales to businesses in other EU countries go in their own section.
Enter the total input VAT from your receipts and purchase invoices for the quarter.
The portal calculates what you owe or what you get back. Check it against your own figures before you submit - the form does not know about the invoice you forgot.
Transfer the amount with the payment reference the portal gives you, in time to arrive by the last day of the month.
Sales July to September: €12,000 net, all at 21% → output VAT €2,520.00.
Purchases in the same quarter: software, a monitor, travel - €1,800 net with €378.00 VAT on the receipts → input VAT €378.00.
VAT to pay: €2,520.00 − €378.00 = €2,142.00, filed and paid by 31 October.
One consulting invoice to a German agency for €2,000 in the same quarter? It carries btw verlegd and no VAT, so it does not change the €2,142 - but it is reported as reverse-charged EU turnover and listed in the ICP-opgave.
Selling to a business in another EU country changes the paperwork in two places. On the invoice you write btw verlegd (reverse charge) and the client's VAT number, and you charge no Dutch VAT - for services. For goods delivered to an EU business the rate is 0%. In both cases the sale goes in your quarterly return as EU turnover, and in addition you file an ICP-opgave (opgaaf intracommunautaire prestaties): a listing of each EU business customer with their VAT number and the amount. The two must match.
Clients outside the EU usually receive an invoice without Dutch VAT, but the rules depend on the type of service and the country - ask your accountant before the first invoice rather than after the first audit. Domestic reverse charge (subcontracting in construction, cleaning and shipbuilding) works the same way on the invoice, without the ICP-opgave. All variants with examples: reverse charge VAT in the Netherlands.
Discovered a missing invoice or a wrong rate after filing? You correct the period with a suppletie, a supplementary VAT return, through the same portal. Small differences can often be absorbed in the next quarter's return; your accountant will tell you which route applies to the amount.
What you never do is edit or delete an invoice you already issued. A wrong invoice is corrected with a credit note (creditnota): a negative invoice with the next number in the series, referring to the original. Its VAT is then corrected in the return for the period of the credit note - not by rewriting the old quarter. How that works in practice: how to issue a credit note.
Every invoice you issue in ProFaktura already carries the right VAT line - 21%, 9%, 0%, btw verlegd, KOR or intra-EU - and every receipt you photograph with the scanner is filed with its date, amount and VAT. The VAT dashboard adds it up per quarter into the three figures the return asks for: revenue, costs and VAT to pay. You pick the quarter, read the numbers, type them into Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk. If your accountant files for you, invite them by e-mail: they get access to your administration, can download the whole quarter as a ZIP and ask you for the receipt that is missing - without you forwarding a single file.
Most freelancers file quarterly. Both the return and the payment are due on the last day of the month after the quarter: 30 April for Q1, 31 July for Q2, 31 October for Q3 and 31 January for Q4. Filing on time but paying late still counts as late.
Yes. As long as you are registered for VAT, a return is due every period, even a nil return. The only businesses that do not file are those in the KOR small business scheme, which charge no VAT at all.
Input VAT: the VAT your suppliers charged you on business purchases. You deduct it from the VAT you collected on your sales, so you only pay the difference. To deduct it you need a proper invoice or receipt, kept for seven years. Under the KOR you cannot deduct input VAT.
A B2B service for a business in another EU country is invoiced with btw verlegd (reverse charge) and the client's VAT number, so no Dutch VAT. The sale appears in your VAT return as reverse-charged turnover and, in addition, in the ICP-opgave, the listing of your EU business customers.
You correct it with a suppletie, a supplementary return for the period concerned. Small differences can usually be absorbed in the next return - ask your accountant which applies. Never edit issued invoices to fix the numbers; use a credit note.
Read next: KOR small business scheme · reverse charge VAT (btw verlegd) · deductible business expenses