You have just been to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to register your company. Obviously you have already thought about it and know more or less what is involved. However, there may be things that you haven’t considered or that you simply didn’t know about. We have put together a number of facts and interesting information to help you run your business better. Facts about what you should or should not do. For starters: did you know that you also have to file a quarterly VAT (btw) return if you have not yet made any turnover?
Did you know that most businesses have to submit VAT returns every quarter? If you fail to do so or do it too late, you can expect a late filing penalty of €68.
Turnover tax or VAT is value-added tax on products and services. You have to pay the VAT you charge your customers to the tax authorities. When you start your business, the Tax and Customs Administration (belastingdienst) will tell you how often they expect to receive your VAT return. Often, this is every quarter. You can read about it in the letter from the Tax and Customs Administration.
Period Your declaration and payment must be in on:
4th quarter 2022 31 January 2023
1st quarter 2023 30 April 2023
2nd quarter 2023 31 July 2023
3rd quarter 2023 31 October 2023
4th quarter 2023 31 January 2024
Have you recently become an entrepreneur or are you planning to start up in the near future, and do you dread the administrative obligations that come with it? Know that you have options. You may do your own administration, but you can also outsource it. To a bookkeeper, accountant or administration office, for example. Your administration gives you insight into the financial position of your company.
More than once, start-ups start their own administration in high spirits. Many of them quickly reconsider. It costs too much time. Time they would rather spend on entrepreneurship and the development of their company. Did you know that a good bookkeeper or accountant often pays off quickly? Because they are aware of all tax benefits and savings.
Starters regularly ask what the difference is between a bookkeeper and an accountant. Anyone can call himself a bookkeeper. It is a free profession and you do not specifically have to have a diploma for it. So ask carefully with whom you are dealing. Most accountants, however, have followed a specialist training. To be able to call yourself an accountant, you have to meet educational requirements and legal rules. The title chartered accountant can be obtained with a university education in accountancy. An accountant-administration consultant has completed a higher professional education accountancy. An accountant works for the smaller SMEs and the self-employed as well as for larger companies. Do you have more than 50 employees, a balance sheet total of 6 million euros and/or a turnover of 12 million euros? Then you are even obliged to engage an accountant.
If you are a freelancer, the Tax and Customs Administration (Belastingdienst) requires you to have at least three clients in a year. This ‘rule’ is known by almost every self-employed person. But did you know that the number of clients does not necessarily say anything about whether you are an entrepreneur?
Even if you have fewer clients or customers, the tax authorities can still see you as an entrepreneur for income tax purposes. It is all about the total picture. The tax authorities check, among other things, whether you:
Whether you have one, three or ten clients, do the Entrepreneur Check (OndernemersCheck) of the Tax and Customs Administration. That way you know where you stand.
It is a good idea to have several clients. A larger client base gives you the certainty that you can generate an income from your business. Even if a client drops out.
As a consumer, you often have a 14-day cooling-off period when you buy something or enter into a contract. If you have regrets, you can abandon the purchase or contract without problems within this statutory cooling-off period. But beware: if you are an entrepreneur, there is no cooling-off period. If you buy something for your company or sign a business contract, you are stuck with it.
When you have just started your business, it is better not to think about becoming ill for a long time. Besides, it is very expensive to insure yourself against incapacity for work. Isn’t it? Well, good news! There are various options for insuring your income if you are unable to work. And they are not necessarily expensive. Take action and stop putting off the arrangements so that you too can be sure of a safety net in the event of illness.
These are the 4 possibilities to ensure an income in case of illness:
Or do you think that a buffer of a few thousand euros will also get you far in case of illness? Realise then that you must have a considerable buffer to absorb a number of months of illness. Suppose you have a buffer of 35,000 euros. If your fixed costs and groceries are 2,000 euros per month, your buffer is depleted after 1.5 years.
Are you filing a tax return this year? If so, you may be eligible for a starters’ tax deduction. As a starting entrepreneur, you pay less tax. Read on to find out whether you are eligible for the starter’s deduction and how much it is.
The starter’s deduction is an increase of the self-employed tax deduction, a deduction item to stimulate entrepreneurship. The self-employed tax deduction applies to sole traders, partnerships and general partnerships. As a self-employed person, you may deduct EUR 6,670 from your profit made in 2021. This reduces your profit and you pay less tax. A condition is that you meet the 1225-hour criterion.
But did you know that as a starting entrepreneur, you can get extra tax benefits? With the starter’s deduction, you may deduct an additional 2,123 euros from your profit for your 2021 tax return. These are the conditions:
More than 1.5 million freelancers are registered with the KVK in the Netherlands. Many of these freelancers work from home. Not surprising, because you often don’t need much. A laptop and a kitchen table can be enough. Yet it is not always as easy as it seems.
It starts with the conditions of the municipality. They are not the same everywhere. In the destination plan of your municipality you can see what kind of business you can start at home. Do you have rented accommodation? Then you have to ask your landlord for permission for your plans. Do you have a mortgage? Your bank may also impose conditions on your business plans. Oh yes, the insurances that you have taken out privately do not apply to your business at home. So you’ll have to look into that too.
Income tax is the tax you pay on your income. What you earn with your business is income, so you have to file your income tax return every year before May 1. Just like people who are employed. Turnover tax, or value added tax (VAT), is the tax you pay on the products or services you sell and is separate from income tax.
Have you not filed your income tax return by May 1? Then you will receive a reminder and the Tax Administration will give you a few extra days to file your tax return. If you still fail to do so, you will receive a reminder and your tax return must be filed with the Tax and Customs Administration within 10 days. If you fail to do so, you will be fined. The first time, the fine will be 385 euros. If you fail to file a tax return more often, the fine can rise to 5,514 euros. Moreover, you must still pay income tax. The Tax Authorities will then estimate how much. Usually, this estimate is on the high side.
All information can be found on the Internet nowadays. Make sure you know which sources are reliable (such as the Chamber of Commerce (KvK), tax authorities, etc.) and do not always assume that what you read on a website is also the correct information. Do more research for the right information sources.
Do you want to take advantage of many extras? Then click below and read all about our membership!
