Dutch tax terms explained for freelancers: from btw to zelfstandigenaftrek

The Dutch tax office speaks Dutch, including to people who do not. The good news is that the vocabulary is short: about thirty words carry you through your first years of freelancing here. This is that list, with what each term means, why it matters to you, and where to find it in Finq.

How to use this list

Dutch tax language looks impenetrable, but there is not much of it. Around thirty words cover almost everything you meet as a freelancer in the Netherlands, and once you recognise them the Dutch-language screens at the Belastingdienst turn back into ordinary forms.

The list below runs in the order you meet the words: first your numbers and logins, then VAT, then income tax, then the words that only apply if you moved here. Amounts are for tax year 2026 and change in most years, so check the current figure before relying on it.

Prefer to work entirely in English? Also read freelancing without speaking Dutch.

Your numbers and logins

BSN (burgerservicenummer)

Your personal citizen service number, issued when you register with your municipality. Without a BSN you cannot request a DigiD, register with the Chamber of Commerce or deal with the tax office. It is a private number: never put it on an invoice or a website.

DigiD

Your personal login for Dutch government services. You request it with your BSN, and the activation code arrives by post a few days later, so arrange it before you need it. DigiD gets you into Mijn Belastingdienst, Mijn Toeslagen and, if you are a sole trader, Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk as well.

eHerkenning

The business login, comparable to DigiD but for an organisation. You buy it from an approved supplier and pay a subscription. Good news for most freelancers: with a sole proprietorship you do not need eHerkenning, you simply log in with DigiD. Only a bv or another legal entity is obliged to use it.

KVK number (KVK-nummer)

The eight-digit number you get when you register in the Trade Register. It identifies your business, never changes, and belongs on your invoices. Registration itself costs a one-off € 85.15 (2026). See registering with the KVK.

Btw-id (VAT identification number)

Your public VAT number, in the form NL123456789B01. It arrives by post from the tax office after your KVK registration and belongs on your invoices and website. Do not confuse it with your omzetbelastingnummer (turnover tax number): that is the internal number you file returns with, it is based on your BSN if you are a sole trader, and it therefore belongs nowhere public. The difference is explained in btw-id, KVK number and ob-nummer.

Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk

The tax office's business portal. This is where you file your VAT return, request or adjust a provisional assessment, and register or deregister for the KOR. The old business portal no longer exists. The screens are in Dutch; the fixed structure of numbered boxes makes that less painful than it sounds.

The VAT words

Btw (omzetbelasting)

Btw and omzetbelasting are two names for the same thing: value added tax, which you collect on behalf of the tax office. The standard rate is 21%, with 9% for a specific set of goods and services. The VAT on your invoices is never your money: set it aside.

In Finq: you set the VAT rate per invoice line, and the VAT screen totals everything per box.

Aangifte

The Dutch word for a tax return or filing, whether VAT or income tax. "Aangifte doen" simply means filling in and submitting the form. A nihilaangifte is a nil return, which you still have to file for a quarter in which you invoiced nothing.

Kwartaal (quarter)

Most freelancers file VAT quarterly. The deadline is always the last day of the month after the quarter, and your payment has to be in by that same date: Q1 by 30 April, Q2 by 31 July, Q3 by 31 October, Q4 by 31 January. More in filing your VAT return.

Factuurstelsel and kasstelsel

Two ways of deciding which quarter an amount falls into. Under the invoice system (factuurstelsel) the invoice date counts, whatever your client does; that is the default when you supply other businesses. Under the cash system (kasstelsel) the date the money arrives counts; it applies to entrepreneurs who mainly supply consumers. Input VAT on your own costs is deducted in the period of the expense under both systems.

In Finq: you pick the system once in Settings and the return page follows it.

Verlegde btw (reverse-charged VAT)

Under reverse charge there is no VAT on your invoice: your client accounts for it instead. It comes up in three situations: business clients in other EU countries, subcontracting in construction, and a set of other designated supplies. On the invoice you state "btw verlegd" plus your client's VAT number. See invoicing clients abroad.

KOR (kleineondernemersregeling)

A small business exemption: below € 20,000 of turnover per calendar year you may choose to charge no VAT at all and stop filing returns. The price is that you no longer reclaim input VAT. For consumer-facing work that is usually a win, for business-facing work usually a loss. All the trade-offs are in the KOR explained.

The income tax words

IB (inkomstenbelasting)

Income tax, including on your business profit. You file once a year, for the previous calendar year, before 1 May. For 2026 the box 1 rates run from 35.70% up to € 38,883, then 37.56% up to € 79,137, then 49.50% above that. See the income tax return for freelancers.

Voorlopige aanslag (provisional assessment)

An estimate of your tax for the current year, paid in monthly instalments so you do not face one large bill. Estimate too low and an additional assessment plus interest follows your return; estimate too high and you have advanced money interest-free for a year. You can adjust it online at any point during the year, and that is exactly what you should do when your year turns out differently than planned. See the provisional assessment.

Zvw contribution (inkomensafhankelijke bijdrage Zorgverzekeringswet)

The surprise for almost every starter. On top of your monthly health insurance premium you pay a separate income-dependent healthcare contribution on your profit: in 2026 that is 4.85% of your profit, up to a base of € 79,409. Employees never notice it because their employer pays it. For you it comes as its own assessment, or it is built into your provisional assessment. Count it in when you set money aside for tax, and read health insurance for freelancers.

Jaaropgaaf (annual statement)

The yearly statement an employer, benefits agency or pension fund sends you, showing your gross pay and the payroll tax withheld. You get none for your business: those figures come from your own records. If you have a job alongside your business, you need the jaaropgaaf for your income tax return.

Ondernemersaftrek (entrepreneur deduction)

The umbrella term for the deductions only entrepreneurs get, with the self-employed deduction and the starter deduction as the best known. Almost all of them require you to meet the hours criterion. See tax deductions for freelancers.

Urencriterium (hours criterion)

The requirement to spend 1,225 hours per calendar year on your business, roughly 24 hours a week all year round. Every hour counts, not only the billable ones: sales, admin, travel time and study are all in. Two things to know. The requirement is not reduced pro rata if you start halfway through the year. And you have to make your hours plausible, so you need an hours record kept during the year. Alongside a job there is also a majority requirement: you must spend more time on your business than on your other work, unless you are a starter. See the hours criterion.

In Finq: your hours sit in a calendar per day and per project, so the record builds itself as you work.

Zelfstandigenaftrek (self-employed deduction)

A fixed amount that comes off your profit if you meet the hours criterion. In 2026 it is € 1,200. The amount is being phased down: € 900 is scheduled for 2027.

Startersaftrek (starter deduction)

An extra € 2,123 (2026) on top of the self-employed deduction. You may use it in at most three of your first five years as an entrepreneur, and the condition is that you were not an entrepreneur in one or more of the five preceding calendar years and applied the self-employed deduction no more than twice in that period.

Mkb-winstvrijstelling (SME profit exemption)

An exemption of 12.7% (2026) of your profit after the entrepreneur deduction has come off. Nothing to arrange, and the hours criterion does not apply to it: the return applies it automatically.

Wet DBA and schijnzelfstandigheid

Schijnzelfstandigheid is false self-employment: freelancing on paper while the reality is employment, with you working under your client's direction, functioning like a permanent colleague and carrying hardly any business risk. The DBA Act puts that assessment on client and contractor together. The enforcement moratorium ended on 1 January 2025, so the tax office is checking again. There is no checklist; all the facts and circumstances weigh together. See false self-employment and the DBA Act.

Your records

Jaarrekening (annual accounts)

Annual accounts with a balance sheet and profit and loss statement, filed with the KVK, are compulsory for bv's and other legal entities. Not for a sole proprietorship. You deliver your figures through your income tax return, which does ask for a balance sheet and a profit and loss statement. A bookkeeper offering you an expensive jaarrekening for your eenmanszaak is selling you something the law does not ask for.

Bewaarplicht (retention obligation)

You must keep your records for seven years, counted from the end of the year they relate to. For data on immovable property the term is ten years. Digital is fine, but in the form you received it: a PDF invoice stays a PDF, and printing it and deleting the file is not allowed. See keeping your invoices.

Two words that only apply to internationals

M-formulier (M-form)

The return for the year you moved to the Netherlands (or left). The M stands for migration: one return combining two periods, the months you lived here and the months you did not. There is often money in it, because too much tends to have been withheld in that year. See the M-form.

30% ruling (expatregeling)

The scheme letting an employer pay part of the salary of an employee recruited from abroad free of tax. For 2025 and 2026 that is at most 30%; from 2027 it drops to at most 27%. What matters for freelancers: it is a payroll scheme and therefore applies only to employees. With a sole proprietorship you have no employer and no salary, so you do not qualify. The exception through your own bv is in the 30% ruling and freelancing.

How Finq handles it

This list helps you read; you still have to keep the records. Finq is fully bilingual, so you work in English while the figures you copy across fit the Dutch boxes exactly.

• Invoices in Dutch or English, set per client, and in dollars, pounds or Swiss francs if you want.
• VAT prepares your return per box (1a, 1b, 1e, 2a, 5b and the rest), so copying it into Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk is all that is left.
• Hours builds the record the hours criterion asks for.
• Reports shows your profit per year plus a tax reserve that includes the brackets, the entrepreneur deduction, the SME profit exemption and the Zvw contribution.

See how the accounting software works.

This is general information, not personal tax advice. Amounts and percentages are for tax year 2026, checked on 6 September 2026 on belastingdienst.nl (zelfstandigenaftrek 2026, startersaftrek, mkb-winstvrijstelling 2026, urencriterium, Zvw contribution percentages, KOR conditions, retention obligation, business logins and the expat scheme) and on kvk.nl (registration fee). They change in most years: check your own situation on belastingdienst.nl or with your bookkeeper.