VAT Registration in the Netherlands for Foreign-Owned Companies

No. The notary who incorporates the BV registers it in the Business Register, and the KVK passes the details on to the Belastingdienst. The Belastingdienst then decides whether the BV is an entrepreneur for VAT and sends a letter with its VAT ID and VAT tax number. A separate application is a wasted step.

The Belastingdienst states no fee for VAT registration on its registration page or on the foreign-company form. On the automatic route, the KVK charges a one-off registration fee of EUR 85.15 in 2026 (art. 5 Financiële regeling handelsregister 2019). eHerkenning is bought from an approved supplier at its own price. Our fee is on request.

For a Dutch BV or branch, business.gov.nl says the Belastingdienst lets the company know within 10 working days of KVK registration whether it is an entrepreneur for VAT; the KVK's own wording is within 2 weeks. For a foreign company registering on the Belastingdienst form, no processing time is published, so we promise none.

A BV logs in to Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk with eHerkenning, so it needs a login or someone authorised. With a KVK number it can buy regular EH3 or the special Belastingdienst EH3 login tool. Otherwise it gives an intermediary a chain authorisation, although some government services do not support logins from chain authorisations.

Often not. When a supplier not established in the Netherlands supplies a Dutch VAT-registered business, the VAT is levied from the customer under the reverse charge (art. 12(2) Wet OB). Supplies to private individuals, or to other foreign entrepreneurs in the Netherlands, are different: the supplier then files a Dutch VAT return and pays the VAT itself.

There is none. Anyone who independently carries on a business is an entrepreneur (art. 7(1) Wet OB), whatever the turnover. The figures often quoted are other limits: the optional KOR exemption at EUR 20,000 of Dutch turnover, the EU-KOR at EUR 100,000, the automatic KOR at EUR 2,200 and the EUR 10,000 EU distance-sales threshold.

On the Belastingdienst's Registration form Foreign companies, which also covers OSS, corporation tax, payroll taxes, transfer tax and dividend tax. The form is printed, signed and posted to Belastingdienst/Klantgegevens, Postbus 2892, 6401 DJ Heerlen. The Department of International Issues handles Dutch VAT for all foreign entrepreneurs and issues the VAT ID by letter.

A Dutch BV or branch does not register at all: the KVK passes its details to the Belastingdienst once it is in the Business Register. A foreign company without a Dutch establishment uses the Registration form Foreign companies, which the Belastingdienst asks to be printed, signed and sent by post. The official page offers no online filing.

For a BV the VAT ID is NL, then the company's RSIN, the letter B and two digits: 14 characters, such as the official example NL000099998B57. The two check digits run from B01 to B99 and are random. The KVK number is a different number. The VAT number guide covers every format.

The VAT ID. Art. 35a(1)(c) Wet OB requires the supplier's VAT ID on the invoice, and a website that sells must show it as well. The VAT tax number carries no NL prefix. Customers check numbers in VIES, which works only with the VAT ID: a VAT tax number entered there returns an error message.

No such document exists in Dutch practice. The Belastingdienst sends a letter with the VAT ID and the VAT tax number. A customer, bank or marketplace that wants confirmation can check the VAT ID in VIES, the EU validation system, which covers Dutch VAT IDs and those of other EU countries. There is no Dutch public register of VAT numbers.

An EU-established business can: it submits the refund request to the tax administration of its own country and does not need to be registered in the Netherlands. A business established outside the EU must first register with the International Office of the Belastingdienst, on the foreign-company form, before it can claim a Dutch VAT refund.

The Belastingdienst sets the period, quarterly being the most common. A company established in the Netherlands, including a BV owned from abroad, files and pays within one month after the period; a foreign company has two months. A return is due even with no turnover, and no reminder, assessment or payment link is sent.

Not always. A foreign company may appoint an authorised representative, usually a bookkeeper or tax adviser, with no requirements attached, and it is still treated as a foreign entrepreneur. A fiscal representative under art. 33g Wet OB is different: it must hold a licence from the inspector. Our fiscal representation page sets out when one is used.

No. When shares in a company are transferred, the Belastingdienst states that the legal person and the business do not change, so a buyer of an existing BV does not re-register it for VAT. The VAT ID and the VAT tax number stay with the BV, whoever holds its shares.