Dutch annual accounts in English or a foreign currency

The short answer

Yes, on conditions. Line items are described in Dutch unless the general meeting resolves to use another language, and a foreign currency is allowed if the company's activities or its group's international spread justify it (art. 2:362(7) DCC). KVK takes English, French or German accounts only if no Dutch version was made (art. 2:394(1)). The corporate tax return stays in euros without a functional-currency ruling.

Updated 28 October 2026

Key facts

The law in one paragraph

Indien de werkzaamheid van de rechtspersoon of de internationale vertakking van zijn groep dat rechtvaardigt, mag de jaarrekening of alleen de geconsolideerde jaarrekening worden opgesteld in een vreemde geldeenheid. De posten worden in de Nederlandse taal omschreven, tenzij de algemene vergadering tot het gebruik van een andere taal heeft besloten.

Unofficial translation: if the activities of the legal entity or the international spread of its group justify it, the annual accounts, or only the consolidated accounts, may be drawn up in a foreign currency. The items are described in Dutch unless the general meeting has resolved to use another language.

Language: what to decide and what to file

The general meeting decides the language; the statute does not limit the choice to English. Record the resolution, preferably as a standing decision rather than one per year. The management report follows the same rule (art. 2:391(1) DCC), and the management report and other information are drawn up either in the language of the accounts or in Dutch (RJ 190.111; RJk A1.312).

Filing is narrower. KVK receives the accounts written entirely in Dutch; only if no Dutch version was made may the accounts be filed in French, German or English (art. 2:394(1) DCC). Accounts drawn up in Spanish, for example, would therefore need a Dutch, English, French or German version for the register. If a Dutch version exists alongside an English one, the Dutch one is filed. The works council, if the company has one, receives the adopted accounts and management report in Dutch (art. 31a(2) Works Councils Act).

A translation for a parent or bank is not the statutory document. Agree which version the directors sign and the general meeting adopts; a convenience translation should say it is one and must contain the same figures. KVK's filing portal is available in English, as the filing guide explains, and declarations for the 403 exemption may also be in English.

Currency: functional and presentation currency

The statutory test is whether the activities or the group's international spread justify a foreign currency. Signs that a foreign currency is justified include where the bulk of the company's contracts and funding are denominated, which currency its group keeps its books in and the currency of the parent's group accounts (RJ 190.103); the parent itself counts as part of the group's international spread (RJ 190.104). Separately, every company determines its functional currency, the currency of the economic environment in which it operates, mainly from the currency that drives its sales prices and its costs (RJ 122.105–122.107; RJk A2.402–A2.403).

A company may present its accounts in a currency other than its functional currency. It then translates assets and liabilities at the closing rate, income and expenses at the rates on the transaction dates or a close approximation such as an average rate, and books the differences in a translation reserve within equity (RJ 122.302–122.303). Share capital in a different currency from the accounts is shown at the closing rate, with the rate and the amount in the original currency stated (art. 2:373(5) DCC); the resulting difference runs through other reserves (RJ 190.107).

Worked example: a US-owned BV that reports in dollars

A fictitious Dutch BV distributes software for its US parent. Almost all its sales contracts and intercompany purchases are in US dollars, its bank loan comes from the parent in dollars, and the parent's consolidated accounts are in dollars. Its functional currency is the dollar, and the activities and group spread justify dollar accounts. The general meeting resolves in 2025 that the accounts and management report will be in English, from financial year 2025 onwards.

• The articles state share capital of €10,000. At 31 December 2025, with an assumed closing rate of $1.10 per euro, the balance sheet shows share capital of $11,000 and a note giving the rate and the €10,000.
• At the end of 2024 the same capital was shown at an assumed $1.05, that is $10,500. The $500 difference is taken to other reserves.
• No Dutch version is made, so the English accounts are filed with KVK. The company has no works council; if it had one, it would need a Dutch copy.
• For corporate income tax the BV still files in euros: it did not request a functional-currency ruling before 1 January 2025. It can request one before a later financial year starts; once granted, it must file in that currency for at least ten years before switching back.

Common mistakes

• No general meeting resolution on the language, so the English accounts lack a basis.
• Filing an English translation while a Dutch version exists.
• Choosing dollars because one large customer pays in dollars, while costs, staff and financing are in euros.
• Translating the whole balance sheet, including equity, at one closing rate.
• Assuming the dollar accounts also change the tax return currency.

Language and currency in Jaarrekening.io

Jaarrekening.io prepares annual accounts in euros with Dutch line items. If the records are kept in another currency, or the functional currency is not the euro, the figures have to be translated into euros first; the application asks this question for medium-sized and large entities and its review step warns about it. The PDF and Word export has an English option that translates the title, headings, column headers and table of contents, marked as a non-binding convenience translation, while line items and notes stay in Dutch. It therefore does not produce English or dollar statutory accounts.

Sources

• Dutch Civil Code, art. 2:362 (in Dutch)
• Dutch Civil Code, art. 2:394 (in Dutch)
• Dutch Civil Code, art. 2:373 (in Dutch)
• Dutch Civil Code, art. 2:391 (in Dutch)
• Works Councils Act, art. 31a (in Dutch)
• Tax Administration: functional currency (in Dutch)

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