Accounts receivable
Accounts receivable (debiteuren) are outstanding customer receivables. If collection is uncertain, you reduce the value of the receivable by the amount you expect not to receive.
What do accounts receivable mean?
Accounts receivable (debiteuren) are outstanding customer receivables. If collection is uncertain, you reduce the value of the receivable by the amount you expect not to receive.
Accounts receivable are open customer invoices for services already delivered. Value at expected collection and assess doubtful items separately. Prepayments or revenue not yet invoiced sometimes call for a different presentation.
How does it work?
Accounts receivable are the receivables from trade debtors of art. 2:370(1)(a) DCC: amounts that customers owe for goods or services delivered. The receivable arises on delivery and is stated including VAT. You measure it first at fair value and then at amortised cost (RJ 222); with an ordinary payment term that is the invoice amount. If collection is uncertain, you write down to the amount you expect to receive (art. 2:387(2) DCC).
In practice that write-down is called a provision for doubtful debtors, but it is not a provision in the sense of the law: an impairment of an asset is not accounted for through a provision (art. 2:374(2) DCC). It is deducted from the item itself. If part has been outstanding for more than a year, you state that amount (art. 2:370(2) DCC).
Example
On 31 December 2025 a BV has € 96.800 of open sales invoices, including 21% VAT. Customer A (€ 12.100 including VAT) was declared bankrupt in November; the trustee expects no payout. The BV reduces trade debtors by € 12.100: € 10.000 is a loss and € 2.100 is VAT it reclaims. Journal entry: bad debt expense € 10.000 debit, VAT to be reclaimed € 2.100 debit, accounts receivable € 12.100 credit. The remaining receivables are 96.800 − 12.100 = € 84.700. Customer B (€ 6.050) disputes half of its invoice. That receivable stays open as long as the dispute has not been settled; when preparing the accounts, the BV estimates the amount it expects to receive.
In the annual accounts
Current assets under receivables; notes depend on the class.
Difference from revenue still to be invoiced
A receivable exists only once the invoice has been sent. Work delivered on the balance sheet date but not yet invoiced is also a receivable, but appears as an amount still to be invoiced under prepayments and accrued income. An amount a customer has paid in advance is the mirror image: a debt and not a negative receivable.
Common mistakes
- Publishing the gross balance without write-down
- Not reconciling VAT or credit notes
What should you watch for?
- Prepare an ageing analysis at each balance sheet date: not yet due, up to 30, up to 60, up to 90 days and older. Assess everything above 90 days item by item.
- Look at the receipts in January and February: what is paid then was collectible at the balance sheet date.
- Receivables from group companies and loans to shareholders are not among the trade debtors but on their own lines (art. 2:370(1)(b) and (e) DCC). In a micro balance sheet all receivables are included in current assets.
Legal basis and source
art. 2:370 DCC
Frequently asked questions
When may you write off a debtor?
As soon as it is certain that the customer will no longer pay, for example after a bankruptcy without a payout or after a final settlement. Until then you write the receivable down to the amount you expect to receive and it stays in the books.
Do you get the VAT back on an unpaid invoice?
Yes. The right to a refund arises when it is certain that the customer will not pay, and at the latest one year after the consideration became due (art. 29(2) Wet OB 1968, the Dutch VAT Act). You process the amount in the VAT return for that period.
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Preparing Dutch annual accounts?
Your first set of annual accounts is free, for every size class. Create an account and prepare the annual accounts of your Dutch company under Title 9 of Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code.
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