The financial year in the Netherlands (boekjaar)

The short answer

A Dutch legal entity's financial year (boekjaar) is the calendar year unless its articles of association designate another one (art. 2:10a DCC). The first year may be shorter or longer than twelve months, and a new year-end requires an amendment of the articles through a notary. Preparation and filing deadlines count from the last day of the year.

Updated 30 October 2026

Key facts

The default: the calendar year

Dutch company law does not force a company to close its books on 31 December. It supplies a default and lets the articles of association (statuten) replace it. The default is a single sentence:

Het boekjaar van een rechtspersoon is het kalenderjaar, indien in de statuten geen ander boekjaar is aangewezen.

Unofficial translation: the financial year of a legal entity is the calendar year, unless the articles designate another financial year.

The rule is part of the general provisions on legal entities, so a BV, an NV, a cooperative, an association and a foundation all start from the calendar year. If the articles are silent, the year runs from 1 January to 31 December. If they name another year, for instance 1 April to 31 March or 1 July to 30 June, that is the financial year for the accounts and, as a later section shows, for corporate income tax. The articles usually have a clause on the financial year next to the one on the annual accounts. The last day of the financial year is the balance sheet date (balansdatum), and every deadline below is counted from it.

Every deadline counts from the last day

The accounts calendar does not care whether the year is a calendar year. A BV prepares its accounts within five months after the year-end, and the general meeting can extend that by up to five months on account of special circumstances (art. 2:210(1) DCC). After adoption the accounts are filed with KVK within eight days, and in any case within twelve months after the year-end (art. 2:394(1) and (3) DCC). KVK puts the outer limit the same way: the accounts must be on file twelve months after the end of the financial or book year at the latest.

The eight-day rule can only make the filing date earlier than the twelve-month limit, never later. If the accounts have not been adopted two months after the preparation period has ended, the board files them as prepared but not adopted (art. 2:394(2) DCC). The deadline guide walks through these steps for a calendar year, and the BV guide covers the case where signing by all directors counts as adoption.

The first financial year can be shorter or longer

A new company's first financial year starts on the day it is incorporated and runs to the date its articles name, so it is rarely exactly twelve months. The Tax Administration states that the first financial year of a newly established company can be longer or shorter than a normal year, and the same goes for the last year before a liquidation.

Founders use this freedom for a practical reason. A company incorporated in early December with calendar-year articles would otherwise owe a full set of accounts for a stub period of a few weeks. Putting the first year-end at 31 December of the following year gives one set of accounts for thirteen months instead. The price of the longer period is that the first accounts arrive late, and some of their figures are harder to read.

We found no maximum length for a first financial year in Title 9 or in the Tax Administration's guidance. The deed of incorporation and the articles decide where it ends, so agree the length with the notary and the tax adviser before you sign. Jaarrekening.io treats a period of more than 24 months as a probable input error; that is a software check, not a legal limit.

• One column. There is no previous year, so the first accounts show the period only; the first figures to compare with appear in the second set of accounts.
• State the period. The profit and loss account covers the real number of months. Say in the notes how long the period was, so a reader does not take thirteen months for a full year (the insight requirement of art. 2:362(1) DCC).
• Size class. For a new company the first balance sheet date drives the size classification of the first years (art. 2:398(1) DCC); the size-class guide shows the three criteria.
• Deadlines. They run from the end of the long year, not from the incorporation date.

Changing the year-end

Because the financial year sits in the articles, changing it means amending the articles. A change of articles goes through a notary, who also reports it to KVK; Ondernemersplein describes that route for amendments in general. The resolution and the deed should state the new year-end and the financial year from which it applies. A common business reason is to align with a foreign parent whose consolidation runs on a different date.

The year in which the change takes effect is a transitional year (tussenjaar), and the Tax Administration says it can be longer or shorter than twelve months. A company that moves from 31 December to 30 June closes a six-month year on 30 June and continues with twelve-month years to 30 June after that. The next accounts show the six-month column beside the new twelve-month figures, with a note that the two are not comparable.

Two cautions apply. The Tax Administration does not allow a change whose only purpose is an incidental tax advantage. And the calendar is unforgiving: arrange the change well before the old year-end. If the deed is signed only after that date, ask the notary and the tax adviser which year-end applies to the year in progress, because the answer decides your deadlines.

Tax and other filing periods

The financial year in the articles also fixes the year for corporate income tax: according to the Tax Administration, the financial year for the corporate income tax return must equal the financial year in the articles. A company with a calendar year files its return before 1 June of each year, says business.gov.nl, which adds that broken and shortened years follow different rules. For a company, the Dutch tax year and the financial year are therefore the same thing, and there is no separate fiscal calendar to choose.

VAT returns and payroll tax returns run on their own filing periods and do not follow the financial year. Keep two calendars: one for the accounts, with the dates above, and one for returns.

Which year counts for tax: a company versus a sole proprietor

For corporate income tax (Vpb), the Dutch statute says that the year means the financial year, and only a taxpayer without regular bookkeeping and annual closings falls back on the calendar year (art. 7(4) Wet Vpb 1969, in Dutch; our paraphrase). A BV, NV, cooperative or foundation that keeps proper books therefore works with its own financial year. The Belgian term for the year in which the return is filed, aanslagjaar, is not the test in the Dutch statute, so do not add or subtract a year when you read Belgian guidance.

A financial year of more than twelve months, such as a first year that runs to the end of the next calendar year, is still one financial year and one return. The Tax Administration's page for foundations and associations (changed 23 July 2026, in Dutch) gives the filing rule: if the extended year ends on 31 December, the return is due before 1 June of the following calendar year; if it ends on another month-end, within five months after that end. The page for businesses (read 1 November 2026) mentions only broken and shortened years, so confirm the date on the letter you receive. Business.gov.nl (no date shown) adds that the standard extension is five months, and that a longer one needs reasons on the form.

A sole proprietorship (eenmanszaak) has no articles and no legal personality, and its owner pays personal income tax. KVK's English page, dated 2 February 2026, says you always file for the previous year: from March 2026 you report income from 2025, and most entrepreneurs finish before 1 May. The statute starts from the calendar year. Another financial year is allowed only if the nature of the business justifies it, and its profit then counts for the calendar year in which that year ends (art. 3.66(1) and (2) Wet IB 2001, in Dutch; our paraphrase). A sole proprietor with a year from 1 May 2025 to 30 April 2026 therefore reports that profit for 2026. A company with the same dates reports it for its own financial year, so the two forms do not share a tax calendar.

A sole proprietorship is not a Title 9 entity: it has no statutory annual accounts and files nothing with KVK. The profit-and-loss record the owner keeps supports the tax return only.

Worked example: a thirteen-month first year

A fictitious software BV is incorporated on 1 December 2025. Its founders choose articles with a first financial year ending on 31 December 2026, so the first period lasts thirteen months and later years are calendar years. Revenue is a steady €20,000 a month, so the 13-month revenue is €260,000, where twelve months would be €240,000. The result for the period, after tax, is €40,000, and the two directors are the only staff.

• Size: assets of €131,000, revenue of €260,000 and two employees are far below the micro limits (assets €450,000, net turnover €900,000, fewer than 10 employees), so the micro-entity regime is open if no exclusion applies. Converting thirteen months to twelve would not change that.
• Calendar: the accounts are prepared by 31 May 2027, or by 31 October 2027 after a full extension, and filed within eight days after adoption and at the latest on 31 December 2027.
• Notes: they state that the period runs from 1 December 2025 to 31 December 2026, that it lasts thirteen months, and that there is no previous year.
• Next year: 2027 revenue is €252,000, or €21,000 a month. Against the 13-month column of €260,000 it looks like a fall of about 3 percent, but per month it is an increase of 5 percent. A reader who sees only the totals draws the wrong conclusion, which is why the notes say how long the first period was.

Worked example: moving the year-end to 30 June

A second fictitious BV has used the calendar year since it was incorporated. Its UK parent closes its books on 30 June, so the shareholder resolves in March 2026 to amend the articles, and the notary executes the deed in April 2026. The new financial year ends on 30 June, which makes 1 January to 30 June 2026 a six-month transitional year.

• Transitional year: prepared by 30 November 2026, or by 30 April 2027 after a full extension, and filed by 30 June 2027 at the latest. If the general meeting adopts the accounts on 15 December 2026, filing is due within eight days, by 23 December 2026.
• Next year: 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 is prepared by 30 November 2027 and filed by 30 June 2028 at the latest.
• Comparison: the 2026/2027 accounts show the six-month column beside twelve months. The totals of €150,000 and €336,000 differ by a factor of 2.24, but revenue per month rose by 12 percent. The notes say so.
• Tax: the corporate income tax return follows the new year-end, and a six-month year is a shortened year for tax as well, so the return follows the special rules the Tax Administration applies to that case.

Common mistakes

• Setting every reminder to 31 December when the articles name another year-end.
• Counting the eight days from the year-end instead of from adoption.
• Treating a thirteen-month first year as a full year when comparing it with the second year.
• Changing the year-end by an internal decision without amending the articles.
• Forgetting that the tax return follows the financial year in the articles.

The financial year in Jaarrekening.io

Jaarrekening.io takes the period of every financial year from dates and does not assume a calendar year. When you create a year it suggests a period based on the previous one, which you can edit, for example after a changed year-end or for a longer first year. The next year starts the day after the previous one ends and ends on the same day and month. The application rejects a period that ends before it starts, that overlaps the previous year or that lasts more than 24 months, and for a new entity it asks whether this is the first financial year since incorporation.

A year that does not last twelve months makes the notes ask for the reason and for a remark that the comparative figures are not fully comparable. Deadlines are calculated from the last day of the year. If the previous year is not in the application, it asks for that year's start and end dates, and it converts a previous year shorter than twelve months to a twelve-month equivalent for the size test. The application does not amend articles of association; that stays with the notary. The application is available in English; the annual accounts it prepares are in Dutch.

The first set of annual accounts in an account is free; later sets cost micro €250, small €500, medium-sized €2,000 and large €5,000, once per financial year and excluding VAT.

Sources

• Dutch Civil Code, art. 2:10a (in Dutch)
• Dutch Civil Code, art. 2:210 (in Dutch)
• Dutch Civil Code, art. 2:394 (in Dutch)
• Dutch Civil Code, art. 2:362 (in Dutch)
• Tax Administration: taxable amount and financial year (in Dutch)
• business.gov.nl: filing your corporate tax return
• Ondernemersplein: drawing up, amending and requesting articles of association (in Dutch)
• KVK: when to file annual accounts
• Wet Vpb 1969, art. 7 (in Dutch)
• Wet IB 2001, art. 3.66 (in Dutch)
• Tax Administration: filing period and due date for foundations and associations (in Dutch)
• KVK: your first income tax return

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