Making BV annual accounts yourself: the complete step-by-step plan

Can I make the annual accounts of my BV myself?

You may make BV annual accounts yourself if your BV (private limited company) is micro or small: then no audit requirement applies. You close the bookkeeping, check the trial balance, map the accounts to the statutory layout, prepare the balance sheet, profit and loss account and notes, have the annual accounts adopted and within eight days file the publication documents with the KVK.

• Prepare: within five months after the end of the financial year, so for financial year 2025 no later than 31 May 2026, unless the general meeting extends (art. 2:210(1) DCC).
• File: within eight days after adoption and in any case no later than 31 December 2026 (art. 2:394(1) and (3) DCC).
• Accountant required: only for a medium-sized or large BV (art. 2:393 DCC). For micro and small that obligation does not apply (art. 2:395a(6) and 2:396(7) DCC).

What do you need?

• Up-to-date bookkeeping for 2025: all sales and purchase invoices, bank movements and journal entries.
• The trial balance at 31 December 2025 and at 31 December 2024.
• The adopted 2024 annual accounts, for the opening balance and the comparative figures.
• Balance sheet total, net turnover and average number of employees for 2024 and 2025, for the size class.
• The articles of association: financial year, who adopts and what happens with the profit.
• Loan agreements, rental and lease contracts and security provided, for the notes.
• A login method for the KVK (eHerkenning at at least level EH2, a KVK account with authorisation or the access code) or an SBR route via software or an intermediary.

The step-by-step plan in ten steps

1. Determine the size class of your BV
2. Close the 2025 bookkeeping
3. Export and check the trial balance
4. Map the accounts to the statutory layout
5. Choose and record the accounting policies
6. Prepare the balance sheet and the profit and loss account
7. Write the notes
8. Check the coherence
9. Sign and have the annual accounts adopted
10. Prepare the publication documents and file

Step 1. Determine the size class of your BV

Test three criteria: the value of the assets (the balance sheet total), the net turnover and the average number of employees. A BV is micro or small if on two consecutive balance sheet dates it meets at least two of the three criteria. So use the figures for 2024 and 2025. If 2025 is the first financial year, only the first balance sheet date counts. If your BV has subsidiaries, include their figures as if you were consolidating. You can do a quick test with the size class calculator.

Why: The size class determines what you prepare and what you make public. Micro: ≤ € 450.000 assets, ≤ € 900.000 net turnover, < 10 employees. Small: ≤ € 7,5 million assets, ≤ € 15 million net turnover, < 50 employees. A micro BV files only a limited balance sheet, a small BV an abridged balance sheet with notes and no profit and loss account.

art. 2:395a DCCart. 2:396 DCCart. 2:398(1) DCC

Note: One year above or below a threshold does not yet change the class; only after two consecutive balance sheet dates do you move on. Also use the balance sheet total, not the equity.

Support: Jaarrekening.io derives the class from the figures of both years, applies the two-year rule and the exception for the first financial year and indicates whether the audit requirement applies.

Step 2. Close the 2025 bookkeeping

Process all invoices up to and including 31 December 2025, reconcile the bank accounts to the statements and book the closing entries: depreciation, prepaid and accrued costs, invoices still to be received and the reservation for holiday pay. Complete the year-end closing checklist before you export figures.

Why: The annual accounts attribute income and expenses to the year in which they arise, regardless of when the money comes in or goes out. Bookkeeping that only follows payments is therefore not enough.

art. 2:362(5) DCCart. 2:10(1) DCC

Note: Suspense accounts and query items with a balance on 31 December do not belong in annual accounts. Sort them out now; later they are harder to trace.

Step 3. Export and check the trial balance

Export the trial balance at 31 December 2025 with, per ledger account, the number, the description and the closing balance, and do the same for 31 December 2024. Check that debit and credit are equal, that the result agrees with the profit and loss account from your package and that the 2025 opening balance agrees with the adopted 2024 annual accounts. The trial balance guide describes all the checks.

Why: Everything you prepare afterwards calculates with these balances. An error in the export returns in every item.

art. 2:10(1) DCCart. 2:363(5) DCC

Note: An export from before the last journal entry, or an export without opening balances, can balance and still give the wrong position.

Support: Jaarrekening.io reads an XAF audit file or a trial balance in Excel or CSV and refuses a file in which debit and credit are not in balance, stating the difference.

Step 4. Map the accounts to the statutory layout

Link each ledger account to an item of the statutory balance sheet and profit and loss account: intangible, tangible and financial fixed assets, inventories, receivables, cash and cash equivalents, equity, provisions and liabilities. If your package uses the Referentie Grootboekschema (RGS, the Dutch reference chart of accounts), the RGS code already largely points to the item. You can read more about it under RGS mapping.

Why: The law prescribes the items and their distinction, and the formats are in the Besluit modellen jaarrekening (Decree on annual accounts formats). Whoever deviates from last year's layout must explain that.

art. 2:363(2), (4) and (6) DCCart. 2:375(2) and (6) DCC

Note: Netting is not allowed. A payable with a debit balance is a receivable, even if the package shows it under liabilities. The part of a loan you repay in 2026 you state separately.

Support: Jaarrekening.io uses RGS codes from the XAF file for the mapping, otherwise lets the AI make a proposal that you confirm, and keeps your mapping per account for following financial years.

Step 5. Choose and record the accounting policies

Record how you value: fixed assets at acquisition price less depreciation, receivables after deduction of a provision for uncollectibility, inventories at acquisition price or lower net realisable value. A micro or small BV may also apply the tax bases, but then all tax bases and with a statement in the notes.

Why: The policies determine the result and the equity. The law asks for prudence: you recognise profits only to the extent that they were realised on the balance sheet date, and you include obligations that arose before the balance sheet date if they become known before preparation.

art. 2:384(1) and (2) DCCart. 2:395a(7) DCCart. 2:396(6) DCC

Note: A mix of tax and commercial bases is not permitted. If you change the basis, you explain the reason and the effect.

Support: Jaarrekening.io supports commercial and tax bases. If you choose tax bases, you confirm that you apply them all; the app puts the mandatory statement in the notes (small) or under the balance sheet (micro) and, for small, asks about the items that deviate materially.

Step 6. Prepare the balance sheet and the profit and loss account

Add up the mapped balances to the statutory items and put the prior-year amount next to each item. Process the corporate income tax for 2025 as an expense and, to the extent not yet paid, as a liability. State at the top of the balance sheet whether the appropriation of the result has already been processed.

Why: Comparative figures are prescribed, and the reader must know whether the result still stands as a separate item in equity or has already been added to the reserves.

art. 2:363(5) DCCart. 2:362(2) DCC

Note: The comparative figures must equal the adopted 2024 annual accounts. If you adjust the layout, also revise last year and explain the difference.

Support: In Jaarrekening.io you retrieve last year's figures from the KVK, from the PDF of the previous annual accounts or from the 2024 trial balance, and the amounts come from fixed calculation rules, not from the language model.

Step 7. Write the notes

A small BV explains, among other things: the policies, the liabilities with a remaining term longer than one year and longer than five years, security provided, important obligations not on the balance sheet such as rent and leases, the average number of employees and events after the balance sheet date with important financial consequences. A micro BV states much less, at the bottom of the balance sheet.

Why: The notes give the figures meaning. Without the rent obligation or a guarantee, the balance sheet does not give a true and fair view of the financial position.

art. 2:396(3) and (5) DCCart. 2:381(1) DCCart. 2:380a DCC

Note: Do not forget continuity. If equity is negative or the financing is uncertain, an explanation belongs with it, and a conversation with an adviser is wise.

Support: The AI of Jaarrekening.io writes an editable draft of the notes; valuation, events after the balance sheet date and continuity remain the judgement of the board.

Step 8. Check the coherence

Read the annual accounts like an outsider. Does the equity reconcile: opening plus result less dividend is closing? Do the amounts in the notes agree with the balance sheet? Are the comparative figures equal to last year? Can the corporate income tax be explained from the result? Then fix the size class definitively.

Why: The board is responsible for annual accounts that allow a sound judgement of assets and result. For a micro or small BV nobody checks that for you.

art. 2:362(1) DCC

Note: If a dividend was paid in 2025, check whether the board recorded the distribution test. Without that test the board runs a liability risk if the BV cannot pay its debts afterwards (art. 2:216(3) DCC).

Step 9. Sign and have the annual accounts adopted

All directors and supervisory board members sign the prepared annual accounts; if a signature is missing, you state the reason. After that the general meeting adopts the annual accounts. If all shareholders are also directors, as with most DGA BVs, signing also counts as adoption, unless the articles of association exclude that. The adoption guide describes the three routes.

Why: The adoption date starts the eight-day filing period and must appear on the filed annual accounts.

art. 2:210(2), (3) and (5) DCCart. 2:394(1) DCC

Note: Record the date in writing. Whoever cannot show when adoption took place cannot show either that filing was on time.

Support: Jaarrekening.io records the adoption date, refuses a date on or before the balance sheet date and calculates the latest filing date.

Step 10. Prepare the publication documents and file

From the adopted annual accounts, make the version you must make public: a limited balance sheet (micro) or an abridged balance sheet with notes (small). File it within eight days after adoption via the KVK's Zelf Deponeren portal, or as an XBRL file via SBR software or an intermediary. Keep the confirmation of receipt. See the filing guide and the publication documents guide.

Why: Publication is a statutory obligation. Whoever files more than necessary voluntarily makes public data that can no longer be taken back.

art. 2:394 DCCart. 2:395a(8) DCCart. 2:396(8) DCC

Note: Do not file the internal version with the full profit and loss account, and check the KVK number: annual accounts filed under a wrong number do not count for your BV.

Support: Jaarrekening.io assembles the publication version for your size class and makes an XBRL file of it as a validation candidate; the app sends nothing to the KVK, you file yourself or via your accountant.

Worked example: which class does this BV have and what does it file?

A BV with a financial year equal to the calendar year has the following figures. The amounts are fictitious and rounded.

On both balance sheet dates the BV exceeds two micro thresholds: the assets and the net turnover. It stays within all thresholds for small. The BV is therefore small. It files an abridged balance sheet with limited notes and does not have to make the profit and loss account public. An accountant's audit is not mandatory.

Suppose the taxable amount for 2025 is € 85.000. The corporate income tax rate is 19,0% up to and including € 200.000, so the tax is 19,0% × € 85.000 = € 16.150. That appears in the profit and loss account as an expense and on the balance sheet as a current liability, to the extent the provisional assessment has not yet covered it.

Timeline for financial year 2025 (equal to the calendar year)

With which program do you make the annual accounts yourself?

The law prescribes no tool. In Excel it can be done, but then you build the layout, the comparative figures and all the checks yourself, see also may I make the annual accounts in Excel.

The KVK's Zelf Deponeren portal lets micro and small companies fill in and file the publication documents. It does not make an internal set of annual accounts from your bookkeeping; that must already exist.

Software such as Jaarrekening.io takes over the trial balance and builds the internal annual accounts and the publication version from it. The first annual accounts in your account are free, for every size class; after that you pay once per financial year according to size class, without a subscription. The amounts excl. VAT are on the pricing page. Which route fits depends on how much you want to calculate and check yourself.

When do you bring in an accountant or adviser?

An accountant is mandatory for the audit of a medium-sized or large BV. For a small BV too, help is wise if the bank asks for a compilation report, if there is a takeover, reorganisation or revaluation, if continuity is doubtful, or if you cannot assess the tax side (deferred taxes, fiscal unity, innovation box) yourself. Preparing it yourself and having an adviser look along do not exclude each other.

Sources

• Art. 2:210 DCC (wetten.overheid.nl): preparing, signing and adopting at the BV
• Art. 2:394 DCC (wetten.overheid.nl): filing within eight days, at the latest twelve months
• Art. 2:396 DCC (wetten.overheid.nl): small legal entity: thresholds, exemptions and publication
• Art. 2:395a DCC (wetten.overheid.nl): micro legal entity: thresholds, limited balance sheet, tax bases
• Art. 2:398 DCC (wetten.overheid.nl): first financial year
• KVK: Latest date for filing annual accounts: deadlines BV (8 August, 8 November, 31 December), no deferral, criminal liability, dissolved entity
• KVK: What do the annual accounts consist of?: components to be made public per company class, signing and date of adoption
• Belastingdienst: Corporate income tax rates: 19,0% up to and including € 200.000, 25,8% above that (2023 up to and including 2026)

All sources consulted on 5 October 2026. Statutory texts according to Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code as in force from 1 July 2026.

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