Annual accounts of a Dutch maatschap: preparing, filing and costs

The short answer

A maatschap is an agreement, not a legal entity. It does not fall under Title 9 and does not file annual accounts with the KVK (Dutch Chamber of Commerce). The partners do prepare a balance sheet and a profit and loss account each year, with the profit allocation and a capital account per partner. Each partner reports his profit share in his own income tax return.

Updated 30 October 2026

Key facts

What a maatschap is, and what that means for the figures

A maatschap is an agreement in which two or more persons put something into a common pool in order to share the benefit (art. 7A:1655 DCC). The form is usual for professions: dentists, physiotherapists, lawyers. The difference with the vof is that the maatschap carries on a profession and the vof a business.

Because the maatschap is not a legal entity and does not appear in art. 2:360 DCC, the annual accounts rules of Book 2 do not apply. There is no size class, no adoption by a general meeting and no public disclosure. The duty to keep books and to prepare a balance sheet and a statement of income and expenses each year does apply: it rests on anyone who independently carries on a profession or business (art. 3:15i DCC).

Preparing the accounts of a maatschap

The accounts of a maatschap answer two questions: what did the practice earn as a whole, and what is each partner entitled to?

1. Close the joint books: billings, services still to be invoiced, staff, rent and shared costs.
2. Separate partnership costs from costs a partner bears himself, such as his own car or studies, if the agreement provides for it.
3. Determine the profit of the maatschap.
4. Distribute the profit according to the agreement: fixed shares, a split by turnover or days worked, or a combination.
5. Update the capital account per partner.
6. Prepare a statement per partner for the tax return: profit share, own costs and assets outside the partnership.

Submit the documents to all partners for signature. The agreement usually sets the period; the statutory period for the balance sheet is six months after the financial year.

Components and an example: physiotherapy practice with three partners

The accounts consist of the result of the practice, a balance sheet, the profit allocation and the movement in the capital accounts. In this example the partners share the profit according to the number of days they work in the practice; that gives the ratio 40/35/25.

Each partner reports his profit share as profit from business. Own costs that a partner bears outside the maatschap are still deducted in his own return. The maatschap itself files no income tax return. It is however an entrepreneur for VAT and pays payroll taxes for its staff.

Filing: no duty for the maatschap

There is no filing duty for the maatschap, and no exception to it either. The rule that brings a vof or cv with only foreign companies with share capital under Title 9 (art. 2:360(2) DCC) does not mention the maatschap. The figures of a maatschap are therefore not public.

Whoever starts a maatschap does register the partners in the Business Register. The KVK records the name, the activities and the names of the partners there; financial data are not part of it.

If a partner participates through his own BV, the practice BV, then that BV has its own annual accounts and filing duty; see annual accounts BV.

What do the accounts of a maatschap cost?

The costs of the accounts are partnership costs and are deducted from the joint profit, unless the agreement provides otherwise.

There is no statutory tariff for compilation work. Ask for one quote for the maatschap and a price per partner for the returns, so that nobody is surprised.

Doing it yourself or outsourcing for a maatschap

The law does not require an accountant. Still, there is a good reason to have the accounts prepared externally: whoever prepares the figures helps determine what the others earn. That matters most:

• when partners join or leave, where goodwill, contributions and hidden reserves play a role;
• with an allocation key with several components;
• when partners participate through their own BV;
• when the maatschap has exempt and taxable turnover mixed and the VAT deduction must be split.

If the allocation in the draft documents deviates from what the partners agreed, ask for an explanation before you sign. According to Ondernemersplein (the Dutch government's business portal), the difference between maatschap and vof is going to disappear; there is no date yet.

Common mistakes with the maatschap

• Booking a partner's own costs as partnership costs, so that the others pay along.
• Applying last year's allocation key although working days or shares have changed.
• Not tracking withdrawals per partner, so that the capital accounts do not reconcile.
• Leaving out services still to be billed at the end of the year.

Jaarrekening.io and the maatschap

Jaarrekening.io does not prepare annual accounts for a maatschap. The annual accounts route is built on Title 9, and the maatschap falls outside it. You create the maatschap without that route and use the bookkeeping, VAT and payroll; at year-end the app distributes the result among the partners, and the income tax worksheet calculates per partner. The bookkeeping with the allocation among the partners and VAT are already open; payroll and the worksheet per partner are coming soon. If a partner participates through a BV, that BV can follow the annual accounts route. The app submits nothing anywhere.

Sources

• Art. 7A:1655 DCC: what a maatschap is
• Art. 7A:1670 DCC: profit allocation by contribution
• Art. 7A:1679 and 1680 DCC: liability of the partners for equal shares
• Art. 2:360 DCC: the maatschap does not appear in the scope of Title 9
• Art. 3:15i DCC: bookkeeping obligation for anyone who independently carries on a profession
• Art. 52 AWR: retaining the records for seven years
• Belastingdienst: Maatschap and consequences for your taxes (in Dutch)
• Ondernemersplein: The maatschap (registration and new rules) (in Dutch)
• Belastingdienst on the date in the return letter: When must my income tax return be in? (in Dutch)

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