Annual accounts for a Dutch freelancer (zzp): prepare, file and costs

The short answer

Zzp (zelfstandige zonder personeel, self-employed without staff) is not a legal form; most freelancers have a sole proprietorship (eenmanszaak). Then there is no annual accounts duty under Book 2 DCC and no filing with the KVK (Dutch Chamber of Commerce). You do prepare a balance sheet and a profit and loss account every year: the Belastingdienst asks for both in the income tax return. If you work through a BV, the rules for the BV apply.

Updated 30 October 2026

Key facts

What the word annual accounts means for a freelancer

Anyone asked for annual accounts (jaarrekening) as a freelancer meets a word that can mean two things. In the law it is the mandatory, partly public report of a legal entity such as the BV. In everyday use it means your annual figures: a balance sheet and a profit and loss account for the past year.

For the freelancer with a sole proprietorship only the second meaning applies. There is no statutory model, no adoption and no publication. You do have to keep records from which your rights and obligations appear (art. 52 AWR, the General Taxes Act), and the Belastingdienst asks in the business part of your return for exactly those two overviews.

Preparing your annual figures

A freelancer who supplies services usually has a short balance sheet. The work lies in completeness: all invoices, all costs, and a clean line between business and private.

1. Check that every sales invoice of the year is in the bookkeeping, including invoices that were only paid in January.
2. Go through the business account for costs without a receipt and for private expenses.
3. Put purchases that last for years, such as a laptop or camera, on the balance sheet as a business asset and depreciate them.
4. Reconcile the VAT: the debt or receivable on the balance sheet should fit your last return of the year.
5. Add up your hours and keep the supporting evidence: diary, timesheets, quotes and invoices.
6. Print the profit and loss account and the balance sheet and keep them with your return.

The Belastingdienst itself calculates how depreciation works: a camera of € 6.000 that you use for five years and is then still worth € 1.500 gives depreciation of € 900 a year. You can calculate your own business asset in the depreciation calculator.

Components and an example: freelance translator in her second year

A freelancer's annual figures consist of a profit and loss account and a balance sheet. The example uses the amounts the Belastingdienst names for 2026.

She meets the hours criterion and, as a starter, may still apply the increase. The calculation for 2026: € 54.000 profit, minus € 1.200 self-employed deduction and € 2.123 starter's deduction, is € 50.677. Of that, 12,7% is exempted by the SME profit exemption: € 6.436. The taxable profit from business is € 44.241.

Filing: not as a freelancer with a sole proprietorship

As a freelancer with a sole proprietorship you file nothing, so there is no filing deadline either. What you do keep an eye on:

• Income tax return. It must be in before the date in your return letter, often 1 May. Anyone who asked for an extension for the 2025 return before 1 May 2026 got until 1 September 2026.
• Keeping records. Seven years, including your time records if you use the self-employed deduction.
• Balance sheet and statement of income and expenses. Within six months of the financial year (art. 3:15i DCC).

Privacy is an advantage here: your turnover and profit are not public anywhere. A client, landlord or bank sees your figures only if you provide them yourself. If you switch to a BV, that changes: the BV files at least an abridged balance sheet every year, which anyone can request.

What do a freelancer's annual figures cost?

There are three common routes. None of the three has a statutory rate.

What you pay a bookkeeper or for software is a business cost. When getting a quote, ask whether the VAT returns, an interim overview of figures for a mortgage and questions from the Belastingdienst are included in the price.

The Belastingdienst notes that almost two thirds of entrepreneurs outsource the return to an adviser, and that doing the return yourself works well if the records are not too complex.

Do it yourself or outsource as a freelancer

You may do everything yourself. There is no audit requirement and no mandatory bookkeeper. The choice is practical: how much time do you have, and how sure are you of your case? Help is wise if:

• you doubt whether you meet the hours criterion, for example alongside a job as an employee;
• you apply for a mortgage and the lender wants an income statement or figures over several years; see which annual figures do I need for a mortgage?;
• you have a company car, a home workspace or a large investment;
• you are considering setting up a BV.

Even with an adviser you remain responsible for your return. Read the figures before they are sent.

Common mistakes of freelancers

• Counting turnover at the moment of payment instead of at the moment of invoicing or delivery.
• Reconstructing the time records afterwards; you must be able to make the hours plausible.
• Counting hours in which you were only reachable as hours worked.
• Seeing private withdrawals as costs; what you transfer to yourself is not wages and does not reduce the profit.

Jaarrekening.io and the freelancer

Jaarrekening.io is built for the annual accounts of legal entities under Title 9. For a freelancer with a sole proprietorship the app makes no such annual accounts, and you do not need them. You create a sole proprietorship without the annual accounts route, for the bookkeeping, the VAT return and the worksheet that calculates from profit to taxable profit; the bookkeeping and the VAT return are there already, the worksheet is coming soon. If you work through a BV, that BV follows the annual accounts route. You create an account yourself.

Sources

• Art. 52 AWR: bookkeeping duty and keeping records for seven years
• Art. 3:15i DCC: a balance sheet and statement of income and expenses each year
• Art. 3.76 Wet IB 2001: self-employed deduction and starter's deduction
• Belastingdienst: figures for the business part of the return (with the depreciation example)
• Belastingdienst: Return checklist for entrepreneurs (do it yourself or outsource)
• Belastingdienst: Hours criterion
• Belastingdienst: Self-employed deduction 2026 and starter's deduction
• Belastingdienst: Self-employed deduction (carrying forward unrealised deduction)
• Belastingdienst: SME profit exemption 2025 and 2026
• Belastingdienst: extension for the 2025 return until 1 September 2026
• Ondernemersplein: annual accounts for sole proprietorships and freelancers

Read more