Tangible fixed assets in the annual accounts

The short answer

Tangible fixed assets are physical business assets that serve the enterprise on a lasting basis: buildings and land, machines, equipment and vehicles (art. 2:366(1) DCC). You value them at acquisition or production cost, depreciate over the useful life and process a lasting impairment. Important parts with their own useful life are depreciated separately.

Updated 30 October 2026

Key facts

Legal framework and RJ 212

The law distinguishes five items: business buildings and land, machines and installations, other fixed business assets, assets under construction with advance payments, and assets not serving the production process (art. 2:366(1) DCC). The acquisition price is the purchase price plus incidental costs. If you make the asset yourself, the production cost counts: materials and directly attributable costs, if desired with a reasonable part of the indirect costs and construction interest (art. 2:388 DCC).

Depreciation takes place independently of the result, according to a pattern that fits the useful life (art. 2:386(1) and (4) DCC). An impairment that is expected to be lasting you write off and reverse as soon as it no longer exists (art. 2:387(3) and (4) DCC).

RJ 212 adds two rules that make the difference in practice. Important components with a different useful life you depreciate separately: the component approach. And costs of major maintenance you process in the carrying amount of the asset or through a maintenance provision, in the same way for all similar assets. Expensing major maintenance at once is no longer possible since financial year 2019; ordinary maintenance and repairs remain costs of the year.

From purchase to movement schedule

• Cost. Include delivery, installation and advisory costs. Training of staff, opening costs and general overhead do not belong.
• Start and end. You depreciate from the start of use down to the residual value. You do not depreciate land.
• Replacement. If you replace an important part, you capitalise the expenditure and write off the remaining carrying amount of the old part.
• Impairment. If the recoverable amount is lastingly lower than the carrying amount, you write down. See impairment.
• Movement schedule. Per item you show the carrying amount at the start, investments and disposals, revaluations, depreciation and impairments, and the carrying amount at the end (art. 2:368(1) DCC).

A calculation aid is available at the depreciation calculator; an example of the schedule at the depreciation schedule template.

Worked example: a business property in components

A BV (private limited company) buys a business property on 1 January 2025 for € 600.000, including acquisition costs. It divides the purchase price over four components.

The journal entry for 2025: Depreciation costs buildings € 14.500 to Accumulated depreciation buildings € 14.500. The carrying amount at the end of 2025 is € 585.500. Without components, the BV would depreciate (€ 450.000 − € 30.000) : 40 = € 10.500 and take an unexpected book loss when replacing the roof in 2045. For tax it is different: if the WOZ value of the property is € 560.000, then with an unchanged WOZ value at most € 40.000 in total is deductible as depreciation.

Tangible fixed assets per size class

The valuation rules are the same for everyone, unless a micro or small legal entity chooses tax-based policies. What differs is the breakdown. In brackets are the limits for financial years that began on or after 1 January 2024: at least two of the three must be met on two consecutive balance sheet dates, with the exception of art. 2:398(1) DCC for the first and second financial year.

Tax depreciation

Limits of their own apply to taxable profit. Depreciation is at most 20% of the acquisition cost per year (art. 3.30(2) Income Tax Act 2001 (Wet IB 2001)). On a building you depreciate only as long as the carrying amount is higher than the floor value, and that is the WOZ value (art. 3.30a Wet IB 2001). A business asset of less than € 450 you deduct in one go. If you sell at a book profit, you can form a reinvestment reserve for tax (art. 3.54 Wet IB 2001). Commercially you depreciate over the actual useful life; the difference from the tax carrying amount leads to a deferred tax.

Common mistakes in depreciation

• Taking over the tax 20% in the commercial annual accounts while the useful life is shorter or longer.
• Depreciating a property as one asset, including the land.
• Expensing major maintenance at once, or choosing a different method per property.
• Removing fully depreciated assets from the schedule while they are still in use.
• Keeping a finance lease off the balance sheet.

The asset register in Jaarrekening.io

The bookkeeping of Jaarrekening.io has an asset register with a straight-line depreciation schedule per business asset, the carrying amount per date, sale, revaluation and impairment. The register shows the commercial depreciation next to the tax maximum. Components with their own useful life you record as separate lines. In the notes you complete the movement schedule of fixed assets; the carrying amounts come from the trial balance.

Sources

• Art. 2:366 DCC: tangible fixed assets (wetten.overheid.nl)
• Art. 2:368 DCC: movement schedule of fixed assets
• Art. 2:386, 2:387 and 2:388 DCC: depreciation, impairment and cost
• Current Value Decree: current cost for fixed assets (art. 7)
• RJ-Uiting 2022-8: paragraphs of RJ 212 on components and major maintenance (rjnet.nl)
• RJ-Uiting 2025-10: RJk B2, cost and major maintenance
• Accountant.nl (NBA): processing costs of major maintenance
• Art. 3.30 and 3.30a Income Tax Act 2001: tax depreciation and floor value
• Dutch Tax Administration: what is depreciation?

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