SBR and XBRL: how digital filing of the annual accounts works

The short answer

SBR (Standard Business Reporting) is the Dutch standard for exchanging business reports digitally. XBRL is the language in which the figures are recorded, the Dutch Taxonomy the dictionary. You file annual accounts with the KVK using SBR software or in the portal Zelf Deponeren Jaarrekening. Since financial year 2025 the digital obligation applies to all size classes.

Updated 30 October 2026

Key facts

Four concepts told apart

SBR and XBRL are therefore not synonyms. XBRL is the language, SBR the system that uses that language. The same system also serves reports to other government bodies; for credit reports to banks there is a separate line. The short definitions are at SBR, XBRL, Dutch Taxonomy and Digipoort.

Why digital filing is mandatory

The annual accounts become public by filing with the Business Register, in the manner prescribed by or under art. 19a Handelsregisterwet 2007 (art. 2:394(1) DCC). The Decree on electronic filing with the Business Register elaborates this. Micro and small legal entities file electronically through SBR from the financial year beginning on or after 1 January 2016, medium-sized ones from 1 January 2017 and the others from 1 January 2025.

The same decree instructs the KVK to make an online self-filing service for annual accounts available. As a result there are two routes that both satisfy the law. Listed issuers fall outside this regime; they submit to the AFM (Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets).

Route 1: SBR software

In this route software makes an XBRL file of the annual accounts and sends it through Digipoort to the KVK. On receipt automatic checks take place. If all is in order, a confirmation of receipt follows by email through Digipoort; if the KVK cannot process the file, you get an error message and submit it again after repair.

To be able to send, a PKIoverheid certificate is needed in addition to the software; the KVK mentions this in particular for medium-sized and large legal entities. Ask your software supplier how this is arranged in the package. Whoever files many annual accounts, such as an accounting firm or bookkeeping office, works faster with this route according to the KVK. What to look for when choosing a package is at XBRL and SBR software.

Route 2: the portal Zelf Deponeren Jaarrekening

In the KVK portal, micro and small businesses can prepare and file the annual accounts. Medium-sized and large businesses can upload the already adopted files there. You can log in with eHerkenning at level EH2 or higher, with an email address and password to which an authorisation is linked, or with the legal entity's access code. Medium-sized and large can only file with email address and password.

After sending you receive a confirmation by email with a PDF rendering, and the annual accounts are visible in the Business Register. The portal is a fill-in and sending aid for the publication documents; it does not produce an internal set of annual accounts from your bookkeeping. The screens and the order of steps are in the guide to filing with the KVK.

The routes per size class

iXBRL is a variant in which the annual accounts remain readable as a formatted page for people, while the figures are tagged for computers. Large legal entities may choose; for a sustainability report iXBRL is the prescribed format.

Worked example: from balance sheet item to XBRL fact

A micro BV has at 31 December 2025 a balance sheet total of € 310.000 and equity of € 140.000. In an XBRL file each amount becomes a fact with four attributes.

The recipient does not have to retype or interpret anything: the file itself says that 310000 is the total of the assets. On the other hand, the file must comply with the taxonomy and with the KVK's rules. The figures themselves must balance: against € 310.000 in assets stand here € 140.000 equity, € 10.000 provisions and € 160.000 liabilities. If a mandatory item is missing or the file uses a concept from the wrong taxonomy version, an error message follows and nothing has been filed.

Which taxonomy version for which year

According to the KVK Business Rules NT21 (§1.2), the year in which the financial year begins determines the version, not the year in which it ends or is filed. An earlier version that the Business Register still accepts is also allowed. NT21 has been final since October 2026, but is only accepted from 1 January 2027: a shortened financial year that begins in 2026 and is filed earlier therefore uses NT20. With SBR software, ask the supplier which version is used for your financial year.

Common mistakes

• A wrong KVK number. The annual accounts then do not appear under your legal entity, and the other company can no longer file.
• Leaving an error message unresolved. As long as the file is rejected, the deadline keeps running; see resolving an XBRL validation error.
• Entering an adoption date for annual accounts that are not adopted. Through SBR you leave that field empty.
• Wanting to file a dissolved legal entity through the portal. For micro and small, according to the KVK that is now only possible through SBR.
• Sending personal data along. The KVK asks for restraint with, for example, handwritten signatures: everything you file is public.
• Special characters. Not every package processes them; the KVK names this as a cause of error messages.

XBRL in Jaarrekening.io

Jaarrekening.io makes an XBRL file for every size class, for financial years beginning in 2023 up to and including 2026, according to the table above. That file is a validation candidate: the app does not perform an official validation against the taxonomy and the KVK's rules. Have it checked before use with SBR software or by your accountant. For medium-sized and large the auditor's report is not in the file; it goes along as a separate file. For a large legal entity the file contains the full single-entity annual accounts in the KVK's large model. Because an XBRL file for large cannot yet go through the portal, your accountant submits it with SBR software, with the auditor's report in the same format. The app does not make an iXBRL file or consolidated annual accounts in XBRL, and it never sends anything to the KVK.

Sources

• Art. 2:394 DCC: publication by filing with the Business Register (wetten.overheid.nl)
• Handelsregisterwet 2007, art. 19a: electronic filing (wetten.overheid.nl)
• Besluit elektronische deponering handelsregister: obligation per size class and the KVK's online service (wetten.overheid.nl)
• KVK: Filing with SBR
• KVK: Filing your annual accounts yourself
• KVK: Preparing and filing an XBRL annual account
• KVK: Filing annual accounts, business class large
• KVK: Final date for filing annual accounts
• SBR: What is Standard Business Reporting?
• SBR: Business Register domain (XBRL and iXBRL)
• SBR: KVK stops supporting NT14 and NT15 (N-2 policy)
• SBR: Kamer van Koophandel Business Rules NT20 (version table per reporting year)
• Dutch Taxonomy NT20: concept list jenv-bw2-data (nltaxonomie.nl)

Read more