Annual accounts for transport (Dutch): fleet, lease and depreciation
At a transport company the capital is in the vehicle fleet. Finance or operating lease, residual value and useful life determine the balance sheet and the result.
The short answer
In the annual accounts of a transport company, the focus is on the vehicle fleet. Determine per contract whether it is a finance lease or an operating lease (RJ 292). With a finance lease the vehicle and the lease liability are on the balance sheet and you depreciate. With an operating lease the instalment is an expense of the financial year and you state the multi-year commitment in the notes, except as a micro entity.
Updated 30 October 2026
Key facts
| Lease contracts | RJ 292 Leases: finance or operating lease |
| Finance lease | Vehicle under tangible fixed assets, lease liability under liabilities |
| Operating lease | Lease instalments straight-line as an expense; commitment in the notes (art. 2:381(1) DCC), not for micro |
| Depreciation | Annually, under a method that fits the expected useful life (art. 2:386(4) DCC) |
| Truck toll | Amount per kilometre driven for trucks above 3.500 kg |
Finance or operating lease: the difference on the balance sheet
What decides is not the name of the contract but who bears the benefits and risks of the vehicle. With a finance lease you are the economic owner: you pay for maintenance, bear the risk and become owner at the end, while the leasing company remains legal owner during the term. With an operating lease you use the vehicle for an agreed period and hand it back afterwards; maintenance and risk lie with the leasing company.
| Finance lease | Operating lease | |
|---|---|---|
| On the balance sheet | The vehicle as an asset and the lease liability as a liability | Nothing |
| In the profit and loss account | Depreciation and interest | The lease instalment, straight-line over the lease period |
| The monthly instalment | You split it into interest and repayment | Is an expense in its entirety |
A finance lease increases the balance sheet total and an operating lease does not; the form of the contract can therefore play a part in the size class, which otherwise depends on net turnover and employees (size criteria). Whether an audit is mandatory you test with the audit requirement check.
Depreciating tractors and trailers
You depreciate a vehicle every year under a method that is matched to the expected useful life (art. 2:386(4) DCC), regardless of whether it was a good or a bad year (art. 2:386(1) DCC). You state the method in the notes (art. 2:386(2) DCC), unless your BV is micro. You depreciate down to the residual value: the amount the vehicle is expected to still fetch at the end of its useful life.
Parts with a clearly shorter life, such as a refrigeration unit or a tail lift, can be depreciated as a separate component; RJ 212 deals with significant components and their replacement. Work out the annual charge with the depreciation calculator or read on at tangible fixed assets.
Worked example: a tractor unit of € 120.000
A transport BV brings a tractor unit of € 120.000 into use on 1 January, with an expected useful life of six years and a residual value of € 30.000. It compares a finance lease with an operating lease of € 2.300 per month for six years. With the finance lease it pays € 24.400 in the first year, of which € 6.600 is interest.
| First year | Finance lease | Operating lease |
|---|---|---|
| Depreciation | (€ 120.000 − € 30.000) / 6 = € 15.000 | None |
| Interest or lease instalment | € 6.600 interest | 12 × € 2.300 = € 27.600 |
| Total expense in the result | € 21.600 | € 27.600 |
| Tractor unit on the balance sheet | € 120.000 − € 15.000 = € 105.000 | Not on the balance sheet |
| Lease liability on the balance sheet | € 120.000 − € 17.800 = € 102.200 | Not on the balance sheet |
| In the notes, except for micro | Which part of the liabilities runs for longer than a year | The minimum lease payments for the remaining years: 5 × € 27.600 = € 138.000, average remaining term five years (RJk B11.113) |
Of the € 24.400, € 17.800 is repayment; only the interest and the depreciation affect the result.
Revenue per trip, fuel and the truck toll
Transport is a service: the revenue belongs to the period in which the trip was driven (RJ 270.115). Diesel in own tanks at the yard is inventory.
Owners of trucks with a technical maximum mass above 3.500 kg pay truck toll: an amount per kilometre driven that is lower the cleaner and lighter the vehicle is. The costs belong to the month in which the kilometres were driven; the December invoice from the service provider is an amount still to be paid on 31 December. The motor vehicle tax for trucks up to 12.000 kg has no longer existed since 1 July 2026.
Common mistakes in the transport sector
- Booking the entire term of a finance lease as costs, so that the vehicle and the debt are missing from the balance sheet.
- Not stating operating lease commitments in the notes although the BV is small or larger.
- Depreciating to zero although the vehicle still has a clear trade-in value after six years.
What BVs in this sector file
Road transport, inland shipping, aviation, storage and couriers together fall under SBI section H, transportation and storage (SBI 49–53).
| Balance sheet class, financial year 2024 | Filings | Solvency: p25 – median – p75 | Current ratio: p25 – median – p75 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Micro (balance sheet up to and including € 450.000) | 3.030 | 0,0% – 41,6% – 78,8% | 0,70 – 1,49 – 3,92 |
| Small (balance sheet above € 450.000 up to and including € 7,5 mln) | 4.348 | 22,6% – 46,4% – 71,6% | 1,00 – 1,58 – 3,06 |
| Medium-sized (balance sheet above € 7,5 mln up to and including € 25 mln) | 398 | 21,6% – 43,3% – 76,2% | 0,75 – 1,37 – 2,54 |
| Large (balance sheet above € 25 mln) | 125 | 14,9% – 52,6% – 87,5% | 0,46 – 1,11 – 2,63 |
In the small balance sheet class, section H had a median solvency of 46,4% for financial year 2024, lower than the 73,4% of all balance sheets in that class combined; the median current ratio was 1,58, lower than nationally (3,28). The national figure is high because of the many holding companies.
The balance sheet class follows only the balance sheet total, not the statutory size class. The dataset does not state the legal form; it covers all XBRL filings with this SBI section, mostly by BVs. Source: KVK Business Register Open Dataset Annual Accounts, processed by Jaarrekening.io, CC BY 4.0. Data downloaded and processed on 2 November 2026. Explanation and all sectors: solvency per sector and current ratio per sector.
The vehicle fleet in Jaarrekening.io
After importing the XAF audit file or trial balance (Excel or CSV), Jaarrekening.io suggests on which line items of the annual accounts your accounts for tangible fixed assets, lease liabilities and costs belong; you check that proposal. Whether a contract is a finance or operating lease is for you to assess. If your size class requires notes, you get them as an editable draft and you add the commitments that do not appear from the balance sheet.
Sources
- Dutch Civil Code, Book 2, Title 9
- KVK: what is leasing? Finance and operating lease
- RJ Publication 2020-12: draft paragraphs RJ 292 Leases on operating and finance leases (draft)
- RJ Publication 2023-5: chapter 292 Leases, also for rent (outcome of evaluation of IFRS 16 option)
- RJ Publication 2022-8: paragraphs of chapter 212 Tangible fixed assets
- RJ 270 Revenue (RJ Publication 2020-15, appendix 2, final)
- Truck toll: this is what you will pay
- Truck toll: for whom and why
Frequently asked questions
Is a truck on an operating lease really nowhere in the annual accounts?
Not on the balance sheet, but in the notes. Significant financial commitments for a number of future years that are not on the balance sheet are stated there (art. 2:381(1) DCC). A micro entity is exempt from those notes (art. 2:395a(6) DCC).
When is a lease contract a finance lease?
If the benefits and risks of ownership in fact lie with you. Indications are that you become owner at the end and that you bear the maintenance and the risk yourself. RJ 292 elaborates on the classification.
May I depreciate a new truck in one go?
No. On fixed assets with a limited useful life you depreciate annually under a method that is matched to the expected useful life (art. 2:386(4) DCC). Only a lasting fall in value, for example after severe damage, you recognise immediately.
Where do I book the deposit on an ordered tractor unit?
Under tangible fixed assets, as a prepayment (art. 2:366(1) DCC, under d).
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