Annual accounts for a freelancer (zzp): sole proprietorship or BV (Dutch)

The short answer

A self-employed person (zzp) with a sole proprietorship does not prepare annual accounts under Title 9 of Book 2 DCC and files nothing with the KVK. You do keep records and prepare a balance sheet and profit and loss account for the income tax return. If you work through a BV, the rules for the BV apply: prepare, adopt and file.

Updated 30 October 2026

Key facts

Are annual accounts mandatory for a self-employed person (zzp)?

Title 9 of Book 2 DCC, which regulates the annual accounts, applies to the BV, the NV, the cooperative and the mutual insurance association (art. 2:360(1) DCC). The sole proprietorship is not among them. The KVK says it plainly: the filing obligation does not apply to sole proprietorships.

That does not mean you need do nothing. Everyone who runs a business or practises a profession independently must keep records from which their rights and obligations are always apparent, and within six months after the financial year prepare a balance sheet and a statement of income and expenditure (art. 3:15i DCC, which declares art. 2:10(2) DCC applicable). What in everyday speech is called the annual accounts of a self-employed person are those annual figures. There is no prescribed model and nobody has to adopt them.

What is in the annual figures of a sole proprietorship?

In the business part of the income tax return the Belastingdienst asks for two overviews: the profit and loss account, with the income and costs of the year, and the balance sheet, with the assets and debts of the business.

• Balance sheet, left: laptop and other business assets after depreciation, outstanding invoices, hours worked but not yet invoiced, and the bank balance.
• Balance sheet, right: VAT still to be paid, unpaid bills and the equity of the business.
• Profit and loss account: revenue excluding VAT, costs such as software, travel and insurance, and the depreciation.

Two points often go wrong. Your own remuneration is not a cost item: what you transfer to your private account is a private withdrawal that reduces equity. And revenue belongs to the year in which you did the work, even if the invoice goes out in January. See also the annual figures for the self-employed.

Worked example: from revenue to taxable profit in 2026

A self-employed consultant with a sole proprietorship invoices € 75.150 for 2026. In December she still worked 30 hours at € 95 that are only invoiced in January. Costs are € 14.000 and the depreciation on her laptop € 600. She meets the hours criterion and has not reached state pension age.

On the balance sheet of 31 December the € 2.850 of December hours is shown as an amount still to be invoiced. She pays income tax on the taxable profit; the business itself pays no tax.

Sole proprietorship or BV: the differences in one table

If you work through a BV, the board prepares the annual accounts (art. 2:210(1) DCC), the general meeting adopts them and you file them at the latest twelve months after the financial year (art. 2:394 DCC). A BV of a single consultant is usually a micro entity and makes only an abridged balance sheet public; see the micro annual accounts and preparing BV annual accounts yourself. The thresholds are at the size criteria; the audit requirement check shows that an accountant is not mandatory at this size.

What self-employed persons often do wrong

• Thinking a sole proprietorship has to file with the KVK, or conversely that no balance sheet is needed at all.
• Booking private withdrawals and private expenses as business costs.
• Leaving out December hours because the invoice was only sent in January.
• Applying the self-employed deduction without being able to demonstrate the 1,225 hours.

Jaarrekening.io for the self-employed

For a sole proprietorship, Jaarrekening.io does not intend the annual accounts route but the bookkeeping with the VAT return; the income tax worksheet will be available soon. You submit the return itself via the official route, outside the software. If you work through a BV, you use the annual accounts route and import an XAF audit file or a trial balance in Excel or CSV.

Sources

• Dutch Civil Code, Book 2, Title 9
• Dutch Civil Code Book 3, art. 3:15i: obligation to keep records
• KVK: whether or not to file annual accounts?
• Belastingdienst: which figures you need as an entrepreneur for the income tax return
• Belastingdienst: when must the income tax return be in?
• Belastingdienst: self-employed deduction 2026
• Belastingdienst: SME profit exemption 2026
• Belastingdienst: hours criterion
• Belastingdienst: corporate income tax rates
• Belastingdienst: conditions of the small business scheme (KOR)

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