This guide is for someone about to send a first Dutch invoice: a sole trader, a zzp'er (a self-employed freelancer), VOF partners or the founder of a first BV. The rate question arrives in the same weeks as the VAT number and opening a business bank account for a company a week old.
It sets out the statute, the conditions and the dates, for 2026 unless a sentence says otherwise, and does not say which rate, scheme or route suits a particular business. The VAT number and the first return have guides of their own.
What is btw, and is it the same as VAT?
Btw and omzetbelasting are the two Dutch names for VAT, as business.gov.nl's page on VAT rates and exemptions gives them (checked on 29 September 2026). The statute is the Wet op de omzetbelasting 1968 (Wet OB), which ties itself to the EU's common system of value added tax, het gemeenschappelijke stelsel van belasting over de toegevoegde waarde, through the VAT Directive 2006 (art. 2a lid 1 sub a). So btw is VAT under its Dutch name.
The Belastingdienst, the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration, states the rates and decides whether a business counts as an entrepreneur for VAT. The rates are set in one national act, so a business in Amsterdam applies the same rates as one anywhere else.
What are the VAT rates in the Netherlands in 2026?
Netherlands VAT rates in force in 2026, with their Dutch and official English names and the article.
| Rate in 2026 | Dutch name | The Belastingdienst's English name | Applies to | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 percent | algemeen tarief | the high or general tariff | everything that is not exempt and not at 9 or 0 percent | art. 9 lid 1 Wet OB |
| 9 percent | laag tarief | the low tariff | only the supplies listed in Table I of the act | art. 9 lid 2 sub a Wet OB |
| 0 percent | nihil | the 0 percent tariff | only the supplies listed in Table II, on the conditions set by order in council | art. 9 lid 2 sub b Wet OB |
The Belastingdienst's page on rates and exemptions for entrepreneurs opens with the general rate of 21 percent and treats it as the rate for every supply not exempt and not at 9 or 0 percent (checked on 9 October 2026). Asked as the Netherlands VAT percentage, the Netherlands VAT tax rate or the Holland VAT rate, the standard answer is 21 percent, not 23. EU law sets a floor of 15 percent for the standard rate (government.nl, VAT rates and exemptions).
The rates are read from art. 9 of the Wet op de omzetbelasting 1968 as consolidated on 1 January 2026 (wetten.overheid.nl, checked on 29 September 2026).
Working out the VAT in a price that includes it
An illustration on the official rates, not a calculation for any real price: the price without VAT is the price including VAT divided by 1.21 at 21 percent, or by 1.09 at 9 percent. EUR 121 including 21 percent VAT is EUR 100 plus EUR 21; EUR 109 including 9 percent VAT is EUR 100 plus EUR 9.
How do you find the VAT rate for what you sell?
The act does not number these questions; the order is our reading of art. 9, art. 6 lid 1 and the Belastingdienst's residual rule.
Is the supply made in the Netherlands at all?
As a general rule, a service for a business customer is supplied where that customer has the seat of its business (art. 6 lid 1 Wet OB); special rules fix other places, for example for services tied to immovable property (art. 6b) and admission to events (art. 6d). On our reading, a consultancy or design service for a business abroad falls under the general rule, so Dutch rates do not come into it.
Is it exempt?
The government's examples are education, health care, childcare, insurance and banking services; the statute's list is art. 11 lid 1 Wet OB.
Is it on Table II, at 0 percent?
The usual starter cases are goods exported out of the EU and goods carried to another member state and taxed there (part a posts 2 and 6).
Is it on Table I, at 9 percent?
Only if a post names it (art. 9 lid 2 sub a); the Belastingdienst also keeps a list of 9 percent services.
None of these?
Then the rate is 21 percent, the rate for everything not exempt and not at 9 or 0 percent.
- Is the supply made in the Netherlands? (general rule for a business customer: art. 6 lid 1 Wet OB; special rules such as arts. 6b and 6d)Yes: go to question 2No: not a Dutch-rate question
- Is it exempt? Education, health care, childcare, insurance, banking (art. 11 lid 1 Wet OB)Yes: no VAT chargedNo: go to question 3
- Is it on Table II? (art. 9 lid 2 sub b Wet OB)Yes: 0 percentNo: go to question 4
- Is it on Table I? (art. 9 lid 2 sub a Wet OB)Yes: 9 percentNo: 21 percent, the standard rate (art. 9 lid 1 Wet OB)
Order of questions: our reading of art. 9 and art. 6 lid 1 Wet OB, 2026; the act does not number them.
Which goods and services take the 9 percent rate?
Examples a starter meets, with the 2026 rate and the post or page that sets it.
| Supply | Rate in 2026 | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Food and drink for human consumption (not alcoholic drinks) | 9 percent | Table I part a post 1 sub a |
| Alcoholic drinks | 21 percent (our reading: not counted as food under post 1 sub c) | Table I part a post 1 sub c; art. 9 lid 1 |
| Food served for use on the spot in a hotel, café, restaurant or guesthouse | 9 percent | Table I part b post 12 |
| Books, including other physical carriers | 9 percent | Table I part a post 30 |
| Hairdressers' services | 9 percent | Table I part b post 7 |
| Giving the opportunity to practise sport and to bathe | 9 percent | Table I part b post 3 |
| Performances of performing artists | 9 percent | Table I part b post 17 |
| Bulbs, flowers, plants and nursery products | 9 percent (a proposal would make it 21 percent in 2028) | Table I part a post 48 |
| A news website or app that is mainly advertising, video or music | 21 percent | the Belastingdienst's 9 percent services page |
| Short-stay accommodation in hotels, guesthouses and holiday businesses | 21 percent since 1 January 2026 (9 percent before) | the Belastingdienst's accommodation page |
A supply is on the 9 percent list only if a post of Table I names it. The Belastingdienst's page of services at 9 percent (checked on 9 October 2026) lists, among others, repairs of bicycles, shoes and clothing, certain work on homes, camping, access to cultural and recreational events, passenger transport, e-books and access to news sites. For the detail it points to a decree this guide does not describe.
Groceries are food and drink for human consumption, at 9 percent (part a post 1 sub a). Post 1 sub c does not count alcoholic drinks as foodstuffs, so on our reading they take the residual 21 percent. A news website or app that is mainly advertising, video or music takes 21 percent, the same page says.
Which rate applies to a freelancer, a shop and a café?
Three starter cases, as illustrations on the act, not advice for any one business.
Consultancy, design and software work
For a client in the Netherlands, none of the 18 live posts of Table I part b names an advisory, design or software service, so on our reading the residual 21 percent applies. Only the owner can make a zzp registration for a new freelancer, with their own DigiD, and an intermediary may only help; that page explains how we prepare and accompany it.
A small shop's goods
The rate follows the goods, not the shop: books and food at 9 percent (Table I part a posts 30 and 1), alcoholic drinks and goods on neither table at 21 percent.
A café counter: food and drink
Food served for use on the spot is at 9 percent (Table I part b post 12), a post that refers to the foodstuffs of part a post 1. Alcoholic drinks are not foodstuffs under post 1 sub c, so on our reading one counter carries two rates.
A bundle of supplies at different rates follows a separate Belastingdienst page that this guide does not cover.
What is the difference between 0 percent and exempt?
Both put no VAT on the invoice; the difference is the deduction. A supplier at 0 percent keeps the right to deduct the VAT on its own purchases, the input VAT (voorbelasting), according to the Belastingdienst's English page on VAT tariffs (checked on 3 October 2026). Deduction runs only in so far as purchases are used for taxed supplies (art. 15 lid 1 Wet OB), so, as a rule, an exempt business cannot deduct the VAT on costs for its exempt supplies; art. 15 lid 2 sub c makes an exception for certain financial and insurance services to customers established outside the EU.
An exempt business (vrijstelling, exemption) charges no VAT and, on business.gov.nl's wording, files no VAT returns. The government's examples are education, health care, childcare, insurance and banking; the statute's list is art. 11 lid 1 Wet OB.
Zero-rated exports need accounts that show the goods really left the EU (Table II part a post 2; business.gov.nl, VAT for non-resident businesses). On the invoice, an exempt supply, or a supply to another member state under post 6, is indicated as such (art. 35a lid 1 sub l).
What changed in 2026, and what is proposed for 2028?
The rates in force in 2026 are 21, 9 and 0 percent, on the Belastingdienst's rates page (checked on 9 October 2026) and in art. 9 as consolidated on 1 January 2026. No source this guide relies on proposes a change to the standard or the zero rate.
One change took effect on 1 January 2026. Short-stay accommodation (logies) in hotels, guesthouses and holiday businesses moved from 9 to 21 percent, and a payment made in 2025 for a stay in 2026 or later is also taxed at 21 percent (Belastingdienst, VAT rate for accommodation, checked on 3 October 2026). A planned rise for culture, media and sport was withdrawn before it took effect: the explanatory memorandum to the bill amending the Belastingplan 2025 (Kamerstuk 36814 no. 3) records that they keep the 9 percent rate.
For 2028 there is a proposal, not law. The Belastingplan 2027 package of 15 September 2026 would move floriculture and hot-air ballooning from 9 to 21 percent in 2028, according to the Rijksoverheid news item of that day. The plans can still change in parliament and are final only after both chambers agree. This guide says nothing else about 2027 and is updated when the package is adopted.
Short-stay accommodation moves from 9 to 21 percent. A 2025 payment for a 2026 stay is also taxed at 21 percent.
In forceCulture, media and sport stay at 9 percent. The planned rise was withdrawn.
In forceBelastingplan 2027 proposal.
Proposal, not lawFloriculture and hot-air ballooning move from 9 to 21 percent. Final only after both chambers agree.
Proposal, not lawDo you have to charge VAT at all as a small business?
Not necessarily. The kleineondernemersregeling (KOR, the small-business scheme) is an optional VAT exemption for an entrepreneur established in the Netherlands with annual Dutch turnover of at most EUR 20,000 (art. 25a lid 1 Wet OB, 2026). According to business.gov.nl's page on the scheme (checked on 29 September 2026), sole proprietors, VOFs and legal persons, a BV among them, can use it.
The price: no deduction of input VAT and no mention of VAT on an invoice in any way (art. 25a lid 4). A participant files no VAT returns, and in some cases a one-off return; the sources describe no yearly KOR declaration.
The portal itself says the scheme is not always financially beneficial, for instance when investments are planned, and that deductions may have to be reviewed when participation starts or ends. An entrepreneur established elsewhere in the EU has an EU-wide variant up to EUR 100,000 of annual turnover in the Union (art. 25a lid 2).
First invoice coming up? Books, invoices and VAT returns for a new business, in one conversation.
When does the small-business scheme start, and when does it end?
The scheme runs by return period, not from the day a notification is sent (art. 25a lid 5 Wet OB). The Belastingdienst tells each business how often it files, and the official pages this guide relies on publish no processing time for a notification, so the table gives the rules without dates.
How the small-business scheme starts, runs and ends under the 2026 rules.
| Event | What happens | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Joining | Notify the Belastingdienst through Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk; the exemption applies from the first return period that begins at least four weeks after the notification is received | art. 25a lid 5; business.gov.nl |
| Very small turnover | At most EUR 2,200 a year, no duty to register with the KVK and no registration: participation without a notification (business.gov.nl's figure; the amount is set by ministerial regulation) | art. 25b lid 1 sub a; business.gov.nl |
| While in the scheme | No VAT on the invoice in any way, and no deduction of input VAT | art. 25a lid 4 |
| VAT written on an invoice anyway | On our reading, owed from the moment the invoice is issued | art. 37 with art. 25a lid 4 |
| Annual Dutch turnover passes EUR 20,000 | No longer eligible; from the supply that takes turnover over the ceiling, the exemption stops for the rest of that calendar year and the next | art. 25a lid 9 |
| Leaving voluntarily | The scheme is open again only once the calendar year of the exit and the following year have passed | art. 25a lid 7 |
| Returns while in the scheme | None, and in some cases a one-off VAT return; no yearly KOR declaration is described | business.gov.nl |
What must a Dutch VAT invoice show?
Art. 35a lid 1 Wet OB lists the mandatory particulars of an invoice, sub a to sub q; these are the ones that turn on the rate and the number.
- A sequential number that identifies the invoice uniquely (sub b).
- The supplier's VAT identification number (btw-identificatienummer) (sub c).
- For a sole trader, the VAT ID and never the VAT tax number (omzetbelastingnummer), which contains the BSN, as the KVK explains (checked on 3 October 2026).
- The rate applied (sub i).
- The VAT amount (sub j), unless a special scheme excludes that statement.
- Separate data for each rate or exemption, with the VAT in euros, on the Belastingdienst's invoice requirements page (checked on 3 October 2026).
- Any currency for the prices, with the VAT amount in euros (lid 4).
- An exempt supply indicated as such (sub l).
- Under reverse charge, the words "btw verlegd" (sub m) and the customer's VAT ID (sub d).
- Under the KOR, no VAT on the invoice in any way (art. 25a lid 4).
VAT written on an invoice without being due is owed from the moment of issue (art. 37). The Belastingdienst's English page, written for the receiver of an invoice, lists more particulars, among them the names and addresses, the date and the quantity and nature of the supply.
Which rate applies to customers abroad and to imports?
An outline only: each case has mechanics of its own.
A service for a business customer abroad
As a general rule, supplied where the customer has the seat of its business (art. 6 lid 1 Wet OB), subject to special rules such as art. 6b (services tied to immovable property) and art. 6d (admission to events). On our reading, a consultancy or design service is then not a question of Dutch rates.
E-services for a business in another EU country
For telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services only, business.gov.nl says the business customer pays VAT in its own country.
Reverse charge
The seller charges no VAT and the customer is liable for it; the invoice says "btw verlegd" and carries the customer's VAT ID (art. 35a lid 1 sub m and sub d).
Goods exported out of the EU
0 percent under Table II part a post 2, only if the accounts show the goods really left the EU.
Goods to another EU member state
0 percent under Table II part a post 6, when the goods are taxed in the other member state as an intra-Community acquisition.
Imports from outside the EU
21 percent, or 9 percent for the goods of Table I part a (art. 20 Wet OB). Import VAT deferment under the article 23 licence is a matter of fiscal representation in the Netherlands.
Visitors from outside the EU
A seller may refund VAT on purchases of at least 50 euros, digitally only, to a buyer who lives outside the EU, when the goods leave the EU.
Can you reclaim VAT on start-up costs?
Yes, outside the small-business scheme. VAT charged on purchases is deducted from the VAT due on sales (art. 2 Wet OB), in so far as the purchases are used for taxed supplies (art. 15 lid 1). When the deductible input VAT of a period is more than the VAT due, the difference is paid back on request (art. 17). The size of a refund is therefore the business's own input VAT, not a fixed figure.
Inside the scheme there is no deduction at all (art. 25a lid 4), and business.gov.nl says a participant cannot deduct VAT on business costs and investments. The same page says the scheme is not always financially beneficial, for instance when investments are planned. These are the mechanics, not a recommendation either way.
The choice between the scheme and the deduction is the business's own, and it turns on the business's own figures. Our page on bookkeeping in the Netherlands covers the help we offer with a starter's books, invoices and quarterly VAT returns.
After the rate: the VAT number, the first return and the books
The Belastingdienst decides whether a business is an entrepreneur for VAT, and the KVK says the VAT ID usually arrives within 2 weeks of the KVK registration (checked on 29 September 2026). The government portal business.gov.nl says the Tax Administration provides a btw-nummer for VAT purposes within 10 workdays of the KVK registration, without an application, and that sole proprietors and partnerships also receive a VAT ID (btw-id). We found no statute that sets either period. The routes by legal form are set out in the guide on how a starter obtains a VAT number.
The Belastingdienst then tells the business whether to file monthly, quarterly or yearly; quarterly is the most common, according to business.gov.nl's page on filing the VAT return. A return is always due, a nil return (nihilaangifte) included, even in a period without turnover. The forms and the dates belong to the guide on filing the first Dutch VAT return of a new business, and for a BV the first year closes with its first annual accounts.
What goes wrong with VAT in the first year?
First-year errors that follow from the rules above; none is a forecast about any reader's business.
- Picking a rate by feel: the list decides, and 21 percent is what remains (art. 9).
- 9 percent on alcoholic drinks served with food: on our reading, post 1 sub c keeps them out of the food posts.
- A 2026 stay billed at 9 percent because it was paid in 2025: it is taxed at 21 percent.
- Following an older rate guide: culture, media and sport stayed at 9 percent in 2026.
- VAT written on an invoice while in the KOR: on our reading, owed under art. 37.
- A sole trader printing the VAT tax number, which contains the BSN, instead of the VAT ID.
- A foreign-currency invoice without the VAT amount in euros (art. 35a lid 4).
- Joining the KOR without weighing the input VAT on start-up costs, which the scheme does not let the business deduct.
- An export at 0 percent without accounts that show the goods left the EU.
From our practice
Before a starter's first invoice goes out, we check that the invoice template carries the VAT ID, not the VAT tax number, and, for a KOR participant, that the template has no VAT line.
Sources
- Wet op de omzetbelasting 1968, arts. 2, 2a, 6, 9, 11, 15, 17, 20, 25a, 25b, 35a and 37 and Tables I and II, as in force from 1 January 2026, wetten.overheid.nl, checked on 29 September 2026
- Kamerstuk 36814 no. 3, explanatory memorandum to the bill amending the Belastingplan 2025, officielebekendmakingen.nl, checked on 29 September 2026
- Belastingplan 2027 news item of 15 September 2026, Rijksoverheid, checked on 29 September 2026
- Tarieven en vrijstellingen (rates and exemptions), Belastingdienst, checked on 9 October 2026
- Diensten met 9% btw (services at 9 percent), Belastingdienst, checked on 9 October 2026
- Btw-tarief logies (VAT rate for accommodation), Belastingdienst, checked on 3 October 2026
- VAT tariffs, Belastingdienst, checked on 3 October 2026
- Invoice requirements, Belastingdienst, checked on 3 October 2026
- VAT rates and exemptions in the Netherlands, business.gov.nl, checked on 29 September 2026
- Dutch small businesses scheme (KOR), business.gov.nl, checked on 29 September 2026
- What is a VAT tax number?, KVK, checked on 3 October 2026
- Everything you need to know about the VAT identification number, KVK, checked on 29 September 2026
Also cited by name in the text: government.nl, "VAT rates and exemptions" (the EU floor for the standard rate and the examples of exempt activities); the business.gov.nl page on the LEI, RSIN, VAT and KVK numbers (the 10 workdays); business.gov.nl, "Filing your VAT return" (the return frequency and the nil return); business.gov.nl, "VAT for non-resident businesses" (the proof that exported goods left the EU).
Help with a starter's books and VAT returns: books, invoices and quarterly VAT returns for a new business. Request a bookkeeping conversation
Next, for a BV: what a new company draws up and files after its first year, in the guide on the first annual accounts.