The Dutch VAT / BTW Number Explained (2026)

Bottom line up front: a Dutch business gets two VAT numbers. The BTW-id is your public identification number — it goes on invoices and your website. The omzetbelastingnummer (OB-nummer) is the private number you use in correspondence with the Belastingdienst and on your VAT returns. Standard Dutch VAT (BTW) is 21%, with a 9% reduced rate and 0% for exports and intra-EU supplies. If your Dutch turnover stays under €20,000 a year you can opt into the small-business scheme (KOR) and charge no VAT at all. Most businesses file VAT quarterly, paying within one month of quarter-end.

BTW-id vs OB-nummer: two numbers, two jobs

When you register a business in the Netherlands, the Belastingdienst can issue two related numbers, and the confusion between them is the single most common VAT question from founders.

• BTW-identificatienummer (BTW-id). This is your public VAT number. It must appear on your invoices, quotations, and website. For a sole trader (eenmanszaak) it is deliberately built not to contain your citizen service number (BSN), for privacy. Format looks like NL + digits + B + two digits.
• Omzetbelastingnummer (OB-nummer / turnover-tax number). This is your private number. You use it when you file your VAT return and when you correspond with the tax authority. You do not put it on invoices.

A BV receives its VAT numbers alongside its RSIN legal-entity identifier after KVK registration; a sole trader receives them after registering the eenmanszaak. The practical rule: BTW-id on anything a customer sees, OB-nummer only for the Belastingdienst.

When do you actually need to register?

In the Netherlands, VAT liability follows economic activity, not a turnover threshold. If you supply goods or services in a business-like way, you are in principle an ondernemer voor de btw (VAT entrepreneur) and receive a BTW-id when you register with the KVK. There is no general registration threshold you have to cross first — liability starts when the activity does.

That is different from countries where you only register above a sales limit. Here, the small-turnover relief works the other way round: you are registered by default and can opt out via the KOR (below).

The rates you charge:

• 21% — the standard rate, applying to most goods and services.
• 9% — the reduced rate, for things like food and non-alcoholic drink, water, medicines, books, passenger transport and various services.
• 0% — the zero rate, for exports outside the EU and qualifying intra-EU supplies (see reverse charge below).

The KOR: charging no VAT under €20,000

The kleineondernemersregeling (KOR) is the Dutch small-business VAT scheme. If your VAT-taxable Dutch turnover stays under €20,000 in a calendar year, you can join the KOR and then:

• charge no BTW to your customers;
• file no VAT return;
• but also cannot reclaim the input VAT on your own purchases.

Only turnover normally subject to Dutch VAT counts toward the €20,000. You apply through Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk, and the application must arrive at least four weeks before the start date you want. The KOR is attractive for low-cost service businesses (little input VAT to lose) and for anyone selling to private consumers who cannot reclaim VAT anyway. It is usually unattractive if you have large VAT-bearing costs or sell mainly to VAT-registered businesses, because you forfeit the input-VAT refund.

If you cross €20,000 mid-year, you leave the KOR from that point and charge VAT again on further turnover — so watch the running total.

Filing: quarterly returns and deadlines

Most Dutch businesses file VAT quarterly. The rule is simple and evergreen: you file and pay within one month of the period end. For calendar quarters in 2026 that means:

• Q1 → 30 April 2026
• Q2 → 31 July 2026
• Q3 → 31 October 2026 (shifts to the next working day when it lands on a weekend)
• Q4 → 31 January 2027

Some businesses file monthly (often those who are regularly in a refund position) or annually (by 31 March of the following year). On each return you report the VAT you charged (output) minus the deductible VAT on your business costs (input); the difference is what you pay or reclaim. Keeping clean records and filing on time is the core of staying compliant — that is what our bookkeeping service and the BTW calculator are built around.

EU trade: reverse charge and the 0% rate

Cross-border trade inside the EU is where VAT gets its own logic, so it is worth understanding the two mechanisms:

Reverse charge (verleggingsregeling). When you sell services to a VAT-registered business in another EU country, you generally do not charge Dutch VAT. Instead you invoice at 0%, note that VAT is “reverse-charged”, and the customer accounts for VAT in their own country. You must show both VAT numbers on the invoice and report the supply in a periodic EU sales listing (opgaaf intracommunautaire prestaties).

Intra-EU supply of goods at 0%. Goods shipped from the Netherlands to a VAT-registered buyer in another member state can be zero-rated, provided you have valid evidence of transport and the customer’s valid VAT number (checked via VIES).

Two practical cautions: sales to EU consumers (not businesses) follow different distance-selling and OSS rules and are not reverse-charged, and importing from outside the EU brings import VAT into the picture. When in doubt on a cross-border invoice, get the VAT treatment checked before you send it — correcting a mislabelled invoice later is far more work than getting it right once. The safe evergreen habits are: put the BTW-id (never the OB-nummer) on invoices, verify EU customers’ VAT numbers, and file within one month of each quarter.