Below in this FAQ Accountancy & tax advice you will find the frequently asked questions with answers. Is your question not listed? Then please contact us!
The AA Accountant is an independent, reliable accountant who specialises in small and medium-sized businesses, and who supports companies in keeping their accounts, compiling financial statements, assessing or auditing financial statements and issuing a statement. A statement that makes doing business considerably easier for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs also turn to their AA Accountant for advice on business economics, tax and legal matters and automation.
As an entrepreneur you are legally obliged to keep and retain good records. A good administration provides insight into the financial position of your company and can serve as a steering tool for your business.
There are no requirements for the form. It is quite possible to keep a small administration in Excel. If the administration becomes larger, we usually advise clients to purchase an accounting package or to outsource it. For many clients we take care of the administration on a monthly or quarterly basis.
You submit the VAT return every month, quarter or year. The Belastingdienst (Dutch tax office) assess your business and indicate how often the return must be filed. Our accountants and advisers ensure that your return is submitted on time. A VAT return that arrives too late will often result in a penalty from the Belastingdienst.
A private company with limited liability (BV) must be established by notarial deed by a civil-law notary. The deed of incorporation contains the statutes of the company. The articles of association of the BV state who the founders, directors and shareholders of the BV are. In addition, the articles of association also include the share capital.
In order to set up your BV, the civil-law notary will need the following information from you:
• the purpose of the BV;
• the share capital of the BV;
• who the founders are;
• who the directors will be;
• who the shareholders will be;
• valid identification documents of the above persons.
The tax obligations differ from entrepreneur to entrepreneur. That is why we only point out the taxes you may have to deal with as an entrepreneur here. If you make a profit with a sole proprietorship or receive salary as a director of a BV, you will owe income tax. The salary of a director/owner of a BV must have a certain minimum amount. If you have staff, you have to deal with payroll tax.
If you have a BV that makes profits, you must pay corporate income tax on those profits. If you provide services or make deliveries, you will have to deal with VAT. In addition, there are municipal taxes such as sewerage tax and property tax, and you pay holding tax for the company car. There are many more taxes. Would you like to know which ones are specific to you? Then feel free to contact us.
When you start your business, you choose a legal form for your company. This choice does not have to be final. The company form can be changed during the lifetime of the company. AAme will advise you on the legal form that best suits the size and risks of your business. Obviously our advisors will look at which legal form is fiscally most advantageous for you. Whether you are a sole trader, an SME or a large business.
As already mentioned, the choice of legal form also has fiscal consequences: companies without legal personality fall under income tax, while BV’s fall under corporation tax. In the case of unincorporated businesses, the entrepreneur can make use of various tax facilities.
Yes. Not only because the law requires it in some cases, such as legal entities, but also because it is useful. Financial statements are the annual keystone of financial administration. They consist of a balance sheet, a profit and loss account and explanatory notes.
The balance sheet usually shows the company’s assets on the asset side (left). The liabilities side (right) usually shows debts and equity. From the balance sheet you can see how your company is doing in terms of assets and liabilities.
The profit and loss account is a representation of the turnover of the past (financial) year and the costs that have been made. The balance of sales and costs can be positive (profit) or negative (loss). The financial statements thus provide insight into how your business has performed over the past year.
From the data in the annual accounts, so-called ‘key figures’ can be derived. These ratios enable a comparison with previous years and with your branch colleagues. How well or badly do you perform compared to previous years and compared to colleagues in the same industry? You can take the information into account when making (strategic) decisions for the future of your company.
The 1 May deadline for filing your income tax return only applies if you have received an invitation letter from the Tax and Customs Administration to file your income tax return.
Have you not received a letter? In that case you have 5 years to comply with your declaration obligations.
It is also possible to request the tax authorities for an extension of the submission period. If you make use of the services of a tax consultant, such as Aame Accountants & Belastingadviseurs, the submission period will be extended by one extra year.
Only expenses for training or a study for your (future) profession are deductible. The purpose of the study must be aimed at improving and/or gathering knowledge in direct relation to the current employment or change of position. This does not include the expenses that are reimbursed and also no deduction applies if one can claim study financing (or a similar benefit).
Only costs such as school fees, books, and other required and prescribed learning materials are deductible. The costs for a Dutch course, integration course, housing costs, the purchase of a computer etc. are not deductible. In addition, the maximum deduction is capped at € 15,000 and a threshold of € 250 must also be taken into account.
It is also important that only the study costs of yourself or your tax partner are deductible and not those of your children.
If you are married or in a registered partnership, your spouse or registered partner is also your tax partner.
You can also be a tax partner in other cases if you are registered together at the same address. You must then meet one of the following conditions:
• you are both of age and have a notarial cohabitation contract;
• you have a child together;
• one of you has acknowledged a child of the other;
• you are registered with a pension fund as a pension partner;
• you are joint owners of your own home, in which you both live;
• you are both of age and a minor child of one of you is also registered at your address (joint family);
• you were tax partners in the previous year.
Do you have a strongly fluctuating income? Using the averaging scheme, your income from three consecutive years is divided proportionally over these years. Subsequently, the income tax owed over these three years is recalculated. If the newly calculated tax amounts are lower than those of the previously imposed assessments, you are entitled to a tax refund if the threshold of € 545 is exceeded.
Through the website of the European Commission you can check whether the VAT of your Dutch and European customers is correct. Via this website https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/vieshome.do you have this possibility. This prevents any future challenges with the tax authorities. We cannot make it more fun, but we can make it more compliant.
• your full name and that of your customer
• state the legal name. The trade name is also allowed, as long as it is registered with the Chamber of Commerce together with the address and residence. In case of fiscal unities it is customary that the name of the component that provides the service is mentioned on the invoice.
• your full address and that of your customer
State the address where the company has its actual seat. It is not sufficient if you only state a PO Box number.
• your VAT identification number
This is the number preceded by ‘NL’. For fiscal unities, state the VAT identification number of the entity providing the service.
• if you are registered with the Chamber of Commerce: your KVK number
• The date of issue of the invoice an invoice number. Use consecutive numbers for your invoices, with 1 or more ranges. Each invoice number can only occur once.
• if you deliver goods: what kind of goods you delivered and how much
For example, 75 pounds of village or 25 AAme vests.
• if you provide services: what kind of services you provided and the extent of it
For example 1 massage of 1 hour or the raising of a garden of 50 m2 with 30 cm of soil.
• the date on which the goods or services were delivered or the date of an advance payment
• the amount you request, excluding VAT
Do you supply goods or services with different VAT rates? If so, state the separate amounts. Also state the unit price, if applicable.
• the VAT rate applicable to the goods or service supplied
• the VAT amount
AAme is happy to assist you with the drafting of your first invoice or to think along with you about your existing invoicing.
1. Public transport costs;
2. Mortgage interest and costs of own home;
3. Contribution annuity, pension bank savings;
4. Disability insurance premium;
5. Alimony ex-partner;
6. Expenditure on specific care costs;
7. Weekend expenses for disabled children;
8. Study Fees;
9. Donations.
If you travel to work by public transport and your costs are not (fully) reimbursed by your employer, you may be eligible for the travel expenses deduction.
The amount of the deduction is a fixed amount and depends on the one-way travel distance (more than 10 km) and the number of days per week you travel to work with a maximum of € 2,150. The deduction is reduced by the travel allowance already received from your employer.
You must provide proof of the travel allowance by means of a public transport statement or a travel statement from your employer. At the request of the Belastingdienst (Dutch tax office), you must be able to substantiate the statement with, for example, the travel history of your ov-chipkaart.
Taxable income from owner-occupied property is the benefits derived from owner-occupied property less any deductible costs relating to the property.
The benefits of owning a home are determined by means of the owner-occupied home tax credit (= a percentage of the WOZ value). The deductible costs consist of the interest paid on owner-occupied home debts and other costs.
The following costs are, under certain conditions, deductible:
• the interest paid on your debts forming part of the owner-occupied home debt;
• the costs incurred for loans belonging to the owner-occupied home debt;
• the periodic payments on account of the leasehold rights, building rights and encumbrance rights, which relate to the owner-occupied home.
The owner-occupied home debt consists of debts entered into for the purchase, improvement or maintenance of your own home or the redemption of the right of emphyteusis or building lease.
Any surplus value realised on the sale of your old home will limit the amount of homeowner’s debt in your new home and therefore the potential deductibility of mortgage interest charges.
For the deductibility of the interest, a distinction must be made between debts incurred prior to January 1, 2013, and debts incurred after that date. As of January 1, 2013, the conditions for qualifying as an owner-occupied home debt have been drastically changed, and annual repayments of the debt are mandatory. These conditions do not apply to debts that already existed on the change date.
The following expenses related to money loans, provided the loan meets the requirements, are deductible:
• advice and brokerage fees for your mortgage adviser;
• commitment fee (fee you pay to extend an interest rate offer);
• notary fees for the mortgage deed;
• cadastral duties for the mortgage deed;
• valuation costs for obtaining the loan;
• translation costs;
• costs for the application for the National Mortgage Guarantee;
• construction interest that you paid after signing the preliminary sales contract, but before signing the mortgage deed;
• costs for your new building or renovation deposit;
• cancellation costs;
• penalty interest on refinancing a mortgage.
As of 2014, a lower rate than the normal rate in this highest tax bracket of 49.50% (2020) will apply to your deductibility of the costs of your own home.
As of 2014, the maximum rate for the owner-occupied home deduction will be adjusted annually.
If your taxable income from work and home is in the highest rate bracket (from € 68,508), the adjusted rate for the deduction will be a maximum of 46.0% in 2020.
The rate will continue to be reduced each year until you are only able to deduct interest paid and expenses incurred on your own home at 37.1% in 2023.
The premiums you pay in 2020 for an annuity insurance or deposit into a pension bank savings account are deductible under certain conditions. Besides conditions regarding the insurer and the content of the policy, there must be a pension shortfall. To assess whether you have a pension shortfall your annual margin and reserve margin should be calculated.
Annual margin
Per year it can be calculated how much pension you would be allowed to build up in a calendar year and how much you have actually built up through your employer (the so-called A-factor). This calculation is called the annual margin calculation. The annual margin arises if in a certain year you
accrue less pension than the maximum you are allowed to accrue. The calculation for 2020 is, in most cases, based on your situation and income in 2019.
Reservationspace
In addition to the annual margin you may also have a reserve margin. The reserve margin is the unused portion of the annual margin from the previous seven years. You can still (partially) use the reserve margin if you want to deduct more premium than you have in the annual margin in 2020.
Alimony that you have to pay to one or more ex-partners by virtue of a court order and/or the payments you have mutually agreed upon are deductible.
The alimony must serve to support that partner(s).
Child support for your children is not deductible.
If you paid a significant amount of healthcare costs in 2020, you are allowed to deduct certain healthcare costs, called specific healthcare costs.
To qualify for a deduction, you must meet the following conditions.
Conditions
• You may only deduct expenses that you incur in connection with illness or disability;
• You may only deduct the costs in the year in which you paid them;
• You may only deduct the part of the costs for which you cannot get compensation from your insurer or from the special assistance;
• The care costs are not covered by the compulsory and/or voluntary excess;
• You are only eligible for deduction if the threshold amount is exceeded;
• You must be able to prove your expenses if the tax authorities ask you to.
For whom?
In certain cases, you can also deduct health care expenses if they were incurred for:
• yourself and your (tax) partner;
• your children under the age of 27, if they are unable to pay the costs themselves;
• the severely disabled persons of 27 years or older who belong to your household;
• the care-dependent parents, brothers and/or sisters living with you.
Specific care costs
The deductible specific healthcare costs include, among others, the costs listed below. Additional conditions have been set for the deduction of a number of healthcare costs:
• GP, dentist or specialist;
• nursing care in a hospital or nursing facility;
• medical treatments prescribed and supervised by a doctor, such as acupuncture, rehabilitation, homeopathy;
treatment by a paramedic for whom no referral by a doctor is necessary, such as a physiotherapist, dietician or speech therapist;
• orthotics;
• hearing aids, unless the additional cost is due to a personal preference, such as the colour of the device;
• diet prescribed by a doctor or dietician, for which a fixed amount applies depending on the diet and/or condition;
• transport to a doctor or hospital, the actual expenses per kilometre;
• additional transport costs due to illness or disability, if you can make a plausible case for higher transport costs as a result;
• extra family help, which is subject to a threshold amount depending on your income;
• extra clothing and bedding, a fixed amount if the illness lasts or will last for at least 1 year;
• travel expenses for visits to the sick person, provided that the sick person belonged to your household, was nursed for more than one month and that you visit the sick person regularly.
Non-deductible healthcare costs
The expenses listed below are not deductible:
• premiums for your (supplementary) health insurance;
• excess, statutory and voluntary;
• personal contribution CAK and Zorgverzekeringswet;
• Purchase of tools such as:
o Rollator, crutches and other walking aids;
o Scooter and wheelchair;
• Costs for vision support such as:
o Lenses or glasses;
o Laser treatment of an eye to replace glasses.
• Adjustments to the home due to illness or disability, such as a stair lift.
Threshold healthcare costs
The expenses for specific health care costs lead to a deductible amount insofar as they exceed the income-related threshold. The threshold is determined based on the joint (collective) income of you and your tax partner.
For an income up to € 7,863, the threshold is € 136 (tax partners € 272). For income above € 7,863, this threshold is 1.65% of the aggregate income. For income above € 41,765, the threshold is € 689 plus 5.75% over the aggregate income above € 41,765.
Parents or caregivers sometimes have extra weekend expenses because of the care of severely disabled persons. If the extra expenses are incurred for a person who is 21 years of age or older and usually resides in an institution, these expenses may be deductible.
The actual costs are not relevant, but the amount of the deduction is fixed:
• per day of care, the tax payer can take € 10 into account;
• if travelling by private car: € 0.19 per kilometre.
This only applies to transportation between the place where the disabled person usually resides and the residential address of the taxpayer. Travel expenses to another location, such as a holiday home, are not eligible for deduction.
If in 2020 you incurred more than € 250 for education of yourself or your partner/spouse and you and/or your partner are not entitled to a student grant, the costs are deductible under certain conditions.
It must be an education for a future profession or an education to better exercise your current profession and not an amateur study. There must be a reasonable expectation that you will actually earn income as a result of the study. There must also be a learning process.
Deductible expenses are:
• the tuition, course fees, college fees and examination fees paid in 2020;
• mandatory promotional costs;
• the obligatory and prescribed learning resources, such as for example tools for practical training, study books etc., and
• the prescribed protective equipment (a study-related utensil for preventing injury or damage), e.g. gloves, safety goggles, lab coat etc.
The following cannot be considered deductible: the purchase or depreciation of a computer and related peripherals, the repayment of a student loan, and the costs of recommended literature. Also the costs of an integration course are not deductible.
If you have made a donation to a designated public benefit organization (ANBI) then these donations are deductible. You should also think about any voluntary work for which you have waived an expense allowance to which you were entitled.
Periodic gifts
A periodic donation is fully deductible, there is no threshold and no maximum deductible amount.
Your gift is a periodic gift if you meet these conditions:
• you give the same amount annually to the same institution or association. You can decide whether you will pay your annual gift in one time or in several instalments;
• you pay the amount for at least 5 years in a row;
• you have stipulated when your annual donation stops, for example if you pass away or if your partner passes away and/or after a period of at least 5 years;
• you have recorded the periodic donation in an agreement that you have drawn up through a notary public or in an agreement that you have concluded yourself with the association or institution (a private deed of donation);
• you receive nothing in return for your periodic donation.
Other donations
For the deduction of other gifts, a threshold and a maximum amount apply. The threshold is 1% of the (collective) aggregate income, with a minimum of € 60.
Gifts to cultural institutions
For donations to a cultural ANBI, the amount of the donation may be increased by 25%, but this increase may not exceed € 1,250.
Please contact your AAme adviser.
Send it directly to your AAme adviser, or upload it through the portal.
Contact the back office at administratie@aame.nl or 015-2158815.