If you've just registered a Dutch sole proprietorship (eenmanszaak) and someone mentioned you'll need a "jaarrekening," an annual accounts example for the Netherlands is usually more useful than a legal definition. It sounds like a formal, accountant-only document, but for a one-person business it's really just two short overviews you produce from your own bookkeeping. Below is a full worked example, with a line-by-line explanation so you can compare it against your own numbers.
A worked example of annual accounts in the Netherlands: balance sheet and profit and loss statement
Imagine you run a small webshop as a sole proprietor, and this is your position on 31 December.
Balance sheet
| Assets | Amount | Liabilities & equity | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory | €4,200 | Owner's equity | €9,850 |
| Laptop and equipment (book value) | €1,800 | VAT payable | €1,650 |
| Business bank account | €6,500 | Accounts payable (unpaid supplier invoices) | €1,000 |
| Accounts receivable (unpaid client invoices) | €1,000 | ||
| Total | €13,500 | Total | €13,500 |
Profit and loss statement
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Revenue | €52,000 |
| Cost of goods sold | €18,000 |
| Other business expenses (software, shipping, marketing) | €7,400 |
| Profit before deductions | €26,600 |
| Self-employed deduction and starter deduction | €4,470 |
| Taxable profit | €22,130 |
The balance sheet is a snapshot: what you own and what you still owe, at one specific moment, 31 December. The profit and loss statement covers the whole year: how you arrived at that result. Together, these two documents are your annual accounts.
What each line actually means
- Assets are what your business owns: inventory, equipment used for business purposes, the balance in your business bank account, and money clients still owe you (accounts receivable).
- Liabilities and equity cover what you owe and what's genuinely yours: VAT you still need to pay to the tax authorities, unpaid supplier invoices, and whatever's left once assets and liabilities are weighed against each other.
- Revenue is everything you've invoiced, not necessarily everything that's already hit your bank account.
- Taxable profit is the amount you actually pay income tax on, after applying the self-employed deduction and any other entrepreneur deductions you qualify for.
This example is deliberately kept simple. Run multiple business lines, employ staff, or own commercial property, and you'll have extra line items, but the underlying structure, a balance sheet plus a profit and loss statement, stays the same.
Why you can't just copy this example
An annual accounts example is useful for seeing which pieces belong where, but every business has different line items. A few mistakes that show up often when people follow a template too literally:
- Personal withdrawals get counted as business expenses. Money you take out of the business for personal use doesn't belong on the profit and loss statement, it's settled against owner's equity instead.
- Depreciation gets skipped or miscalculated. Equipment with a useful life of several years should be depreciated gradually, not expensed all at once.
- VAT gets treated as revenue or a cost. VAT you collect or pay runs through the balance sheet, as VAT payable or receivable, not through the profit and loss statement.
What changes if you're running a BV instead
The example above is for a sole proprietorship: no filing obligation with the KVK, no mandatory notes, purely a tool for your own income tax return. Run a Dutch BV instead, and the same two building blocks, a balance sheet and a profit and loss statement, still sit at the core, but you'll also need to add mandatory notes and file the annual accounts with the KVK's trade register within set deadlines. If you're weighing up a sole proprietorship against a BV, the filing obligation is one of several real differences worth factoring in alongside the tax comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use this example as a template for my own annual accounts? As a guide to the structure, yes. Don't carry over any of the numbers though: your balance sheet and profit and loss statement need to match your own bookkeeping exactly, not a sample.
Does a sole proprietorship's annual accounts have to follow a fixed format? No. There's no mandatory layout for a sole proprietorship. As long as the balance sheet and profit and loss statement are accurate and traceable back to your own records, the formatting is up to you.
What does it mean if my balance sheet doesn't balance? Something's off, usually a line item that got counted twice or missed entirely. Assets always have to equal liabilities and equity exactly, that's what confirms your bookkeeping is complete and consistent.
Setting up a business in the Netherlands as an expat founder?
Questions like "what does this actually need to look like" are exactly what we help expat founders work through, often before their company is even registered. At Sophy &Co. we walk you through what running a Dutch sole proprietorship or BV involves in practice, and can introduce you to our network of trusted partners: banks, lawyers, notaries, and other expats who've set up a business here before you.
Our bookkeepers are a genuinely multilingual, woman-led, diverse team, and proudly LGBTQIA-friendly. Between us we speak English, Dutch, Italian, Chinese, Spanish, Papiamento, German, and a bit of French and Polish, so book a call and explain your situation in whichever language is easiest for you.
Want your own numbers instead of an example?
At Sophy &Co. we don't build your balance sheet and profit and loss statement from a template, we build them from your actual purchase and sales invoices. Share those with us, that's the only part you need to handle yourself, and we take care of the rest.
Take a look at our services and pricing, or get in touch for a no-obligation conversation.
Learn more
For the official rules on Dutch bookkeeping obligations, see the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce (KVK) or the Dutch government's official information portal for entrepreneurs, Business.gov.nl.