One of the fiscal advantages of being an entrepreneur is that you can apply for the zelfstandigen aftrek. The zelfstandigen aftrek reduces your taxable profit with EUR 7.280 (2015). Moreover, if you are a starting entrepreneur, this EUR 7.280 is increased with EUR 2.123.
But do you qualify for the zelfstandigen aftrek?
The entrepreneurs discount referred to as zelfstandigen aftrek you cannot always apply. You need to have met the requirements. The requirements are that you need to have spend at least 1225 hours for your company. You cannot have spend more time for other income sources such as employment. If you do have other sources of income, you cannot have the zelfstandigen aftrek when you earn more income with these sources (employment) than your company.
- Work at least 1225 hours for your company, you cannot have worked more hours for an employment you have in the same fiscal year
- Your income of your company exceeds the income of a possible employment
What time is spend on your company?
Some of our clients have the opinion that only the time spend on an assignment qualifies. That is not correct. This time does qualify, but most entrepreneurs spend already a lot of time on their company before any client arrives. The set up of the company is time consuming. Creating a name, website, stationary, creative thinking how to contact potential clients. All soft hours, but still hours that count for the 1225 number.
DJ and zelfstandigen aftrek court case
In a court case between the tax office and a starting DJ the 1225 hour discussion was at hand. The basic situation in such cases is that the tax office denies some or all the hours you provided to substantiate the 1225 hour base. Also in this case. The DJ spend 1316 hours on his employment and 1335 hours on his company. The tax office made the statement that the travel time to his employment should be added to the 1316 hours, which would imply the zelfstandigen aftrek cannot be applied.
The court decided that the travel time was not part of the employment agreement, hence this time cannot be added to the 1316 total. That is very fortunate for the DJ and also logical. The moment you leave your employment to go home you check immediately your phone for messages concerning your company. That implies that this travel time should actually be added to the company time. But as the argument was won already, no need to make it complex.
Why would having the zelfstandigenaftrek be so important for this DJ?
I do not know a lot about DJ’s, but if I see their planes, Ferrari’s and other accessories that are rather expensive, you could argue why go to court for a lousy EUR 7.280 entrepreneurs discount.
It is not only the EUR 7.280 or the EUR 2.123 starting entrepreneurs discount you can ad to the EUR 7.280 three times during a five year period from the starting date of the company.
It is the possibility to use the random depreciation rule that is connected to having the starting entrepreneurs discount.
What is the random depreciation rule?
In the Netherlands we have accounting principles. One of them being that investments can only be depreciated, or amortized, in a five year period. An investment is the purchase for the company exceeding the amount of EUR 450 ex VAT, not being purchase costs of the turnover. For instance a mobile phone, laptop, tools for the company etc.
That implies you purchase for instance a server for EUR 5000 on January 1. You pay EUR 5000, but you can only deduct EUR 1000 in that year from your taxable result and EUR 1000 per year in the following year. So you paid EUR 5000 but you do not see the result drop with EUR 5000 as well. This can create a liquidity issue.
By using the random depreciation rule you can chose to have the investment depreciated in the year of purchase by 100%, being EUR 5000, or 50%. Random is the word.
In the above court case this DJ could have made substantial investments which he would have liked to deduct in the startup year. Hence it was crucial to be allocated the entrepreneurs benefit.
Orange Tax Service
We can assist your company for tax purposes. Contact us for an appointment.
