Can you help me with my BV company is a frequently asked question recently. While this is asked, I raise a red flag. Why?
Can you help me with my BV company
This is a strange question to ask for me, the tax advisor. A BV company is not a company you easily set up like the sole proprietor company. A BV company is not set up by visiting the Chambers of Commerce, answering some questions and you walk out with the company. Not at all.
A BV company is set up via a notary. The notary will ask for the BV name, how much share capital, who will be director, which type of shares, short or long first financial year etc. Questions most people, especially international in the Netherlands, need assistance with.
Accountant and or tax advisor
The person to assist with the setup of a BV company is an accountant, bookkeeper or tax advisor. The logical step is that this accountant then also assist with the books, filing of Value Added Tax return, annual report etc.
Can you help me with my BV company?
That is a strange question. A not strange question is: I would like to change from my accountant. Or, my accountant is too expensive. Or, my accountant cannot communicate very well in English.
The latter remark we also encounter. Often it is not the case of the accountant not communicating in English very well, it is the client not willing to understand the consequences.
In case of change of accountant, we always inquire about the reasons, because if we provide an identical service, there is no reason to switch to us.
Why raising the red flag?
The moment for some reason no accountant is involved. And if you make some inquiries and the BV company is address as something started in the past and neglected, our red flag is up against the ceiling.
Probably no annual reports have been published in time, which make the directors personally liable. Uncomfortable, but doable. More problematic is not filing the corporate income tax returns in time. The penalty for filing too late is EUR 5.514. The tax office is so kind to give you a 50% discount for the first time, but still a huge amount.
What should you do?
The problem of not filing only gets bigger if you continue not to file anything. So the only and rather brave thing to do is face your issues and have the outstanding reporting done.
Tax is Exciting
We think tax is exciting. A EUR 5.514 penalty for too late filing of a corporate income tax return is absolutely not exciting. The longer you wait the more you need to pay in penalties. Do not wait anymore and have your corporate bookkeeping done to get it up to date.
