The process towards the filing of the corporate income tax return in the Netherlands you might wonder about. We explain the steps to be taken.
The process towards filing of the corporate income tax return
If you are the shareholder and or director of a BV company, you are the person in charge of the procedure. It all starts with the bookkeeping. The BV company needs to run a bookkeeping like a bubble.
The bubble cannot let escape money to the shareholder, without it being labelled. It is labelled either salary or dividend. When neither is the case, the money flowing to the shareholder in cash or costs is a loan the shareholder needs to pay back.
We are often confronted with new clients who keep an excel bookkeeping for the BV company. Excell is not ideal for a one man company, but really not possible for a BV company. You cannot keep track of the outstanding debts and receivables in excel.
Annual report
The result of the bookkeeping is in the annual report. The annual report is a requirement set by the Dutch law. Some find the annual report obsolete, expensive or irrelevant. It is super relevant.
Above I mention the shareholder and director in one line. Actually it is the director of the BV company responsible and in charge of the tax filings and the bookkeeping. However, the moment the annual report is finished, it is the meeting of the shareholders to approve or dismiss the annual report.
This formality is of great influence of the director. In the shareholders meeting the director is given discharge for his or her actions during that year. This legal phrase implies the director is set free from liability with respect to the day to day activities of that concerning year.
Publication
The moment the shareholders meeting has agreed upon the annual report, the annual report can be published with the Chamber of Commerce. Again this publication is an obligation set by Dutch law. The annual report is to be published within max 12 months from the end of the financial bookyear.
The penalty for not sending in publication of the annual report with the Chambers of Commerce can be EUR 900 fine. That said, we have not seen many of these fines over the years. The true penalty is in the board of the BV being held responsible in person the moment the BV company goes bankrupt.
Corporate income tax return
The moment the annual report is approved, the corporate income tax return can be filed. This is the moment the heart of a tax advisor starts to pump more vividly. In the corporate income tax return the commercial fiscal differences aspects of the annual report come to light. Or balancing out the fiscal unity of several BV companies is finalized in this tax return. All very exciting.
Tax is exciting
We think tax is exciting. Assisting you with running your BV company from an accounting and tax filing perspective is getting us excited. A simple BV company is already exciting.
That said, some in our office really get excited when the BV company is far from simple and challenging. Within the rules that is. One of them is Hans. Hans is a very experienced international tax advisor that is eager to sort out your international fiscal unity. The questions you might have about how to set up best your structure. Hans is also experienced enough to inform you up front already what is possible and what is certainly not possible.
