Tax tips for self-employed people: Common mistakes and how to avoid them

#1. Lack of overview of your business administration
If you don’t keep your books and business administration properly, or if they’re disorganised, you can quickly lose overview, which can cause unnecessary stress. Moreover, it’ll become increasingly difficult to find the necessary information you need to file your tax returns.

Solution: Kees de Boekhouder’s accounting software has an intuitive user interface, and helps you organise your business administration in a clear manner. You also have a personal bookkeeper who’ll check your finances and submit your tax returns, so that you won’t have to worry about your business administration.

#2. Not submitting your tax returns on time
If you submit the VAT return too late or not at all, this will be considered a failure to file resulting in a fine (€ 68 in 2024). The annual income tax return must also be submitted on time. If your tax return is late, you’ll first receive a formal reminder, and after that a second reminder announcing legal action. If you don’t submit your tax return within the period communicated in the second reminder, you’ll also receive a fine.

Solution: Our online accounting software automatically sends you reminders about important tax return deadlines.

#3. Not calculating VAT correctly
As a self-employed person you need to be aware of your VAT obligations. For example, you must always file a VAT return, even if you haven’t received or paid VAT during the relevant period. It’s also important that you calculate and report VAT correctly.

Solution: Read up on VAT obligations and use our accounting software to correctly calculate VAT. You can also always contact your bookkeeper if you have any VAT-related questions.

#4. Not applying deductions, or not applying them correctly
Many self-employed people are not sufficiently aware of which deductions (such as the private business ownership allowance for working 1225 hours) they can apply. This not only results in errors in tax returns, but also in unnecessarily high tax assessments. Which is a shame, because you obviously don’t want to pay more tax than necessary!

Solution: Outsource your tax returns to a professional bookkeeper who knows exactly which costs you can deduct.

#5. Your declaration for income tax is incorrect or missing
As a self-employed person it’s very important that you declare all your income and that you declare it correctly. If the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration does a random check and finds out that something is wrong, you can be fined (also read: The difference between tax penalties and tax interest).

Solution: With our online tool you can effortlessly track all your income. All income is automatically included in your income statement.

Looking for more tax tips for self-employed people?
Are you wondering how Kees de Boekhouder can help you with even more tax tips or arranging your tax affairs? Please make an appointment for a no-obligation introductory meeting or contact your personal bookkeeper!