Which costs are tax deductible
In the Netherlands, costs made in view of the business interests of a company can be deducted from its taxable income. In this manual we indicate which costs are fully tax deductible, which are partly tax deductible and which are not tax deductible at all.
Fully tax deductible costs if business related:
Office
Rent paid for office.
Costs of a business part of a private home (including furnishing and energy).
Costs of the purchase and depreciation of office furniture, equipment and supplies.
Printing (stationery, envelopes, business cards, etc.).
Supplies (toner / ink cartridges).
Mail charges.
Cleaning costs.
ICT
Subscription for fixed telephone and Internet at the office. But if you have a home office, without a private entrance et cetera, the tax authorities will see this as private costs. This is because most non-entrepreneurs also have such expenses.
Mobile business telephone.
Smartphone.
Costs of business calls via the private telephone.
Depreciation and maintenance of computer, laptop, scanner, printer et cetera.
Digital photo camera
Recording equipment (MD / iPod).
Data carriers (CDs / CD-Rs, memory cards).
Software.
Transport, travel and accommodation costs
Company car costs, including depreciation, maintenance, insurance, fuel, parking, motor vehicle tax et cetera. This usually leads to an addition (deemed personal income) for private use.
Business related train journeys, taxi costs, strippenkaart et cetera.
Business related (motor) bike and maintenance costs.
Private car expenses: € 0.19 per business related kilometer.
Hotel.
Car rental.
Marketing
Website (design, hosting).
Advertising, e.g. paid listing Golden Pages, Google Adwords et cetera.
Support and obligations
Accountant, tax adviser, administrator et cetera
Memberships of professional and/or trade associations.
Registration fee of the Chamber of Commerce.
deployment of other freelancers and/or companies, for instance a financial advisor
Insurances
Company car.
Business inventory (at the office, but also at home).
Liability insurance
Knowledge and development
Professional literature (books, journals, online professional library)
Business relevant courses, courses and the like.
Profession-specific instruments and materials
Work clothes. For example, artists (including training actors) may deduct costs such as external care and theater clothing.
Partially tax deductible
Costs for lunch, dinner, drinks etc. with business relations, business gifts, conference visits, study trips and other forms of representation are limited deductible. You can deduct 80% of such expenses. There is also an alternative arrangement that you can choose, which however normally is less favorable. Expenses until € 4.400 are not deductible, above that are fully deductible. To apply this scheme, it is advisable to include a separate general ledger account for these cost categories in the administration. You may not reclaim the VAT paid on food and beverages in catering. However, you may also consider this VAT as partially deductible expenses along the lines described above.
If you work from home and are moving, the moving costs are partially deductible. For instance, if you have to move 30 boxes of which 9 are business, then 9/30 (=30 percent) of the costs are deductible.
Not tax deductible
Fines (e.g. related to late tax filing/payment or traffic);
General literature.
Clothing and personal care, unless you totally cannot use it privately, such as artists or clowns.
Computers, calculators, etc., if they are private property. In other words: if you mainly use a computer to play futuristic games, you may not use it as operating costs.
Training of personal interest. For example, as a writer of historical articles you cannot simply deduct expenses of a university study in history. You can, however, in some cases deduct these study costs in your personal income tax return.
Getting a driving license.
Personal aids such as glasses, hearing aids and occupational disability insurance.
ADSL and subscription costs for telephony if you use it privately.