Dutch bookkeeping by the numbers (2026)
How many self-employed people does the Netherlands have, how many VAT returns does the Belastingdienst (the Dutch tax authority) process, and how many businesses use AI for their bookkeeping and admin? This page collects the key figures on Dutch freelancers, SME bookkeeping, VAT, e-invoicing, the accountancy staff shortage and AI adoption. Every number is taken verbatim from its original source, with period and link, and research by software vendors is labelled separately. Free to cite with attribution.
Key figures
1.2 million
zzp'ers in the Netherlands (main job)
CBS, 2025
10.8 million
VAT returns received by the Belastingdienst
Belastingdienst, 2025
1 July 2030
intended start of mandatory e-invoicing (proposal)
Rijksoverheid, proposal 2026
1 in 6
businesses (2+ persons employed) use AI
CBS, 2025, provisional
Self-employed and businesses in the Netherlands
CBS and KVK count differently. CBS counts zzp'ers whose main job is self-employment. KVK counts every registered zzp establishment, including people who do it on the side. One figure is not a correction of the other.
1.2 million
The Netherlands had 1.2 million self-employed people without staff (zzp'ers) in 2025, counting only people whose main job is self-employment.
Source: CBS, Dossier ZZP
2025
1.9 million
In 2024, 1.9 million people earned income as a zzp'er; for 1.2 million it was their main source of income (provisional figures).
Source: CBS, Dossier ZZP
2024, provisional
62,000
The number of zzp'ers fell by 62 thousand in 2025.
59,000
In Q1 2025, 59 thousand zzp'ers moved to a main job as an employee, almost double the year before (32 thousand).
Source: CBS, Aantal zzp'ers in 2025 gedaald met 62 duizend
Q1 2025
1,805,246 (69%)
On 1 July 2026, 1,805,246 zzp establishments were registered with KVK: 69% of all 2,616,083 registered establishments. KVK counts both main and branch establishments and both full-time and part-time zzp'ers.
Source: KVK (Netherlands Chamber of Commerce), KVK Trendrapport tweede kwartaal 2026
1 July 2026
2,599,668
On 1 January 2026, 2,599,668 establishments were registered in the KVK trade register, only 1% more than a year earlier.
Source: KVK (Netherlands Chamber of Commerce), KVK Bedrijvendynamiek: het jaar in cijfers
1 January 2026
+19% closures
Among zzp'ers, business closures rose 19% and start-ups fell 13% in 2025 compared with 2024.
56,331
56,331 new businesses started in Q2 2026, against 53,744 in Q2 2025.
VAT returns by the numbers
10.8 million
The Belastingdienst received 10.8 million VAT returns in 2025.
4.5 million
In 2025 the Belastingdienst counted 4.5 million taxpayers liable for VAT.
95.3%
95.3% of VAT returns were received on time in 2025.
about 300,000
In September 2024 the Belastingdienst announced that about 300,000 entrepreneurs in the small business VAT scheme (KOR) would receive a letter about the new KOR rules taking effect on 1 January 2025.
Source: Taxlive (on the Belastingdienst), Fiscus stuurt brieven over nieuwe KOR-regels aan ondernemers
announced September 2024Checked via trade media
E-invoicing and VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA)
Mandatory e-invoicing in the Netherlands is still a cabinet intention: the bill has yet to follow.
1 July 2030
The Dutch cabinet intends to require e-invoicing for domestic B2B transactions from 1 July 2030 and digital reporting to the Belastingdienst from 1 July 2031 (a proposal; the bill is still to follow).
announced 11 September 2026
€20,000
Under the Dutch cabinet's plan, Dutch businesses in the KOR small business scheme, with turnover of at most EUR 20,000 per calendar year, will be exempt from e-invoicing and reporting.
proposal, from 1 July 2030
up to €11 billion
According to the European Commission, the move to e-invoicing will help reduce VAT fraud by up to EUR 11 billion a year.
Source: European Commission (DG TAXUD), VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA)
estimate for ViDA (adopted March 2025)
over €4.1 billion
According to the European Commission, the move to e-invoicing will help bring down administrative and compliance costs for EU traders by over EUR 4.1 billion per year over the next ten years.
Source: European Commission (DG TAXUD), VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA)
estimate, next ten years
€128 billion
The EU VAT compliance gap (VAT owed but not collected) reached EUR 128 billion in 2023.
Source: European Commission (DG TAXUD), Mind the Gap Report
2023 (report December 2025)
Accountancy and bookkeeping staff shortage
122,000
The labour market for accountants (122,000 workers) was very tight at the end of 2024 and is expected to become (slightly) less tight by 2030.
Source: UWV / ROA, Ontwikkeling krapte naar beroep 2024-2030
Q4 2024, forecast to 2030
146,700
The labour market for bookkeepers (146,700 workers) was also very tight at the end of 2024.
Source: UWV / ROA, Ontwikkeling krapte naar beroep 2024-2030
Q4 2024
64%
In April 2026, 64% of Dutch businesses reported being affected by staff shortages.
Source: CBS, Bedrijven zetten meer in op automatisering door personeelstekort
April 2026
44.6%
In business services, which include accountancy firms, 44.6% of businesses named a shortage of workers as their main constraint in July 2026, against 32.8% across the non-financial business sector as a whole.
Source: CBS, Conjunctuurenquête Nederland, derde kwartaal 2026
Q3 2026 (July 2026 survey)
35.6%
In April 2026, 35.6% of business-services firms said they were turning more to automation, such as robotics or AI support, to cope with staff shortages, up from 28.8% in April 2025.
Source: CBS, Bedrijven zetten meer in op automatisering door personeelstekort
April 2026
4.8%
According to ING Research, accountancy fees rose by an average of 4.8% in 2025 and bookkeeping fees by 5.6%; ING expects at least 4% for 2026.
Source: ING Research via Accountancy Vanmorgen, ING: tarieven stijgen, maar AI zet verdienmodel onder druk
2025, outlook 2026Checked via trade media
59%
59% of Dutch accountancy firms had a staff shortage according to the Exact SME Barometer (vendor research, 2024).
Admin burden, regulation and accounting software
Research by software vendors and figures we could only check through trade media are labelled separately.
6 in 10
Six in ten Dutch SME owners experience a heavy regulatory burden; three quarters say it increased over the past three years.
6 in 10
Six in ten entrepreneurs handle their reporting obligations largely themselves; three in ten outsource them fully or partly.
32%
32% of respondents switched accounting software in the past year and a further 47% say they may or will switch next year (Chift vendor research among 1,400 accountants, CEOs, CFOs and finance managers at companies with 3 to 200 employees in ten European countries, 100 of them in the Netherlands).
2026Checked via trade media
6.9 hours a week
Finance teams and accountants spend a self-reported average of 6.9 hours a week on manual entry into accounting software (Chift European vendor research).
2026Checked via trade media
38.5%
38.5% of Dutch SME decision-makers seriously considered switching accountant or tax adviser in the past year, or actually switched (Multiscope for Ravical, n=179).
2026Checked via trade media
69%
69% of Dutch businesses with 10 or more persons employed used paid cloud services in 2025 (provisional figures).
Source: CBS, ICT-gebruik bij bedrijven; bedrijfstak en bedrijfsgrootte, 2025
2025, provisional
58.2%
Among EU enterprises with 10 or more employees that use paid cloud services, 58.2% used cloud-based finance or accounting software in 2025.
AI adoption by businesses and freelancers
1 in 6
One in six Dutch businesses (2 or more persons employed) used AI in 2025, double the share two years earlier (provisional figures).
Source: CBS, Bedrijven gebruiken AI vaakst voor marketing of verkoop
2025, provisional
32%
In 2025, 32% of Dutch businesses using AI (2 or more persons employed) used it for business administration or management tasks (provisional figures).
Source: CBS, Bedrijven gebruiken AI vaakst voor marketing of verkoop
2025, provisional
13.8%
13.8% of Dutch micro-businesses (2 to 9 persons employed) used one or more AI technologies in 2025, up from 10.6% in 2024 (provisional figures).
Source: CBS, Gebruik van AI-technologie door Nederlandse microbedrijven - 2. Gebruik AI-technologie
2025, provisional
22.7%
In 2024, 22.7% of Dutch businesses with 10 or more persons employed used one or more AI technologies, almost 9 percentage points more than in 2023 (provisional figures).
Source: CBS, Gebruik kunstmatige intelligentie (AI) door bedrijven neemt toe
2024, provisional
20.0%
In 2025, 20.0% of EU enterprises with 10 or more employees used AI technologies, up from 13.5% in 2024.
43%
In 2025, 43% of Dutch adults in paid work used AI in carrying out their work; 41% think their work could partly be replaced by AI.
13%
13% of Dutch zzp'ers (self-employed without staff) invested in AI to renew or improve their products, services or work processes in the two years before the 2025 ZEA survey.
Source: CBS, Zzp'ers met ICT-beroep investeren vaakst in vernieuwing en AI
2025 survey (ZEA)
How we collect these figures
Every figure on this page was checked against its original source page and is shown exactly as the source states it: not rounded, not combined, with period, publisher and link. We link to primary sources wherever possible: CBS, KVK, the Belastingdienst, the Dutch government, UWV, the European Commission and Eurostat. Research by software vendors or consultancies is labelled separately, and figures we could only check through media coverage are marked secondary. Sources sometimes count differently: CBS counts zzp'ers whose main job is self-employment, while KVK counts registered zzp establishments, including people who earn from it on the side. Each figure shows its period; the date at the top of the page shows when we last checked them all.
Using these figures
You are free to use every figure on this page. Name the original source, and link to this page if you used it as your source.
Source: CBS, Dossier ZZP (2025), via Klera, Dutch bookkeeping by the numbers: https://klera.nl/en/cijfers
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