Almost certainly, if you’re a B2C business selling to customers in the Netherlands.
There isn’t a threshold for VAT in the Netherlands, you’re liable from your first sale.
Yes. You owe tax for the sale of cloud software subscriptions to customers in Netherlands.
Yes. You owe tax for the sale of software downloads to customers in Netherlands.
Yes. You owe tax for the sale of eBooks to customers in Netherlands.
Yes. You owe tax for the sale of digital downloads to customers in Netherlands.
Whether or not your business has a physical presence in the Netherlands, your B2C software sales are taxable from your first sale.
If you sell into more countries across the EU, and your sales exceed €10,000 a year, you can register for the VAT MOSS system.
😐🌶️ It's not that complicated
Filing frequency: Quarterly
The process for filing and remitting sales tax payments in the Netherlands is straightforward.
However, if you are based in the EU and serve business customers in the Netherlands and other EU member states, it does come with quite a bit of admin.
In this instance, you’ll need to complete a separate filing called the EC Sales List (ESL). This is so you can document and report all of your sales to VAT-registered customers, in the EU, in one go.
😐🌶️ It stacks up
Penalties for non-compliance in the Netherlands are treated a bit differently to the penalties in other EU member states.
This is because the penalty rate depends on the behavior giving rise to the error, rather than the size of the error. For example, a “careless” error is punishable by a penalty of EUR 5,278, where fraud can incur a fine of 100% of the tax due and 25-50% for gross negligence.
In the Netherlands, all cases of non-compliance may be seen as a criminal act and may be sentenced with prison or fines.
Registering for VAT in the Netherlands
😐🌶️ It's not that complicated