Overdue bookkeeping

Falling behind on your bookkeeping happens more often than you would think, and rarely because someone could not be bothered. It starts with a busy period, illness, a move or growth that came too fast, and before you know it there is a year that was never closed. The worst part is usually not the work itself but the feeling that it grows every month.

Waiting makes it more expensive, which is why it is worth not putting off. Late-filing penalties rise with repetition. If you do not file at all, the Belastingdienst can issue an estimated assessment: a guess, almost always higher than what you actually owe, and one you have only a limited window to object to. Meanwhile the tax interest keeps running. And as long as there are no figures, you cannot apply for a mortgage, secure financing or have a declaration drawn up for the IND.

There is a recent tightening around VAT. If you discover that you declared too little VAT in an earlier period, you are obliged to correct it with a suppletie. Since 1 January 2025 there is a hard deadline for that: no later than eight weeks after you established the error. Failing to do so intentionally or through gross negligence can carry a penalty of up to 100% of the amount. Corrections up to a thousand euros may still be carried into your next regular return.

The work starts with an inventory: which years are closed, which returns are outstanding, and what documentation exists. That produces an order of play, because not everything is equally urgent. Filings that are accruing penalties or interest come first; the rest follows at a pace agreed in advance, with a date by which you are up to date.

What you need to supply is limited: your bank statements or a bank connection, and your purchase and sales invoices. Everything is processed digitally, so a box of paper receipts cannot be accepted; if you still work on paper, converting to a digital way of working becomes part of the project.

If there is also a payment problem alongside the backlog, the two need not block each other. A payment arrangement in fact requires current figures, so in practice catching up on the books and applying for deferral of payment often run together. See the deferral of payment service for that.

Behind, and want to know how much work it is to catch up? Get in touch for an inventory and a quote. The focus is on what needs doing, not on how it got this far.