Dutch small business scheme (KOR): how it works in 2026

What is the small business scheme?

The small business scheme (kleineondernemersregeling, KOR) is a VAT exemption for businesses with a small turnover. If you join, you put no VAT on your invoices and you file no VAT return (btw-aangifte). In return you can no longer reclaim the VAT on your purchases and investments. Joining is a choice: you have to sign up yourself.

What are the conditions for the KOR?

• Your business is based in the Netherlands.
• Your turnover is at most €20,000 per calendar year. That applies to the year in which you sign up and to the year before.
• What you supply is subject to VAT. If your work is already exempt from VAT, you do not need the KOR.

The threshold is about your turnover, not your profit. So add up everything you invoice, excluding VAT, even if you have high costs.

How do you sign up for the KOR?

1. Make sure you are registered as a VAT entrepreneur (btw-ondernemer) and have a VAT identification number (btw-identificatienummer).
2. Log in to Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk and complete the KOR sign-up form.
3. Do it on time: your sign-up must arrive no later than four weeks before the start of the filing period. To start on 1 January 2027, your sign-up must be in by 4 December 2026.
4. Within eight weeks you receive a letter with the date from which you join.
5. Keep filing your VAT return until that date. Do not stop earlier.

What changes on your invoices?

You charge no more VAT. For VAT purposes you no longer have to send an invoice to consumers and businesses, but most clients still want one. If you send an invoice, state that an exemption applies, for example: 'Exempt from VAT under the small business scheme'. It shows no VAT amount.

Note. If you still put VAT on an invoice by mistake, you owe that VAT. So check your invoice template on the day the KOR starts. Also read which invoice requirements still apply.

Can you still reclaim VAT under the KOR?

No. You can no longer deduct VAT on costs and investments, including VAT you paid in another EU country. If you made an expensive investment just before signing up and reclaimed the VAT, the Tax and Customs Administration (Belastingdienst) can reclaim part of it. That is called a VAT revision (btw-herziening).

When does the KOR pay off?

The KOR mainly pays off if your clients are consumers and you have few costs. Consumers cannot reclaim VAT. Without VAT you are cheaper for them, or you keep more at the same price. If you mostly work for businesses, it matters little to them: they deduct your VAT. You then only lose your own deduction.

An example. Jesse teaches music to private pupils, not exempt. He charges €50.00 per lesson including VAT. He teaches 300 lessons a year. His purchases cost €1,210.00 including VAT.

With the KOR, Jesse keeps €2,393.31 more in this example, for the same lesson fee. For a web designer who works for businesses and just bought a laptop, the sums often come out the other way round.

What if your turnover passes the threshold during the year?

If your turnover in a calendar year passes €20,000, you may no longer use the KOR from that moment. You deregister at once. You already charge VAT on the supply that takes you over the threshold. From then on you file VAT returns again and you may deduct VAT again.

After deregistering you cannot rejoin at once. You wait out the rest of that calendar year and the whole next year. If you want to stop yourself, deregister at least four weeks before the start of a filing period.

Not sure the KOR suits you? Take the KOR check or check your VAT with the VAT calculator.