What every invoice must show
- The issue date, a sequential number that uniquely identifies the invoice, and the name and full address of both parties.
- Your own btw-id, and the customer's where they are liable for the VAT or the intra-EU zero rate applies.
- The quantity and nature of what was supplied, the taxable amount per rate, the rate, and the VAT expressed in euros.
- The wording for any special treatment: btw verlegd for a reverse charge, or the ground for an exemption. A business inside the KOR may not mention VAT at all.
Numbering, keeping and correcting invoices
The invoice has to be issued no later than the 15th day of the month after the one in which the goods were delivered or the service was performed. For an advance payment it has to be issued before the payment falls due (art. 34g Wet OB 1968).
A correction or credit note is a document that amends the original invoice and refers to it specifically and unambiguously; that document then counts as an invoice in its own right (art. 34f).
Under art. 52(4) AWR, records, including invoices, are kept for seven years. Under art. 52(5) they may be transferred to another data carrier if the transfer is complete and accurate and the data stays available and readable for the whole retention period.
Not issuing an invoice that is required, issuing it late, or leaving out mandatory content can bring an administrative fine of up to EUR 6,709 under art. 67ca(1)(d) AWR. The power to fine lapses five years after the end of the calendar year in which the duty arose (art. 67ca(2)).
Electronic invoicing in the Netherlands
Compulsory for the public sector, which has had to receive EN 16931 invoices over Peppol since 2019. Between businesses it is still voluntary and needs the customer's agreement. The cabinet confirmed on 11 September 2026 that domestic business-to-business e-invoicing becomes mandatory on 1 July 2030, with transaction reporting a year later; businesses inside the KOR are to be exempt.