Bookkeeping for freelance photographers and videographers

VAT on your work: service or licence?

Carrying out a photo shoot or video production is a service at the standard 21% rate. But if, as the creator, you grant or transfer the copyright on your work, for example through a licence allowing a company to use your photos, that fee falls under the reduced 9% rate. That reduced rate only applies if you are the creator yourself.

In practice, service and licence often overlap: you do a shoot and deliver usage rights. Split them on your invoice. If you charge one amount without a split, the safe route is to invoice everything at 21%. If you want to use the 9% rate, list the licence fee separately and record in your quote exactly which rights the client receives.

Depreciating equipment and the investment deduction

Cameras, lenses, drones, lighting and editing computers are business assets. If a purchase costs more than 450 euros excluding VAT, you put it on the balance sheet and depreciate it, usually over five years, taking a residual value into account. Cheaper purchases, such as a memory card or tripod, are deducted immediately as costs.

If you invest more than 2,900 euros in business assets in a calendar year, you are usually entitled to the small-scale investment deduction: an extra deduction on top of your depreciation. For photographers and videographers, who often buy a body plus lenses in a single year, that threshold is quickly reached. So plan large purchases smartly: two investments in the same year sometimes yield more deduction than spreading them over two years.

Travel costs, locations and working remotely

You drive to shoots, locations and clients. If you use your private car for business, you record 0.25 euros per business kilometre as costs in 2026. Keep a mileage log with date, destination and kilometres driven. Parking at a shoot and public transport are also deductible business costs.

If you rent a studio, the rent and the VAT on it are business costs. If you do your editing from home, your home workspace is only deductible in exceptional cases, but your equipment, software and internet costs in proportion to business use are.

Software subscriptions and foreign clients

Subscriptions to editing software and cloud storage often come from foreign suppliers. If you buy software from an EU supplier as a business, the VAT is reverse-charged to you: you declare it in your VAT return and deduct it again in the same return. Do make sure your VAT number is registered with the supplier, otherwise you wrongly pay foreign or Dutch VAT that you cannot simply reclaim.

If you supply business clients in the EU yourself, you reverse-charge the VAT to your client and state this on the invoice. For clients outside the EU, the zero rate usually applies or the service is taxed in the client's country. For international assignments it pays to check this in advance, so your invoice is right the first time.

Fluctuating income: build a buffer

Photography and video are seasonal: weddings in summer, campaigns towards the end of the year, quiet months in between. So set aside a fixed percentage of every paid invoice immediately for income tax and VAT. That way a good summer is not followed by a painful tax bill in spring.