Bookkeeping for a self-employed removals business

VAT: always 21 per cent, including for private clients

Removal services fall under the general rate of 21 per cent. There is no reduced rate for moving a home, not even for a private individual. That applies to the transport, the carrying, the packing, hiring a furniture lift and any storage you offer. If you work with a fixed price, state clearly whether the amount includes or excludes VAT; private clients almost always think in prices including VAT. See calculating VAT from excluding to including.

Moving across the border is different. If you transport goods for a business client in another EU country, you reverse-charge the VAT to that client and include the turnover in your EU sales listing. For a private client moving from the Netherlands abroad, transport within the EU is in principle taxed in the country of departure, so the Netherlands. Check that per job, because the exceptions are in the details. See place of supply and its exceptions.

The van: purchase, registration and private use

Your van is almost always a commercial vehicle with a business registration. The registration tax exemption for businesses ended on 1 January 2025: on a van first registered after that date you pay registration tax based on its CO2 emissions. For vans first registered up to and including 31 December 2024 a transitional scheme applies. The lower road tax rate for businesses does still exist, provided you are a VAT entrepreneur, the van meets the construction requirements and you use it for more than incidental business use. How that works exactly is explained in commercial vehicles, registration tax and the business plate.

If you also use the van privately, you face an addition to your taxable income and a VAT correction. If you demonstrably never drive privately, you can file a declaration of exclusively business use for a commercial vehicle; you then do not have to keep a trip log, but you really may not drive a single private kilometre. See the declaration of exclusively business use.

• Fuel, maintenance, tyres, insurance and road tax are booked to the vehicle; keep them together on one cost account.
• Parking permits and exemptions for blocking off a street are business costs; request them in your company's name.
• Traffic fines are not deductible, even if you incur them during work, see traffic fines and vehicle costs.
• Removal blankets, straps, hand trucks and tools below the threshold are deducted at once, see deducting or capitalising tools.

Hiring helpers

You rarely do a move alone. If you hire a fellow freelancer, they invoice you with VAT and you book that as a purchase. Do pay attention to how you work together: someone who only carries on your instructions, drives your van and has no clients of their own looks more like an employee than an entrepreneur for tax purposes. That risk sits with you as the client. See false self-employment and the Dutch DBA act and hiring a freelancer or an employee.

If you work with temporary workers or hire staff from another company, you run a risk of hirer's liability: if the supplier fails to pay payroll taxes, the tax authorities can come to you. You limit that risk by paying part of the invoice into a blocked account. See hirer's liability and the blocked account. If you employ someone yourself, payroll administration comes with it, see taking on your first employee.

Damage, liability and your terms

In this trade something breaks sooner or later. Good liability insurance and transport or contents insurance therefore belong to your fixed costs, and the premiums are deductible. If you receive a payout after damage, that is taxable income where it concerns damage to your business's assets, and you book the repair as a cost. See booking damages and insurance payouts and business insurance.

Just as important are your terms and conditions: what your liability is, how you handle damage to belongings, what happens on cancellation, and whether the client packs fragile items themselves. Supply them before the client agrees, otherwise you cannot rely on them later. See terms and conditions for freelancers and agreeing and invoicing extra work, because removal jobs often run over.

1. Work with a written confirmation stating the address, date, price and hours.
2. Ask for a deposit on private jobs and book it as an amount received in advance.
3. At handover, make a short note or photo of any damage together with the client.
4. If you receive cash, keep cash records and always give a receipt or simplified invoice.
5. Plan your busy and quiet months in a cash flow forecast; removals is a seasonal trade.

Frequently asked questions