Moving your business: Chamber of Commerce, VAT ID, invoices and permits

Changing your address at the Chamber of Commerce

You report changes to your registration to the Chamber of Commerce within one week of the move at the latest. If you run a sole trader business and your business address is also your home address, there are two tracks. You report your private move to the municipality, which passes on your new home address. You change your business address in the Trade Register yourself, online and free of charge, just like your SBI activity code. As a sole trader you usually log in with your government login for that; if you have a private limited company, you use eHerkenning.

The Chamber of Commerce passes your new business address on to the tax authorities. If only your postal address changes, you have to report that to the tax authorities yourself. Your Chamber of Commerce number, VAT ID and turnover tax number stay the same: it is still the same business, just at a different address. Do check after a few weeks whether letters from the tax authorities arrive at the new address. What the different numbers mean is explained in registering with the Chamber of Commerce and applying for a VAT number.

Invoices, website and every other place

Your address is a mandatory element of your invoice. So update your invoice template as of the moving date; invoices from before that stay as they are, because they reflect the address at the time of issue. Which other details an invoice must show is explained in making your first invoice. Your website must also show your current address, just like your Chamber of Commerce number and VAT ID, see website obligations for freelancers.

Beyond that, your address appears in more places than you think: your e-mail signature, quotation templates, terms and conditions, your business profile on Google, platforms you sell on, your bank and your insurer. Also tell your clients you are moving, so their accounts payable uses your new details. An insurer may adjust your premium based on your new postcode, so report the move there before moving day.

Permits and rules of your new municipality

Permits are often tied to a location. An operating licence, a pitch permit or permission for a sign on your façade does not move with you automatically; at the new address you usually apply again. In addition, the municipality's zoning plan determines whether you may work from your home and in what form. Office work behind a laptop is allowed almost everywhere, but receiving clients, a treatment room, storing materials or a workshop may be subject to rules.

If you are moving to business premises rather than a home, first read the lease conditions and the permitted use of the building carefully. What that involves is covered in renting business premises as a freelancer. A phone call or e-mail to the municipality gives you certainty in advance, and that is a lot cheaper than discovering after the move that your activity is not allowed there.

Workspace and moving costs for tax

A new home means a new assessment of your workspace. The rules for deducting a workspace in your home are strict: it has to be a self-contained space with, among other things, its own entrance and own sanitary facilities, and you must pass the income test. A study you could not deduct in your old home cannot simply be deducted in your new one either, and vice versa. The same test applies if you rent; only the costs you can claim differ. See deducting a workspace at home for the test.

The costs of moving your business inventory, such as transporting tools, stock or workshop fittings, are business costs. The same applies to new business cards, an updated façade sign and setting up your workplace again. Moving your private belongings is private. If one removal company does both, ask for an invoice that shows the business part separately, so you can deduct that part and the VAT on it.

Frequently asked questions