What must legally appear on your business website
Written by Ilias Aarrass6 min read · Published on · Last reviewed on 
In short
Your business website must show at least your trade name, registration number, address, email and VAT identification number, plus a privacy statement once you process personal data.
- Selling online to consumers also makes a telephone number mandatory, alongside prices including VAT and delivery costs before checkout.
- Since June 2026 web shops and online service providers must offer a withdrawal button letting consumers cancel digitally within 14 days.
- Functional cookies and privacy-friendly statistics need no consent; marketing and tracking cookies require genuine prior consent.
- Your privacy statement describes what data you collect, why, how long you keep it, who you share it with and what rights visitors have.
For most freelancers a website is the first business card and often a business asset for tax, but legal requirements apply to it too. They come from several directions at once: the business register, the rules for service providers, consumer law and the GDPR. None of it is complicated, but it does need to be there; regulators and critical clients alike take a look. This checklist brings it all together, from registration number to cookie banner, so your site is in order in one pass.
The basics that belong on every business site
As a registered business you state your registration number on your website and in expressions such as quotations and email. For service providers, identification details are added. Concretely, your site shows at least:
- Your trade name as registered, plus your registration number.
- Your establishment address and a direct contact channel: at least an email address and, certainly when selling to consumers, your phone number.
- Your VAT identification number once you offer services or products through the site; for web shops it is explicitly mandatory.
- Clear prices: towards consumers always including VAT and unavoidable charges.
Privacy statement: mandatory once you process data
A contact form, a newsletter sign-up or simply keeping statistics: all are processing of personal data, and the GDPR then requires a privacy statement. It describes which data you collect, why, how long you keep it, who you share it with (such as your mail provider or bookkeeping software) and visitors' rights, including access and deletion. Write it in plain language; a legal treatise is not required and rather deters. Link the statement from the footer and from every form.
Cookies: only a banner when you actually need one
Functional cookies and privacy-friendly statistics need no consent, so no banner. Using marketing or tracking cookies, for ads or extensive analytics, requires genuine prior consent: a banner where declining is as easy as accepting, without pre-ticked boxes. Many freelancer sites work fine without tracking, and thus without a banner; that is legally simpler and pleasanter for visitors alike.
Extra requirements for web shops
Selling to consumers through your site brings consumer law on top. The key additions:
- Information on the right of withdrawal: consumers may return most purchases within 14 days without reason, and you explain in advance how that works.
- The total price including VAT and delivery before checkout, plus available payment methods and delivery time.
- An order button that makes the payment obligation clear, and since June 2026 also a clear withdrawal button letting the consumer cancel the order online.
- Your terms and conditions, available and saveable before the sale concludes.
The practical way to tackle it
Walk through your site once with this checklist and fix the texts: footer with business details, privacy statement, a cookie banner if needed, and consumer information when selling. When something material changes, a new trade name, a new address, a new mail system, an added shop, update the relevant page. And mind the coherence with the rest of your paperwork: the same details belong on your invoices and quotations. More on the name itself is in choosing a trade name.
What your site is required to show
The basics are the same for every business site. Web shops and sites processing personal data have a few extra obligations.
| Item | Who | Where it belongs |
|---|---|---|
| Trade name, business address and email | Every business site | Contact page or footer |
| Chamber of Commerce number and VAT ID | Every business site | Contact page or footer |
| Privacy statement | As soon as you process personal data | Its own page, linked from the footer |
| Cookie banner | Only for non-essential cookies | On the first visit, with a genuine decline button |
| Terms and right of withdrawal | Web shops | Before checkout, not only on the invoice |
Frequently asked questions
Must my home address appear if I work from home?
You state the establishment address as registered, which for home workers is often the home address. If that feels uncomfortable, consider a separate establishment or postal address via a business centre.
Do these rules also apply to my Instagram or LinkedIn page?
The identification duty covers your commercial expressions broadly; on social media a link to your website with all details solves it practically. Selling directly through social media brings the consumer rules there too.
What do I risk if something is missing?
Regulators can warn and fine, but for a small freelancer the risk usually starts smaller: a consumer successfully contesting a sale, or a prospect walking away because the site looks untrustworthy. Being complete and transparent is simply good business too.
Sources
- Web shops must have a withdrawal buttonOverheid.nl · ondernemersplein.overheid.nl
- Selling online: the mandatory details and rulesKVK · kvk.nl
Sources checked on
This article provides general information based on the rules known for 2026 and does not replace personal tax advice. For your specific situation, we're happy to take a look with you.
