Free Invoice Generator Netherlands [BTW 2026]

There is one line on a Dutch invoice that catches out anyone billing from outside the Netherlands: the amount of VAT has to be stated in euros.

Not in the currency you invoiced in. In euros.

So a freelancer billing a Dutch client in dollars, pounds or rands still has to show a euro VAT figure on the document. Most generic invoice templates cannot do that at all, because they apply one currency to the whole page.

Our free invoice generator lets you set the currency and show tax as its own total, so the euro figure sits where the Belastingdienst expects it.

What a Dutch invoice must contain

The Belastingdienst sets out the requirements in two parts, and the structure matters more than the list.

First, the invoice-level details:

• the name and address of the supplier
• the VAT identification number of the supplier
• your customer's name and address
• the invoice number
• the invoice date
• the date on which the goods or services were supplied
• the quantity and type of goods supplied
• the nature and type of services supplied

Then, separately for each VAT tariff or exemption on the invoice:

• the price per piece or unit, excluding VAT
• any reductions that are not included in the price
• the VAT tariff that has been applied
• the cost — the price excluding VAT
• in the case of an advance payment, the date of payment
• the amount of VAT in euros

That second block is the part worth reading twice.

"Per tariff" is a structural requirement, not a formatting preference

Several countries ask you to show VAT separately. The Netherlands asks you to show a complete set of figures for every tariff on the invoice.

If one invoice carries a 21% line and a 9% line, you are not producing one VAT total with a note. You are producing the unit price excluding VAT, the discounts, the tariff, the cost and the VAT amount — twice, once for each tariff.

A template that offers a single tax percentage for the whole document cannot express that, which is the most common defect in a Dutch invoice produced from a generic tool.

Ours applies VAT per line item and totals it separately from the subtotal, so a mixed 21% / 9% / 0% invoice adds up correctly and shows the customer exactly what applies to what.

The three tariffs

That last one is more useful than it looks.

The 0% tariff is not the same as "no VAT" and it is not an exemption. It is a tariff, applied at zero, and the invoice still has to show it as the tariff applied. Entrepreneurs doing business abroad from the Netherlands are the group the Belastingdienst names for it.

The practical consequence for a freelancer with foreign clients: do not just leave VAT off the invoice. Show the tariff, at 0%, so the document says what happened rather than leaving a reader to guess whether you forgot.

The advance-payment date

This one appears in almost no invoice template and is explicitly required: where payment was made in advance, the invoice must carry the date of that payment.

If you take a deposit before starting — and most freelancers should — that date belongs on the final invoice. It is a single field and it is the kind of omission that turns a routine query into a correspondence.

The supply date is not the invoice date

Both are required, separately, and they answer different questions: when you raised the document, and when the work actually happened.

On a job finished in one month and billed in the next they differ, and the difference can move a transaction into a different VAT return. Our generator carries a date-of-supply field distinct from the invoice date for exactly this.

About the small business scheme

The Netherlands operates a small business scheme — the kleineondernemersregeling, usually shortened to KOR — which changes your VAT position below a turnover threshold.

We are not quoting that threshold. The Belastingdienst's English section did not carry the figure, and a stale registration threshold is precisely the kind of number that costs a reader money. Check it with the Belastingdienst directly.

What holds regardless: if you are not registered for VAT, do not charge it. Collecting VAT you have no mechanism to remit, while your client claims it back against a number that does not exist, is a considerably worse problem than not charging it in the first place.

Getting the invoice paid

Compliance and collection are different jobs, and the second is where the money actually is.

Send it to accounts payable, not only to your contact. The person who briefed you does not pay you, and an invoice sitting unforwarded in their inbox is invisible to everyone whose job it is to pay it.

Quote the purchase order. Where a client uses POs, a missing or mismatched reference stops the payment run rather than starting a conversation.

Describe the work so an approver recognises it. Whoever signs it off was probably not in the meeting. "Consultancy" matches nothing in a budget; "Website copy, brief of 4 March" matches a line somebody approved.

Agree terms before the work, not on the invoice. An invoice that raises payment terms for the first time is announcing them, not agreeing them.

Then chase on a schedule. A short note a few days after the due date, a second a week later addressed higher up. Freelancers who chase erratically get paid erratically.

If you are billing from outside the Netherlands

Two things beyond the euro VAT line.

Cross-border supplies to Dutch businesses frequently shift the VAT obligation to the customer, and where that applies the invoice needs to say so on its face. Which rule applies depends on what you supply and to whom — get the classification from the Belastingdienst or an accountant rather than assuming.

The payment itself carries a cost. A fee, and usually a larger margin built into the exchange rate. That is a business cost and it belongs in your rate rather than in your margin. Work it out with the freelance rate calculator, which takes business costs explicitly.

What the generator does

• Line items with quantity, rate and a per-line VAT percentage, for mixed 21% / 9% / 0% invoices
• VAT shown as its own total, separate from the subtotal
• A tax registration number field for your VAT identification number
• Customer name and address, as the Belastingdienst requires
• A separate date-of-supply field, distinct from the invoice date
• Euro, or any other currency
• A no-watermark PDF, with no account needed

Open the invoice generator

What it does not do

It does not decide whether you must register for VAT, which tariff applies to what you sell, whether the KOR is right for you, or whether a cross-border supply shifts the VAT obligation. Those depend on your turnover and on what you actually supply.

It does not file a VAT return, track which invoices have been paid, or store anything between visits. It produces one document, correctly, and then it forgets you.

On timing: the Belastingdienst's invoice-requirements page does not state a deadline for issuing an invoice, so we are not quoting a date at you. Nor does it set out a simplified-invoice rule. If either matters to your situation, ask them.

Check the current rules, tariffs and thresholds with the Belastingdienst or a Dutch accountant. This page describes the requirements as published; it is not tax advice, and rules and thresholds change.

How does this affect YOUR Money OS?

An invoice that satisfies the recipient's tax authority first time is an invoice that gets paid on the first cycle rather than the third — the same work, weeks earlier.

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FAQ

What must a Dutch invoice contain? Supplier name, address and VAT identification number; the customer's name and address; the invoice number and date; the date the goods or services were supplied; the quantity and type of goods or the nature and type of services — and then, per VAT tariff, the unit price excluding VAT, any reductions, the tariff applied, the cost, any advance-payment date, and the amount of VAT in euros.

Does the VAT have to be in euros? Yes. The Belastingdienst requires the amount of VAT in euros, so a freelancer billing a Dutch client in another currency still has to show a euro VAT figure.

What are the Dutch VAT rates? Three tariffs: 21% (the high or general tariff), 9% (the low tariff, covering food and drink, agricultural products and services, medicines, books, newspapers and magazines) and 0%.

What is the 0% tariff for? The Belastingdienst describes it as applying to entrepreneurs who conduct business abroad from the Netherlands. It is a tariff applied at zero rather than an absence of VAT, so it should still appear on the invoice as the tariff applied.

How do I invoice with more than one VAT rate? Show a complete set of figures for each tariff — unit price excluding VAT, reductions, the tariff, the cost and the VAT amount — rather than one blended total. Our generator sets the rate per line so it adds up correctly.

Do I need to show a deposit on the invoice? Where payment was made in advance, the date of that payment is a required detail. If you take deposits, that date belongs on the final invoice.

What is the KOR threshold? The Netherlands runs a small business scheme, but the English pages we could read do not carry the turnover figure — so ask the Belastingdienst rather than taking a number from a blog, including this one.

Is this invoice generator really free? Yes. No watermark, no account, and no limit on how many you produce.

Related

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• Free invoice generator for UK freelancers
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