Administration and bookkeeping for businesses

  • Gé Sletterink
  • Background
  • Edited 9 April 2026
  • 3 min
  • Managing and growing
  • Finance

Setting up your business administration may take some time. But once you have established the basis, you will reap the benefits for years to come. Good business records tell you how your business is doing financially. They help you to run your business. Also, you are legally obliged to keep and save records.

Your records consist of various folders containing documents and your accounts. Well-organised records form the foundation of your business. They give you a clear picture of your finances, enabling you to make decisions that ensure the health of your business. 

What to put into your business records

The Netherlands Tax Administration (Belastingdienst) has rules on which records you must keep. You must at least keep these records:

  • invoices: received invoices and copies of outgoing invoices,
  • transaction statements,
  • cash flow records,
  • contracts and correspondence with clients and suppliers,
  • time-tracking records,
  • travel records for car and/or public transport,
  • taxes, both VAT and income tax,
  • model agreements, if you use any (DBA act),
  • business correspondence such as letters, emails, quotations, contracts, brochures, and messages.

Keep records for 7 to 10 years

You must save data on and rights to immovable property for at least 10 years. The retention period for the basic data of your business administration is at least 7 years. The basic data includes at a minimum:

Do you store the data digitally? Then you must make sure that you can access the programmes and files during the retention period. That also means keeping access to (potentially paid) programmes that you do not use anymore. Keep that in mind.

Agreements with the Netherlands Tax Administration

You can make agreements with the Netherlands Tax Administration about the way in which you keep the data: via digital bookkeeping or on paper. And you can agree on how detailed you need to keep your records. For example, whether or not you keep or cash register slips. The Tax Administration puts these agreements in writing.

#6 Manage your business records and learn about taxes

Outsource your accounting or do it yourself

You can do your financial administration yourself or outsource it. When you outsource, someone else does the administration for you. For example, a bookkeeper or accountant. These financial specialists help you set up your administration. They also give advice and are aware of various tax benefits. A bookkeeper or accountant costs money, but it often saves you money too. For example, through tax benefits or savings. 

Tips

  • Do you want to outsource your records? Pay attention to the price, the quality, and the service a bookkeeper or accountant must provide.
  • Ask for several quotations and make clear agreements about your expectations.
  • At the end of each period, calculate how you have benefited from outsourcing, for example from tax exemptions and savings. Include the hours you would otherwise have spent on administration and bookkeeping. Because time is also money.
  • Do you prefer to do your own bookkeeping? Then consider digital bookkeeping and the use of an (online) accounting package.
  • Stay on top of your records and do them weekly. That way, you keep an overview and know how your business is doing.
  • You can deduct the starting costs you have made for your business before you officially started from your taxes.
  • Do you have questions about taxes? Ask the Tax Administration. You can start a chat every workday. 

Making decisions

If you keep your records in order, you can make timely decisions for your business. Here are a few examples: compare your budget with your actual expenditure. The sooner you can make adjustments, the fewer problems you will encounter. Check the income and expenditure on your business bank account. Have any transactions been debited twice? Do customers pay you on time, or do you often have to send reminders? See if you can improve that process. If you notice a rise in costs, investigate what you can do about it. 

Video: Increase your financial insight

Every entrepreneur wants a financially healthy business. Financial insight is important for that. It means you can make the right decisions and keep a grip on your business. Increase your financial insight with the tips from the video 'Increase financial insight'.  Turn on the auto-translated subtitles in the video settings.

Handbook on Entrepreneurship

Use the Tax Administration's Handboek Ondernemen (Entrepreneurship Manual, pdf in Dutch) as a reference. The handbook guides you through your tax rights and obligations and explains which requirements the Tax Administration imposes on your business administration. For basic English information on taxes, consult this page.

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