Step by Step: Starting a Home Business in the Netherlands

The first part is surprisingly easy: you can register a business with KVK without wading through weeks of paperwork. The catch is that a KVK number does not automatically mean you are allowed to run your particular business from your particular home. For Indian expats, there is one more question before everything else: does your residence permit allow you to work for yourself?

In the Netherlands, turning that idea into a small business can indeed be fairly straightforward. Around 800,000 self-employed people already work from home, according to KVK. But “working from home” covers everything from an IT consultant with a laptop to somebody preparing 40 meal boxes every Saturday — and Dutch rules do not treat those businesses exactly the same way.

Online expat discussions show the same questions appearing repeatedly: Can you start a side business on a highly skilled migrant permit? Can you register your rented apartment with KVK? Does a small side income need to be registered? What happens to your taxes?

Here is the sensible order in which to answer them.

IN 30 SECONDS

Check whether your residence permit allows self-employment.

If you have a job, check your employment contract.

Check your municipality’s rules and your rental, mortgage or VvE conditions.

Decide whether you actually need to register a business.

Choose a legal form — usually an eenmanszaak for a small solo business.

Register with KVK.

Set up VAT, bookkeeping, invoices and tax reserves.

Check extra rules for food, beauty, childcare, healthcare or other regulated activities.

1. First: are you actually allowed to run a business?

If you are an Indian citizen rather than an EU/EEA or Swiss citizen, your residence status matters.

Do not assume that because you are allowed to work in the Netherlands, you are automatically allowed to do every kind of work. Check the wording on the back of your residence card and the corresponding IND rules.For several common expat situations, the position is relatively favourable:

Highly skilled migrants (kennismigranten): your permit explicitly allows work as a highly skilled migrant and as a self-employed person. So, for example, someone working full-time for an IND-recognised employer can also operate a genuine freelance or other self-employed business. If you stop the sponsored job altogether and want entrepreneurship to become your sole basis for residence, however, you would normally need an appropriate self-employed or start-up residence permit.
Students: an international student with a Dutch higher-education residence permit may work as a self-employed person without a TWV and without the 16-hour restriction that applies to employment. They must continue to satisfy the conditions of their study permit, register with KVK where required and pay tax.
Orientation-year permit holders: you may work freely, including as an independent entrepreneur, freelancer or self-employed person.
Partners: your rights depend partly on the residence status of the person you joined. For example, the partner of a highly skilled migrant is generally free to work, including self-employment, while the partner of someone holding a study permit is not allowed to work.

If your situation does not clearly fit one of these categories, check it with the IND before taking paid orders. This is particularly important if a friend with a different residence permit tells you, “I did it, so you can too.” Immigration advice has a habit of becoming folklore very quickly.

2. If you already have a job, check that too

Read your employment contract and CAO for clauses covering nevenactiviteiten (side activities), confidentiality, non-solicitation and competition. Dutch employers cannot simply prohibit all outside work without an objective reason, but conflicts of interest, confidentiality, legal restrictions and health-and-safety concerns can justify restrictions.

If your side business resembles what your employer does, uses knowledge or clients gained through your job, or could compete with the company, discuss it before launching. Put any agreement in writing. For a software engineer selling paintings on Etsy, this may be uneventful. For a consultant privately selling the same services to the same industry as their employer, considerably less so.

Freelancers should also be aware of the Dutch crackdown on schijnzelfstandigheid, or false self-employment. Registering yourself as a zzp’er does not magically turn what is really an employee employer relationship into genuine self-employment. Enforcement has been strengthened since 2025. We are currently conducting a research on this issue from the context of Indian expats and will publish an article soon. Be aware of employers forcing you to apply for a ZZP in order to get a job.

3. Can you actually operate the business from your house?

A KVK registration is not a municipal permit. You need to check three separate things.

Check your municipality

Go to the Omgevingsloket and check the omgevingsplan for your address. Municipal rules differ, but common conditions for home businesses include keeping the property primarily residential, avoiding nuisance to neighbours and limiting how much of the home is used commercially. In many municipalities, no more than roughly one-third of the home may be used for the business, but that is a common rule rather than a nationwide entitlement.

A quiet graphic designer working upstairs is therefore very different from a home salon receiving ten clients a day or a food business generating a steady stream of delivery drivers.

Depending on your municipality and activity, you may simply have to notify it, or you may need an omgevingsvergunning or another form of permission.

Check your rental or mortgage agreement

If you rent, read your tenancy agreement. If you own the property with a mortgage, check your mortgage conditions. If you live in an apartment complex, also check the rules of your VvE.

A rental clause saying the property is for residential use does not automatically answer every conceivable home-business question, so do not guess. Ask the landlord if necessary — preferably in writing.

WHAT THIS MEANS

You can satisfy KVK’s registration requirements and still be in breach of your rental agreement or local planning rules. Treat these as separate checks.

4. Decide whether you need KVK — and what kind of business you are starting

Not every euro earned from a hobby requires you to construct a company around it. KVK looks at whether you independently provide products or services to others with the intention of earning money. The Tax Administration uses its own tests for tax purposes, which means somebody can, confusingly enough, be treated differently for VAT and income tax.

If you are occasionally selling an old possession or making something once for a friend, you may not be running a business. If you advertise, take recurring orders, set prices and systematically aim to make money, you are getting much closer to one.

For most people starting alone, the simplest structure is an eenmanszaak, or sole proprietorship.

Do not be confused by the word zzp’er. ZZP — zelfstandige zonder personeel — describes a self-employed person without employees. It is not itself a legal structure. Most solo zzp’ers operate through an eenmanszaak.

An eenmanszaak does not separate you legally from the business. Business debts can therefore become personal debts. A BV offers greater separation but requires a notary and brings more administration, so it is not automatically the sensible structure for a tiny weekend business.

5. Register with KVK

For an eenmanszaak, you can start the registration online using DigiD and then normally complete the process through KVK. The one-off registration fee in 2026 is €85.15.

You will provide information including your:

business name;
activities;
start date;
visiting address;
contact details.

KVK then sends your information to the Belastingdienst. You do not normally make a second general business-registration application with the Tax Administration. If you are considered an entrepreneur for VAT, you receive the relevant VAT numbers.

Protect your privacy

If you operate an eenmanszaak from home, you can choose to shield your visiting address from public KVK extracts. There is a catch: you must then provide a different postal address, and that postal address remains public. This is worth thinking about before registration rather than discovering later that your home has become your easily searchable business address.

6. Understand VAT and income tax before spending your first payment

This is where “small business” gets confused with “tax-free side hustle”. It isn’t. Your tax position depends on your activity and how the Belastingdienst classifies you.

VAT and the €20,000 KOR

If your annual turnover is no more than €20,000, you may qualify for the kleineondernemersregeling (KOR). Under the KOR, you generally do not charge VAT and do not submit normal VAT returns. The trade-off is that you also cannot reclaim VAT on your business purchases and investments. That means KOR is not automatically “free money”. A tutor with almost no expenses may view it differently from a photographer about to buy €8,000 of equipment. If your turnover exceeds €20,000 during a calendar year, the exemption stops immediately.

Income tax

For an eenmanszaak, profit ultimately feeds into your personal income-tax position. If you also have a salary, the business does not live in some separate tax universe: your employment income and taxable business income both matter when your income tax is calculated. If the Belastingdienst does not classify you as an entrepreneur for income-tax purposes, earnings may instead have to be declared as income from other work. One number side-business owners should know is 1,225 hours. Several entrepreneur deductions require you to meet this annual hours criterion. It is not reduced proportionately just because you started halfway through the year.

In 2026, the zelfstandigenaftrek is €1,200 for eligible entrepreneurs who satisfy the conditions. The separate starters’ deduction can add €2,123 where its conditions are met. The SME profit exemption (mkb-winstvrijstelling) is 12.7% in 2026 for entrepreneurs who qualify. For many people running a few hours of business alongside a full-time job, therefore, the famous Dutch “entrepreneur deductions” are less spectacular than old blog posts may suggest. Keep money aside for tax instead of treating every customer payment as disposable income. Also remember that additional income can affect income-dependent benefits such as zorgtoeslag or huurtoeslag.

7. Keep proper records from day one

An eenmanszaak must maintain business records. Key administration must generally be retained for at least seven years. At minimum, create a system for recording your sales, income, expenses, receipts, invoices, VAT charged, bank transactions, business assets, hours worked (in some cases). Dutch invoices also have required information, including your identity and address, invoice date and sequential invoice number, description of what you supplied and, where applicable, your KVK number, VAT ID and VAT amounts.

A separate business bank account is not legally compulsory for an eenmanszaak, although your bank’s own account conditions still matter. In practice, separating private spending from business transactions makes bookkeeping considerably less painful.

8. Selling food from home? There is another layer

For Indian expats, this deserves its own section because a home-food business is one of those ideas that can look deceptively informal. Many people are currently exploring ideas to offer tiffins, cakes, mithai, snacks, catering for parties or pre-ordered meals. Once this becomes a recurring food business, Dutch food-safety rules apply. Food businesses must register with the NVWA. Since March 2026, food-business registration is handled through MijnNVWA, and registrations need to be checked and reconfirmed annually. An eenmanszaak can use DigiD for the process.

You also need to work according to a food-safety plan or approved hygiene code, prepare and store food safely and provide required allergen information to customers. These requirements apply to food prepared and sold from home as well as conventional restaurants and shops.

And the earlier housing rules still apply. NVWA registration does not override your municipality or landlord either.

The same principle applies elsewhere: beauty treatments, childcare, healthcare and certain professional services can have their own qualifications, registrations or permits. Check the requirements for your particular activity rather than assuming KVK registration completes the process.

In the Netherlands, starting the company is often the easy part. The important question is whether your immigration status, home, contract and activity all allow you to run it.

Your practical launch checklist

Before taking your first proper order, you should be able to tick these off:

Residence: My IND status permits the kind of self-employed work I intend to do.

Employment: I have checked my employment contract, CAO and any conflict-of-interest or non-compete restrictions.

Home: I checked my municipality’s omgevingsplan, my rental or mortgage conditions and, if relevant, my VvE rules.

Business status: I checked whether what I am doing meets the criteria for a business rather than occasional private income.

Legal structure: I understand why I am choosing an eenmanszaak, BV or another structure.

KVK: My company and business address are correctly registered.

Tax: I know whether I am charging VAT or using the KOR, and I am reserving money for income tax.

Administration: I have a simple bookkeeping and invoicing system from day one.

Sector rules: I have checked any additional rules that apply to food, beauty, childcare, healthcare, an online shop or another regulated activity.

Insurance: I have checked whether my private insurance actually covers business risks. Household and private liability policies do not necessarily cover business activities.

None of this should discourage you from testing a small business. In fact, the Dutch system makes many small businesses relatively easy to formalise.

Just get the order right. Do the permission checks first, register second, and start accepting customers third. It is much easier than discovering after your first 30 orders that the problem was never your KVK number — it was your rental contract, residence permit or kitchen.

Rules and amounts checked against official Dutch sources in September 2026.

1. First: are you actually allowed to run a business?

2. If you already have a job, check that too