Annual accounts
An entity that has received a decision regarding its place of business is required to submit its annual accounts within nine months of the end of the financial year.
Attention! From the 1st of January, 2024 this obligation applies to all entities and fixed establishments established in the Caribbean Netherlands. Hence, these new regulations are already applicable to the financial statements for the 2023 financial year.
What are annual accounts and why do you need them?
Many companies draw up an annual report of their business activities during the past year. The annual accounts are a fixed element of an annual report and provide an overview of the business's finances. The annual accounts usually consist of, at least, a balance sheet, a profit and loss account and clarifying notes. The larger the company, the more detailed the annual accounts will be.
In any event a return has to be submitted to the Belastingdienst. This can be done via the MijnCN portal. This will require a balance sheet and profit and loss account.
Drawing up your annual accounts yourself, or outsourcing this work
The annual accounts can provide a detailed insight into a company's situation. However, this insight can only be gained using accurate accounts which are based on carefully recorded data.
If a sole trader business grows and doing the accounts becomes a time-consuming exercise, the decision can be taken to outsource the work to an accountant. The accountant can then also draw up the annual accounts and submit them to the Belastingdienst.
Annual report and accounts
An entity that is required to pay opbrengstbelasting must submit its annual report and accounts within nine months of the end of the financial year.
Attention! From the 1st of January, 2024 this obligation applies to all entities and fixed establishments established in the Caribbean Netherlands. |
In other words, the annual report and accounts for the previous year must have been submitted by no later than the 30th of September each year. The documents must consist of a balance sheet, a profit and loss account and clarifying notes and they must have been drawn up in accordance with the provisions of Section 15 of Book 2 of the BES Civil Code. The Belastingsdienst also needs to receive a specification of the ABB and loonheffing balance sheet items as at December 31. In addition to this the Belastingdienst needs to receive a statement of the salary of the director and majority shareholder and of the employee with the highest wages and a statement of any distributed dividends. The annual report and accounts must also be signed by the entity's director. As from the 2022 financial year the above-mentioned information must also be accompanied by additional data, referred to as metadata. You can read everything you need to know about metadata here.
Deferment scheme
In pursuance of the Belastingwet BES, all entities are required to submit their financial statements including appendices within nine months after expiry of the financial year.
In pursuance of the Belastingwet BES, the Inspector can, on the basis of conditions to be imposed by them, grant deferment in terms of the submission of the financial statements including appendices.
To submit a request for deferment, this form can be used.