A bookkeeper is not compulsory for a new business. You must, however, keep records yourself, store them for 7 years and file your VAT and income tax returns on time. What help with that costs depends on the kind of help. Public figures put an independent bookkeeper at an average of € 45 to € 75 per hour and give accounting offices an average base hourly rate of € 101. These are indications, not fixed prices.
Whether outsourcing pays depends mainly on what your own hours are worth. A worked example further on shows how to calculate that for your own business.
In short
- You are not required to hire a bookkeeper or accountant. A sole trader and a small private limited company do not need an audit.
- Prices are charged per hour, per month or year, or per return. Always ask what is and is not included.
- Outsourcing is cheaper than doing it yourself if you can actually spend the hours you save on paid work, or if an hour of your time is worth more than what the bookkeeper costs per hour saved.
In this article
- Do you need a bookkeeper as a new business?
- What kinds of help with your bookkeeping are there?
- How do bookkeepers and accounting offices set their price?
- What does a bookkeeper cost for a new business?
- Is doing it yourself cheaper than a bookkeeper?
- Can you deduct the cost of a bookkeeper?
- What should you look for when choosing a bookkeeper?
- Frequently asked questions about the cost of a bookkeeper
Do you need a bookkeeper as a new business?
No. The law requires you to keep records, not to hire a bookkeeper. Everyone running a business must keep records from which your rights, obligations and tax data are clear (General State Taxes Act, article 52). Whether you do that yourself or have it done is up to you.
These are the fixed obligations of a new sole trader:
- Keeping records with invoices, receipts, bank statements, contracts and a record of hours (KVK, records and bookkeeping).
- Storing those records for 7 years. Records about property are kept for 10 years (Belastingdienst, retention periods).
- Filing VAT returns, usually quarterly, at the latest by the end of the month after the quarter. How that works is explained in the article on the VAT return.
- Filing an income tax return each year, at the latest by 1 May (KVK, important dates).
As a new business you will almost never need an audit. The rules for annual accounts in Book 2, Title 9 of the Dutch Civil Code apply to the private and public limited company among others, not to a sole trader (Civil Code Book 2, article 360). A small private limited company does not have to have its annual accounts audited by an accountant. Small means that for two years in a row the company meets two of three limits: assets of no more than € 7.5 million, net turnover of no more than € 15 million and fewer than 50 employees (Civil Code Book 2, article 396).
Even if someone else keeps your records, the obligation stays with you. The law places the duty to keep records on the business owner. If the records are not adequate or not kept long enough, the tax authority can set your turnover and profit itself. You then have to prove that its calculation is wrong (Belastingdienst, records).
What kinds of help with your bookkeeping are there?
There are roughly five forms. They differ in how much you do yourself and in who is responsible for the quality of the work. The further down the table, the more work the other party takes over from you.
| Form | What you do yourself | What the other party does |
|---|---|---|
| Doing it yourself with bookkeeping software | Everything: booking, returns and checking | The software sorts and calculates |
| Software with an online bookkeeper | Putting receipts and invoices into the app | Checking, returns, questions by chat or email |
| Independent bookkeeper | Supplying your documents | Booking, VAT return, often the income tax return too |
| Accounting office | Supplying your documents | Booking, returns, year-end accounts, often payroll and advice too |
| Accountant | Supplying your documents | As an accounting office, plus an audit of the annual accounts if required |
The difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant lies in the rules for the profession. An accountant must have liability insurance, is subject to disciplinary law and must meet training requirements. A bookkeeper does not need liability insurance and decides whether to only keep the books or also give advice. According to Ondernemersplein, smaller businesses and self-employed people often choose a bookkeeper (Ondernemersplein, maintaining your records).
Disciplinary law is a separate system of justice for a profession. A client can file a complaint there if he believes an accountant has not done his work properly. No such statutory disciplinary system exists for a bookkeeper.
How do bookkeepers and accounting offices set their price?
In three ways: per hour, with a fixed amount per month or per year, or per return or product. Many providers combine them. For example, a fixed amount for the ongoing bookkeeping and a separate amount for the income tax return.
The hourly rate is still the most common in the sector, but fixed subscriptions are growing. In the 2025 Office Benchmark by NOAB and Fiscount, with 439 participating offices, 44.1% worked with fixed subscriptions. The same benchmark found the highest rates for tax and advisory services and the lowest for administrative work (Accountancy Vanmorgen on the 2025 Office Benchmark).
What a price includes differs per provider. So always ask. These are the parts you may come across:
| Part | Often in a fixed price? |
|---|---|
| Booking invoices, receipts and bank | Yes, often up to an agreed number of entries |
| Quarterly VAT return | Yes, usually |
| Income tax return | Sometimes, often priced separately |
| Annual accounts or year-end summary | Sometimes, often priced separately |
| Questions in between and advice | Varies, sometimes per hour |
| Payroll | No, usually per payslip |
This table is an overview of what you may find in quotes, not a fixed rule. Pay particular attention to limits in a subscription, such as a maximum number of invoices or entries. A construction business with many small purchases from the wholesaler exceeds those limits sooner than a consultant with a few large invoices.
What does a bookkeeper cost for a new business?
There is no official price survey of what a new business pays for a bookkeeper. KVK and Ondernemersplein give no amounts. There are, however, two public sources that state where their figures come from. Both give hourly rates, not a total amount per year.
- Independent bookkeepers. Comparison site Trustoo gives an average of € 45 to € 75 per hour excluding VAT, based on requests through its own platform. The page was updated on 5 October 2026 and does not say how many requests are involved (Trustoo, bookkeeper costs).
- Offices. The benchmark by software supplier Simplicate, published in September 2026, uses data from almost 400 accountancy and accounting offices with 5 to 120 FTE (full-time equivalents). The average base hourly rate, the rate the office agrees with the client, is € 108. For accounting offices it is € 101, for accountancy firms € 115 and for offices with fewer than 10 FTE € 102 (Simplicate, Benchmark Report Accountancy Q3 2026).
Both sources have limits. Trustoo only sees requests through its own site. Simplicate only sees offices with 5 FTE or more that use its software, so no one-person firms. Simplicate does not say whether the rates include VAT. So use the figures as a guide, not as a price you can expect.
The internet also lists amounts per month or per year for a self-employed person or sole trader. The sources reviewed for this article did not say where those amounts came from. So they are not given here. You only get a fair price for your business with a quote that states what is and is not included.
Is doing it yourself cheaper than a bookkeeper?
Only if your own hours are worth little. Doing it yourself costs no invoice, but it does cost time. Research into the costs of tax obligations shows that your own time is on average the largest part of those costs. In a review of studies from several countries, on average 65% was own time and staff, 23% external advisers and 12% other expenses (Eichfelder & Vaillancourt, 2014).
The same review shows that this burden is heaviest for small businesses. Relative to turnover, it falls sharply as a business grows, because large businesses can organise the work more efficiently. The researchers also point to studies in which small businesses using a paid adviser had lower total costs the more they outsourced. That is a correlation, not proof that outsourcing is always cheaper. They also note that starting a business brings one-off costs, which in the first year can exceed the regular annual costs (Eichfelder & Vaillancourt, 2014).
Worked example: a plumber in the first year of business
This is an example with assumed hours, not an average. A plumber with a sole trader business does everything himself. He spends 4 hours a month on invoices, receipts and bank (48 hours), 1 hour per VAT return (4 hours) and 8 hours on the income tax return. Together 60 hours a year. If he outsources, 1 hour a month remains for sorting and supplying documents: 12 hours. He gains 48 hours. Suppose the bookkeeper spends 15 hours a year on the work. At € 45 per hour, the lowest average at Trustoo, that is € 675. At € 101 per hour, the average for accounting offices at Simplicate, it is € 1,515. Per hour gained, outsourcing then costs just over € 14 or almost € 32.
So the question is what you do with those 48 hours. If you can do paid work in that time, such as an extra job or a quote that goes ahead, outsourcing is almost always cheaper in this example. If you still have many empty hours in your first year, doing it yourself is cheaper in money, but not necessarily in errors and worry. A fuller comparison is in the article on doing it yourself or outsourcing.
Also count the hours for the hours criterion. For the self-employed deduction you must spend at least 1,225 hours a year on your business. Hours spent on your records also count (Belastingdienst, hours criterion). If you are close to the limit, read more in the article on the hours criterion.
Can you deduct the cost of a bookkeeper?
Yes. Costs you incur for your business are deductible from your profit, as long as they are reasonably necessary for the business (Belastingdienst, business costs). Your bookkeeper's bill for your business records is one of them. Bookkeeping software you use for the business is also a business cost.
If you are registered for VAT, you deduct the VAT on the bookkeeper's invoice as input tax (Belastingdienst, deducting VAT). Input tax is the VAT you pay yourself on business purchases and reclaim in your VAT return. If you use the small business scheme, you cannot deduct that VAT. More on that is in the article on the KOR.
What the deduction saves you depends on your profit and your income tax rate. Which other costs and deductions you have as a business owner is set out in the overview of tax deductions for business owners.
What should you look for when choosing a bookkeeper?
Look above all at what the price includes and what happens when things go wrong. Two quotes for the same amount can be very different. One includes questions in between and the income tax return, the other charges for them by the hour.
The price difference between providers comes roughly from four things: who does the work (an independent or an office with more people), how much of the work the software already does, how many entries you have and whether advice is included. The highest rates go with tax work and advice, the lowest with the booking itself (Accountancy Vanmorgen).
Ask these questions before you sign:
- Which returns and documents are included in the price, and up to how many entries?
- Who is my regular contact, and how quickly do I get an answer?
- What does a question in between cost, for example about a quote or a large purchase?
- What happens if the tax authority asks questions or carries out an inspection, and what does that cost?
- Can I always access my own records, including if I switch?
- What is the notice period?
The question about access matters. You must be able to show your records for 7 years, including if you change bookkeeper (Belastingdienst, retention periods). What else you can expect from a bookkeeper is explained in the article on the bookkeeper's role. If you are considering a private limited company, also read the article on switching from sole trader to bv, because a bv has more administrative obligations.
Frequently asked questions about the cost of a bookkeeper
Does a self-employed person need an accountant?
No. A sole trader is not covered by the rules for annual accounts in Book 2, Title 9 of the Civil Code (Civil Code Book 2, article 360). You must still keep records yourself and file your returns.
Which is cheaper, a bookkeeper or an accounting office?
Per hour, an independent bookkeeper is at € 45 to € 75 according to Trustoo and an accounting office at an average of € 101 according to Simplicate. What you pay in total depends on the number of hours and on what the price includes.
Can I start myself and outsource later?
Yes. If you use bookkeeping software from the start and keep all documents, a bookkeeper can easily take over later. Agree from which quarter he takes over.
Am I responsible if my bookkeeper makes a mistake?
Towards the tax authority, yes. The duty to keep records lies with you as the business owner (AWR, article 52). Whether you can recover the damage from the bookkeeper depends on your agreements with him.
Are a bookkeeper's fees deductible?
Yes, as business costs. And as a VAT-registered business you deduct the VAT on his invoice, unless you use the small business scheme.
Sources
- Algemene wet inzake rijksbelastingen (General State Taxes Act), article 52, in force from 1 October 2026. wetten.overheid.nl
- KVK, Records and bookkeeping for business owners, updated 19 August 2026. kvk.nl
- Belastingdienst, How long must you keep records?, accessed 17 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
- KVK, Important dates for business owners, updated 1 October 2026. kvk.nl
- Dutch Civil Code Book 2, article 360, in force from 1 July 2026. wetten.overheid.nl
- Dutch Civil Code Book 2, article 396, in force from 1 July 2026. wetten.overheid.nl
- Belastingdienst, Records, accessed 17 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
- Ondernemersplein (KVK and Belastingdienst), Step-by-step plan for maintaining your records, accessed 17 October 2026. ondernemersplein.overheid.nl
- Accountancy Vanmorgen, Productivity keeps rising strongly at accountancy and accounting offices, 2 October 2025. On the 2025 Office Benchmark by NOAB and Fiscount. accountancyvanmorgen.nl
- Trustoo, What does a bookkeeper cost?, updated 5 October 2026. Hourly rate based on requests through Trustoo. trustoo.nl
- Simplicate, Benchmark Report Accountancy Q3 2026, first published September 2026. Data from almost 400 offices with 5 to 120 FTE, 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. simplicate.com
- Eichfelder, S. & Vaillancourt, F. (2014). Tax compliance costs: A review of cost burdens and cost structures. Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, 210(3), 111-148. Read in the working paper version (arqus Discussion Paper 178). econstor.eu
- Belastingdienst, Hours criterion conditions, accessed 17 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
- Belastingdienst, Business costs, accessed 17 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
- Belastingdienst, Deducting VAT, accessed 17 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl