Invoicing as a freelance personal trainer in the Netherlands

The short answer: companies always get an invoice, with a fixed list of details. Private clients do not need one. And if you use the KOR, you never put VAT on an invoice.

This article is general information, not tax advice. The rules come from the Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst), as of September 2026. For your own situation, ask your accountant or the Belastingdienst.

When do you have to invoice?

The invoicing obligation covers everything you supply to other businesses. For a personal trainer that is, for example, a company buying sessions for its staff, or a client who pays through their own company.

Most PT clients are private individuals. They do not need an invoice. A receipt, or a proper invoice on request, still looks professional, and you need the record for your own books anyway.

When you do invoice a company, the invoice must go out by the 15th of the month after delivery. Sessions in March mean an invoice by 15 April.

What must be on the invoice?

• Your full name and your client's (for a company: the company name).
• Your address and your client's.
• Your VAT identification number (starts with NL) and your KVK number.
• The invoice date and a unique invoice number from a consecutive series.
• What you delivered, for example "10 personal training sessions of 60 minutes".
• The date or period of the sessions (or the date of prepayment).
• The amount excluding VAT, the VAT rate and the VAT amount.

If one invoice uses more than one VAT rate, list the amounts per rate separately. Which rate applies to personal training (usually 21%, sometimes 9%) is covered in our article on VAT for personal trainers.

A worked example

A company buys 8 sessions in October at €60 excluding VAT, at 21%. The invoice then shows:

Add your name and address and theirs, your VAT ID, KVK number, invoice date and invoice number, and the invoice is complete.

Invoices up to €100: fewer details

If the total is €100 or less including VAT, for example a single session, you may send a simplified invoice with fewer required details. The Belastingdienst lists these as the adjusted rules for small invoices.

Invoicing under the KOR

If you use the small business scheme (kleineondernemersregeling, under €20,000 turnover a year), you do not have to issue invoices. If you issue one anyway, for example because a client asks:

• show no VAT rate and no VAT amount;
• state that you are exempt from VAT under the small business scheme.

Careful: if you put VAT on an invoice while under the KOR, you still owe that VAT.

Keep them for 7 years

Keep the invoices you send and the ones you receive, such as studio rent, equipment and software, for 7 years. Digital is fine as long as they stay readable. Accounting software that numbers and stores invoices for you prevents most mistakes on this list.