How does depreciation work?
There is no legal limit that says from what amount you must capitalise something. The obligation follows from goed koopmansgebruik (sound business practice): what lasts several years, you spread over those years. In practice, entrepreneurs and firms choose a limit themselves, and that choice must then be consistent and recognisable as your own policy. A limit you shift per purchase is not a policy but an outcome.
The calculation itself is simple as long as you keep three dates sharp: when you entered into the obligation, when the business asset went into use, and when you dispose of it again. The first determines the investment year for the deduction, the second the starting point of depreciation, and the third the moment depreciation stops and a book result arises: the sale price minus the book value still remaining then.
You do not simply repair forgotten depreciation by taking it in the current year after all. For that there is the foutenleer (the Dutch doctrine for correcting errors), which says a balance sheet error is corrected in the oldest year still open. It only applies if correction through the normal route is no longer possible. If the assessment for the wrong year is not yet final, you correct that year itself. Which of the two routes is right depends on facts only you know.
Where is depreciation in the law?
These legal sources come from the specialist dossiers that were reviewed on 24 August 2026. Mind the difference that becomes large in a dispute: a statutory article next to a value is where that value is found, not a justification for how it applies to your situation.
- Article 3.30 of the Dutch Income Tax Act (Wet IB 2001)limits annual depreciation to twenty percent of the acquisition or production costs, and for goodwill to ten percent
The links go to the statutory text on wetten.overheid.nl, in the version that applied on 24 September 2026.
What does basestep do with depreciation?
If something costs less than €450 excluding VAT (btw), the platform books it straight away as costs; above that it becomes a business asset with a depreciation schedule. That limit of €450 is a choice by basestep and not a legal limit. It is set equal to the minimum per business asset for the investeringsaftrek (the investment deduction), so you do not deal with two limits at once. The platform deliberately does not do catch-up depreciation over past years, because which route is right depends on facts it does not know.
All calculations, explanations and signals in basestep are calculation support and instruction, not tax or legal advice. Amounts are estimates based on your own input; the Dutch tax authority (Belastingdienst) sets the assessment.
Where does it go wrong with depreciation?
The two mistakes you run into most often in practice with this term, and what they cost you.
Depreciating from the purchase date
Depreciation starts when the asset is put into use. If you buy in September and put it into use in October, the clock starts in October and you calculate by time that year.
Residual value zero by default
For a car, zero is not realistic, and a residual value that is too low makes your annual depreciation too high. That is a mistake that only shows years later and then affects the whole schedule.
Catching up a forgotten year in the current year
That is not the route. The foutenleer points to the oldest year still open, and only if correction through the normal route is no longer possible. Put this to a tax specialist before you change anything.
Further reading
Three places this term is tied to, inside this glossary and beyond.