How does a credit note work?
The reason you correct with a second document and not with an eraser is proof. Bookkeeping in which a sent invoice can still change cannot show what was ever sent. A credit note leaves the whole movement in place: this is what we sent, this is what we reversed, and this is what remains on balance.
Mirroring the original supply is the core. All the features that determined the VAT consequence are fixed at the moment of that supply: the rate, the place, whether the customer was a business. If you later change rate, move, or start using the KOR, the credit note still follows the old situation.
A credit note is something other than a bad debt. You credit when the supply does not go ahead or changes; a bad debt is a claim that continues to exist but is not paid. The route and the period differ.
Where is a credit note 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 29(1) of the Dutch VAT Act (Wet OB 1968)reduces the taxable amount of the original supply
- Article 35a of the Dutch VAT Act (Wet OB 1968)the credit note is itself an invoice and must therefore meet the same content requirements
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 a credit note?
basestep credits with a separately numbered document that refers to the original invoice, and puts the correction in the box of that original supply. The old invoice stays unchanged.
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 a credit note?
The two mistakes you run into most often in practice with this term, and what they cost you.
Changing the old invoice
A sent invoice that you change afterwards costs you the proof of what you sent. Credit and invoice again; then the whole movement stays visible.
The credit note follows your current situation
It follows the original supply. If you started using the KOR after the invoice, you still credit at the rate of that time.
Further reading
Three places this term is tied to, inside this glossary and beyond.