How does the duty to provide information (informatieplicht) work?
The two obligations sit side by side and work differently. The retention obligation says how long you must have something. The informatieplicht says you must tell what you know and show what you have, and it is not tied to a period.
In practice this means that disposing after seven years is allowed, but what you keep stays within reach. If you keep your entire bookkeeping for twenty years, you can be questioned about it in twenty years; if you clear out after seven years, you can no longer show it and then do not have to.
The obligation applies to your own taxation and, in another form, to data about third parties. For a sole proprietorship (eenmanszaak) the first form is the relevant one: everything that may be relevant to your assessment.
Where is the duty to provide information (informatieplicht) 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 47 of the Dutch General State Taxes Act (AWR)the obligation to provide data and information that may be relevant to taxation; not tied to a time limit
- Article 52 of the Dutch General State Taxes Act (AWR)the seven-year retention obligation, which does have a time limit
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 the duty to provide information (informatieplicht)?
This is not a feature but an obligation that rests on you. What basestep contributes is that your bookkeeping can be exported and that every entry refers to its source document, so you can answer a question without searching. The keeping itself remains your choice and your responsibility.
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 the duty to provide information (informatieplicht)?
The two mistakes you run into most often in practice with this term, and what they cost you.
Thinking everything lapses after seven years
The retention obligation lapses, the informatieplicht does not. If you still have the documents, they can still be asked for.
Just keeping everything forever
That is also a choice, and not automatically the safe one. What you keep stays within reach of a question; what you cleared out according to the rules does not.
Further reading
Three places this term is tied to, inside this glossary and beyond.