Must a VOF file annual accounts?

The VOF sits in the same corner as the sole trader (eenmanszaak): you run a business, but you are not a legal entity that has to publish its annual accounts in the trade register. That saves work and it saves money. There is, however, one exception you should know about, because it depends on who the partners are.

When must a VOF file?

Without a filing obligation, the same applies to the figures as for a sole trader.

KVK names the exception explicitly: a VOF or CV must file if all managing partners are foreign capital companies. If there is an ordinary partner among them — a person or a Dutch company — the obligation does not apply. The full list of who must and must not file is at KVK: annual accounts: to file or not.

What must you supply as a VOF?

If the obligation applies to you, the same system applies as for a legal entity: what exactly you must file depends on the size class you fall into. KVK explains per class what goes with it: which size class does your company fall into. The components themselves are in what the annual accounts consist of.

What does not change: the partners remain jointly and severally liable for the debts of the VOF. The annual accounts do not change that, but they do make visible how things stand.

Preparing annual accounts without an obligation

There are good reasons to prepare annual accounts as a VOF even when it is not required:

• •A bank or financier asks for them for a loan or credit facility.
• •When a partner joins or leaves, you want to be able to support the value of the business.
• •When the business is sold, a set of figures that reconciles is the first thing a buyer wants to see.
• •In a dispute between partners, a fixed annual closing is the difference between talking about figures and talking about feelings.
• •For yourself: you see where the margin goes and what should be done differently next year.

Such annual accounts need not be complicated. A balance sheet, a profit and loss account and short notes are enough, as long as the balance sheet balances. With the wizard you go through those steps and see in between whether your figures add up.