VAT in the Netherlands in 2026

Consultoria EHERO

6 minutos de lectura

In the Netherlands —Holland in everyday speech— the law calls VAT omzetbelasting, but on invoices and at the Tax Administration itself, the Belastingdienst, it is called btw. It has a standard rate of 21 %, the same as in Spain, a single reduced rate of 9 %, and a 0 % rate for specific cases, such as solar panels for homes. These are set by article 9 of the Wet op de omzetbelasting 1968, which refers to table I for the 9 % rate and table II for the 0 % rate.

Type	Percentage	Applies to
Standard (algemeen tarief)	21 %	Everything that is neither exempt nor taxed at 9 % or 0 %: clothing, footwear, electronics, cosmetics, toys, alcoholic beverages, pet food and, from 1 January 2026, hotel accommodation
Reduced (verlaagd tarief)	9 %	Food and non-alcoholic drinks, including supplements; books, newspapers and magazines in print or digital form and downloadable audiobooks; medicines, contraceptives, sanitary pads, tampons and incontinence products; hearing aids and prostheses; flowers, plants and bulbs. In services, restaurant meals, camping pitches and admission to museums, cinemas or sporting events
Zero (nultarief)	0 %	The supply and installation of photovoltaic solar panels on or next to a home, including “plug and play” ones; home batteries, heat pumps and solar thermal collectors are taxed at 21 %

Rates verified on 11 September 2026 against the “Tarieven en vrijstellingen” page of the Belastingdienst, the Dutch Tax Administration (belastingdienst.nl).

2026 in the Netherlands: hotels go up, books do not

The 2026 change you notice most is accommodation: from 1 January, short stays in hotels, guesthouses and holiday accommodation moved from 9 % to 21 %. Only camping pitches remain at 9 %.

For an online store, what matters more is what did not change. The Belastingplan 2025 was going to raise books, the press, culture and sport to 21 % from 2026, but the Wet behoud verlaagd btw-tarief op cultuur, media en sport, of 29 October 2025, отменed it before it entered into force. All of that remains at 9 %. If you configured your store based on that announcement, you are charging twelve points too much.

Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba are part of the Netherlands, but they are outside the EU VAT territory, just like Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, the other three countries in the Kingdom. A shipment to any of the six is an export: it leaves without Spanish VAT and is not reported through the one-stop shop. In the first three, the customer pays import ABB: 8 % in Bonaire and 6 % in Sint Eustatius and Saba, except for shipments up to 28 dollars, shipping included, that are not alcohol or tobacco.

Which VAT you charge customers in the Netherlands if you sell from another EU country

This is the part no rate table covers, and usually the real question. The rate you charge does not depend only on the destination: it depends on how much you sell to consumers in other EU countries.

Below €10,000 a year in distance sales to the rest of the EU — added up across all countries, not country by country — you charge your own country’s VAT.
Above that €10,000 you charge the destination VAT: 21% as the standard rate in the Netherlands, or the reduced rate that applies to the product. You declare it through the One Stop Shop (OSS) in your own country, with no need to register in the destination country.

The threshold adds up all your B2C sales to other EU countries plus digital services, and the switch does not wait for next year: the very sale that crosses the threshold already carries the destination rate.

Selling to a business with a valid EU VAT number is a different story: the sale goes without VAT because the customer accounts for it in their own country, but you have to check that number in VIES and keep proof of the check.

How to set this up in WooCommerce

WooCommerce includes tax rates by country, but it does not distinguish rates within a country by product class, nor does it monitor the threshold for you. There are three things you need to set up:

A tax class for each rate you use, assigned product by product and not at store level.
VAT number validation at checkout against VIES for business customers, so VAT is not charged when the transaction is under reverse charge.
A control for the €10,000 threshold, because the day it is exceeded the rates change at once across all countries.

All three are covered by EHERO Woo VAT, which we built precisely because these are the three points that break stores selling to the rest of the European Union.

Selling to other EU countries from WooCommerce?

EHERO Woo VAT applies each country’s rate product by product, checks VAT numbers against VIES at checkout and keeps an eye on the €10,000 threshold for you.

See EHERO Woo VAT →

Frequently asked questions

What is the standard VAT rate in the Netherlands in 2026?

21 %, the same as in Spain. Below that there is a single reduced rate of 9 % for food, books, medicines and flowers, among others, and a 0 % rate for specific cases such as solar panels for homes. These are set by article 9 of the Wet op de omzetbelasting 1968.

Did VAT increase in the Netherlands in 2026?

For accommodation, yes: from 1 January 2026, hotels, guesthouses and holiday accommodation moved from 9 % to 21 %. For books, the press, culture and sport, no: the increase approved by the Belastingplan 2025 was отменed in October 2025 and they remain at 9 %. The standard rate remains at 21 %.

I sell to the Netherlands from another EU country — which VAT do I charge?

Your own country’s VAT while your distance sales to the whole EU stay below €10,000 a year. Once you cross that threshold, the destination VAT (21% standard rate), declared through the One Stop Shop.

Do I have to register for VAT in the Netherlands?

Not if you only ship from your own country: that is what the One Stop Shop is for. You do if you store goods there — for example with Amazon’s fulfilment network — because stock held in the country creates a registration obligation regardless of how much you sell.