📖First / Extended financial year

What is a Short or Extended Financial Year?

When you register a new company, you're free to choose the start and end dates of your first financial year. This gives you flexibility to align your company’s reporting period with your business needs. There are two common options:

1. Short Financial Year

A short financial year is less than 12 months. This often happens when you register a company partway through the year and decide to close your financial year at the end of the calendar year (e.g., from July 1st to December 31st). 📌 Why choose it?

• Align with calendar years for simplicity

• Match the financial year of other companies in your group

2. Extended Financial Year

An extended financial year is more than 12 months, up to a maximum of 24 months. This option is useful when you want to avoid filing two separate sets of annual accounts shortly after incorporation. 📌 Example: If you start your company on May 1st, you could extend the first financial year until December 31st of the following year. 📌 Why choose it?

• Delay your first reporting deadline

• Keep early administrative tasks to a minimum

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Important to Know:

• You can only extend your first financial year once.

• Any future changes to your financial year must be reported to the Dutch Chamber of Commerce and tax authorities.

• Make sure your chosen timeline still meets tax and filing deadlines.