What do solar panels have to do with your business? 
Not much, I thought, or actually nothing at all. We purchased the solar panels privately in 2019, when neither of us had Chamber of Commerce registration yet. I was aware that in order to reclaim the VAT on the installation of solar panels, you had to temporarily apply for a VAT number. So said, done, and as far as I knew, it was closed after the VAT refund had been processed.

Until, after registering Hello Daphne with the Chamber of Commerce, I heard nothing from the Tax Authorities. My husband told me that you would receive a letter from the Tax Authorities within two weeks containing your VAT number. They also told me that at the Chamber of Commerce. But the letter never came. So I logged in to 'Belastingdienst Zakelijk' and to my great surprise I saw a VAT number there. Then I called the tax authorities, and the lady on the line told me that I had not received a new VAT number because I already had one for the solar panels.

Okay, nice to know, but it would have been useful if I had been informed about this. After all, I assumed that everything had already been taken care of. Anyway, I had my VAT number and thought that was the end of it.

Unfortunately, that turned out not to be the case. On Saturday, September 7, this letter arrived on the mat, for both me and my husband.

Registered for the KOR?

It might be useful to explain what the KOR is for people who don't know:
The Small Business Scheme (KOR) is a scheme for entrepreneurs with a low turnover, where you do not have to charge VAT to your customers. This can simplify your administration, because you do not have to file a VAT return. However, you cannot reclaim VAT on business costs. From 2025, the rules for the KOR will change, such as the conditions or thresholds for participation. The letter I received was about this.

But I had never registered for the KOR. My husband does. How is this possible, I wondered, because you have to register for this yourself? It doesn't happen automatically when you start a company. And there was exactly the catch. When I logged in to my tax authorities portal, there was nothing about the KOR, so I continued searching on the internet. Finally I came across this information:

The KOR and solar panel holders

Do you have solar panels, do you use the KOR for this and are you going to start a business soon? Then there are a number of things to take into account.

Solar panel holders are automatically registered for the KOR as of December 31, 2019

All solar panel holders who registered as VAT entrepreneurs before December 31, 2019, were automatically registered by the Tax Authorities for the KOR as of January 1, 2020 on December 31, 2019. 

In this case, if you start a new company later, all your activities will automatically fall under the KOR for VAT. If this is not desired, you must first unsubscribe from the KOR. The Tax Authorities will inform you by letter when you can charge VAT to your customers again and deduct input tax. 

Tip

Please unsubscribe in time, because the Tax Authorities need 4 weeks to process your unsubscribe. You must unsubscribe no later than 4 weeks before the date on which you want the unsubscribe to take effect. You can only unsubscribe on the 1st day of your tax return period. So if you want to start VAT-taxed business activities on April 1, your deregistration must be received by the Tax Authorities by March 3.

This comes from: goedestartbelastingdienst.nl

We had solar panels installed in September 2019 and the declaration was filed in October 2019. So as of December 31, 2019, I was automatically registered for the KOR.

Now I hear people thinking: "You should have read up more." That may be true, but why does the Tax Authorities send messages about everything via the app and letters, and leave something so important unmentioned? I really don't understand that. When I called about my VAT number, they only said that it was left over from the solar panels. But apparently it was too much effort to also report that I automatically fell under the KOR.

If I had not received that letter, I would probably have just sent invoices with VAT, which is not allowed, and filed a tax return in October. I probably would have found out then, because there would be no first declaration ready.

Why not participate in the KOR?

Do you not want to participate in the KOR? Then unsubscribe, you might think. I actually don't want that, because my target group is mainly companies, and they want a VAT invoice, which I am not allowed to make at the moment. However, unsubscription is only possible quarterly, and the deadline to unsubscribe as of October 1st was September 3rd. In fact, if I had known, I would have had to deregister before June 3 so that I would no longer be part of the KOR when my company started on July 1.

Because I did not know that I was registered for this, this means that I cannot leave the KOR until January 1, 2025. Until then, I cannot create VAT invoices, I do not have to pay VAT, I cannot reclaim VAT, and I will miss out on the starters and self-employed deduction this year. Moreover, when I deregister from the KOR, I have to pay VAT again on the netting of solar energy.

This is easy to solve: we can transfer all energy to my husband's name, who is also covered by the KOR and does not want to leave it, or we can use the lump sum. We still have to figure that out and see what is most to our advantage.

I am certainly not happy with this, because I would never have chosen the KOR myself.

Why this blog?
Especially as a warning for people who have just started or want to start a business and have solar panels. You can unexpectedly end up in the KOR without even realizing it!

The Tax Authorities: "We can't make it more fun, so apparently not easier either."