How DigiD works for filing Dutch taxes: a guide for expats
What DigiD is, how to activate it, and how to read the btw return once you are inside Mijn Belastingdienst.
Every eenmanszaak files taxes through the same front door: DigiD, the Dutch government's personal login. It is not specific to the Belastingdienst: the same credentials open MijnOverheid, a municipality's own portal, and most healthcare and benefits sites. For an eenmanszaak's own tax filing, it is the only door that matters.
DigiD is personal, tied to a citizen service number (BSN), and free. eHerkenning is a paid business login required for a VOF or BV filing on Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk. An eenmanszaak files personal income tax and its own btw return with DigiD alone.
Activating DigiD
DigiD activation starts once a BSN exists, usually issued at municipality registration. Request an account at digid.nl with the BSN and a Dutch address, and a paper activation code arrives by post, typically within a few working days. Entering that code once online finishes the setup: no extra Belastingdienst step required.
From there, two ways exist to confirm identity for anything beyond the simplest look-ups: the DigiD app, which shows a scan code on Mijn Belastingdienst that the phone confirms in seconds, and SMS codes sent to a registered Dutch phone number. The app is faster and works without needing a fresh text message at the moment of login; SMS is the fallback for a phone not yet added to the DigiD account. Most tax actions, including opening a btw return, ask for one of the two.
Finding the btw return
Log in at Mijn Belastingdienst with DigiD and open Zakelijk (Business), a separate area from the personal income tax pages even for an eenmanszaak. Inside, the quarter due for filing is listed by name, and opening it lands directly on the current btw-aangifte form, prefilled with nothing: every field still needs your own numbers.
What the fields mean
The form itself is short, and every field maps to a rubriek: a numbered box rather than a free-text question. Two numbers do most of the work.
The btw charged on your invoices sits in rubriek 1a or 1b depending on the rate, and the voorbelasting already paid on business costs sits in rubriek 5b. Rubriek 5c is simply the difference: what gets paid, or occasionally refunded.
One door, not the only one
DigiD covers everything an eenmanszaak needs for its own filing. A VOF or a BV needs eHerkenning instead, at an assurance level that matches what the filing requires, and that login works differently enough to deserve its own guide, which is on the backlog and not yet written. For a solo freelancer, DigiD is the only credential that matters here.
Kwartaal does not replace DigiD or the login screen itself. It prepares the numbers that go into each rubriek before that screen ever appears. Kwartaal guides you through this automatically.