Which KVK form you need, and what each one registers

The KVK forms are numbered 1 to 34, with letters hung off a few of them, and the numbering follows no order you can guess from outside. Form 3 registers a bv. Form 11 registers its directors. Form 30 registers its owners. Nothing on the cover of any of them tells you that you need all three.

This sorts the whole set by the job you are actually doing. Every form named here is the genuine KVK PDF, fillable in your browser on PDFRaw and free to download, and all 39 sit together in the Netherlands forms catalog.

A company registration is usually three forms, not one

The Handelsregister records three separate facts about a legal entity, and each fact has its own sheet. What the entity is goes on a registration form. Who may act for it, and with what authority, goes on an officers form. Who ultimately owns or controls it goes on a UBO form, which is a different register again, sitting alongside the Handelsregister rather than inside it.

So a new bv on the paper route is form 3 for the company, form 11 for the directors and any sole shareholder, and form 30 for the ultimate beneficial owners. Send only the first and the filing is incomplete.

A sole trader is the exception that makes the pattern obvious: form 1 is the whole registration, because with an eenmanszaak the owner is the entity. There is nobody else to name.

Step one: the form for your legal form

Which registration form you need is decided by the legal form you chose, not by what the business sells. Pick the row that describes the entity:

• Eenmanszaak, the sole trader: form 1. Exactly one owner, who can only ever own one of them, though it can run several branches.
• Vof, cv or rederij: form 2. A maatschap, the partnership professionals practise through, has its own sheet at form 2a.
• Bv or nv: form 3, once the notarial deed has been executed. Before that the company is a bv in oprichting and goes on form 7.
• Cooperatie or onderlinge waarborgmaatschappij: form 4.
• Stichting, vereniging or vve: form 5.
• A Dutch branch of a foreign company: form 6.
• An extra location of a business already registered: form 9, or form 9a for a branch of an entity that does not trade.

Past those, the set gets specialised fast: European forms for an EESV, an SE and an SCE, a form for a publiekrechtelijke rechtspersoon, one for a kerkgenootschap, and one for the boermarken, hofjes, gilden and fundaties that predate modern company law. The Dutch catalog lists all of them with what each covers, and its search takes an ordinary Dutch word as readily as a form number.

Step two: the form for the people

The second form names whoever may act for the entity. Which one depends again on the legal form, and the split is between entities that run a business and entities that do not.

Directors, supervisory directors and a sole shareholder of a bv, nv, cooperative, foundation or association that runs a business go on form 11, one of the most used forms KVK publishes. The board of a stichting, vereniging or vve that does not run a business goes on form 22 instead, partners of a vof or cv on form 10, the maten of a maatschap on 10a, and someone authorised to act without being an officer, a gevolmachtigde, on form 13.

One detail on these forms sinks more filings than anything else in the set. An officer or partner living in the Netherlands has to be registered at the right address in the BRP, the municipal population register. If the address on the form and the address in the BRP disagree, KVK cannot process it at all, and the fix is at the gemeente rather than at KVK.

Every officer form also asks whether authority is unlimited, limited, or absent, and a limitation has to be written out. When the box runs out of room, that is what form 18 is for.

Step three: the UBO register, which is five more forms

A UBO is always a natural person: whoever ultimately owns or controls the entity, through shares, voting rights or any other route. There are five UBO forms and they are chosen by legal form, exactly like the registration sheets.

It is form 30 for a bv, nv, SE or SCE, then 31 for a stichting, 32 for a vof, cv, maatschap, EESV or rederij, 33 for a vereniging, cooperatie or onderlinge waarborgmaatschappij, and 34 for a kerkgenootschap.

One copy of a UBO form registers up to four people, and each of them needs name, date and place of birth, nationality, address and burgerservicenummer, plus the nature and size of the interest and the documents that evidence it. Where the entity is already in the Handelsregister, KVK would rather you reported UBOs online at kvk.nl/ubo; the paper form is for when that route is closed to you.

Changing something later, and closing down

The register has to match reality, so the change forms get used far more often than the registration ones. There are only three, and the distinction between the first two is the one people get wrong.

• Form 14 changes a business or a branch: trade name, activities, visiting and postal address, phone, email, website, Berichtenbox name. It is also where you close an eenmanszaak or a branch, or transfer one to someone else.
• Form 15 changes a legal entity: statutory details, articles, capital. A bv that has moved uses form 14 for the address of its business and form 15 for what the statutes say.
• Form 16 changes a registered officer, or takes one out of the register entirely.

Endings split by entity type as well. A vof, cv, maatschap or rederij that has been dissolved goes on form 17. A dissolved legal entity goes on form 17a, which asks whether there are assets left to divide through a vereffening or whether nothing remains and the entity ceases immediately, the turboliquidatie. When a liquidation finishes and the entity stops existing, that is form 17b.

What the paper route actually asks of you

None of these forms finish in a browser. KVK wants them printed and signed with a pen, and form 2 says outright that a scan or a copy of a signature is not accepted. So filling in the PDF online saves you the handwriting and the illegible-block-capitals problem, not the trip to a printer.

Two more things worth knowing before you start. The Handelsregister is a public register, so everything you enter about the business, its address included, can be looked up by anyone. And for several of these jobs KVK prefers you did it online instead: registering an eenmanszaak and reporting UBOs both have web routes that are faster than posting paper, and the paper form exists for the cases those routes do not cover.

If the business also has to register with the tax authority, that is a different agency and a different form. A business that does not have to register at KVK at all registers with the Belastingdienst on the opgaaf startende onderneming, and taking on a first employee means registering as an employer for payroll taxes.

Frequently asked questions

How many KVK forms are there?

Thirty-nine. They are numbered 1 to 34, with 2a, 9a, 10a, 17a and 17b hung off the numbers they extend. PDFRaw carries all of them as the genuine KVK PDFs.

Do I need more than one KVK form to register a company?

Almost always. A legal entity takes one form for the entity, one for the officers who may act for it, and one for the ultimate beneficial owners. A new bv is forms 3, 11 and 30. An eenmanszaak is the exception: form 1 on its own, because the owner is the entity.

What is the difference between form 14 and form 15?

Form 14 changes a business or a branch: its name, activities, addresses and contact details, and it is also how an eenmanszaak or a branch is closed or transferred. Form 15 changes a legal entity: its statutory details, articles and capital.

Which UBO form do I use?

It follows the legal form. Form 30 for a bv, nv, SE or SCE; form 31 for a stichting; form 32 for a vof, cv, maatschap, EESV or rederij; form 33 for a vereniging or cooperatie; form 34 for a kerkgenootschap.

Can I sign a KVK form electronically?

No. These forms are printed and signed by hand, and form 2 states directly that a scanned or copied signature is not accepted. Filling the PDF online saves the handwriting, not the printer.

My form ran out of space for the partners. What now?

Form 18 is the continuation sheet. It carries extra partners, the full description of a limited authority, and corrections to information you already sent on an earlier form.