Several reasons can lead to a termination of your sole proprietorship: no time, no drive, too little turnover, etc.
Another possible reason is that your business is becoming a corporation, in which case ending your sole proprietorship will also apply. Because a corporation means a new form of enterprise with a new company number.
What do you have to do to end your sole proprietorship?
1) Cancellation of your company number
Through a recognized enterprise counter, you can quickly and easily have a company number deleted. The cost of such a deletion is the same as the application, namely €105.50 (2024 price).
The company number of your sole proprietorship always remains the same. If you later start up a sole proprietorship again, it will be with the same company number.
Did you know?
You can set a cancellation of your company number (and VAT number) for a future date. For example, you go to an enterprise counter in May to record that you will quit on June 30.
2) Deactivation of VAT number (also exempted from VAT!)
For this too, you can contact a recognized enterprise counter, at the same time as having your company number stopped. Cost for discontinuing your VAT number? Approximately €60 (2023 price).
Tip
Even as an entrepreneur exempted from VAT (small business with turnover under €25,000 on an annual basis), you have a VAT number that must be discontinued.
3) File your VAT return
If you were subject to VAT, be sure to still file that last VAT return. You still have to file a VAT return for each quarter started!
For example, do you have your VAT number deleted on July 10? Then the third quarter has started for your VAT activities and you still need to file a VAT return for the third quarter.
Tip: let the discontinuation of your company number and VAT number coincide with the last day of a quarter. That way you avoid confusion about returns to be filed.
4) Customer list
What is a customer list again? Find out here.
Fortunately, you can submit a customer list much faster than the normal return period. If the VAT number is stopped, you can immediately submit the customer list via Intervat. This can be submitted in exactly the same way as you would submit a normal customer list.
5) Personal income tax
Do you stop your self-employed activity in 2024? Then you will file a personal income tax return in 2025 that still contains figures from your self-employment during 2024.
Tip
Make sure you still get the codes and corresponding figures for your future tax return from Dexxter.
6) Future audits
Stopping a VAT number leads to a higher chance of being audited, this is common knowledge. Such discontinuation checks are mainly about VAT. The VAT authorities want to know whether, in the context of your cessation, you have rectified investments on which you have recovered VAT in the past.
For example, 1 year ago you bought a computer worth €2,000 excluding VAT, on which you then recovered €420 in VAT.
You sense that it would not be correct to stop your business 1 year later and not make a correction to that recovered VAT worth €420.
You can do that rectification by selling investments before discontinuing the business. This can be done to external parties, but you can also invoice yourself (privately or your new corporation). Make sure that you always sell at competitive prices and that you can prove that the price charged was market-based. For example, pricing similar to those on second-hand websites can help determine the market rate. Remember to keep these second-hand website prices somewhere to back them up in case of a tax audit!
And what should I download from Dexxter?
Easy answer, that is: nothing.
You may, of course, download anything: purchase invoices, sales invoices, income statements, journals, etc. But Dexxter keeps everything for you for 10 years.
Do you switch to a non-paying version? Then you won’t see anything in your profile, but everything is still stored. Do you need access to your Dexxter profile for another month? Then you can simply take out a monthly subscription for €20 excluding VAT.
A small cost that saves you the hassle of exporting everything.
