VAT on workshops, courses and sports lessons in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands a creative workshop, a hobby course or a team outing carries the standard rate of 21 percent VAT. Giving people the opportunity to do sport, with the lessons that go with it, falls under 9 percent. Exempt are vocational training from a provider in the CRKBO register and lessons in music, dance, drama or visual arts for people under 21. With a turnover up to 20,000 euros you can use the small business scheme.

What falls under 9 percent and what under 21 percent?

The standard rate is 21 percent. The reduced rate of 9 percent only applies to what is in table I of the Dutch VAT Act. Workshops and courses are not in it. Sport is: “giving the opportunity to do sport” is in table I.

What you sell	VAT	Source
Creative workshop for adults (pottery, flower arranging, painting)	21 percent	VAT Act, article 9; not in table I
Hobby course, except language courses	21 percent, no education exemption	tax authority, vocational training
Music, dance, drama, visual arts for under-21s	exempt	tax authority, education exemption
Vocational training from a provider in the CRKBO	exempt	tax authority, vocational training
Opportunity to do sport, with the lessons that go with it	9 percent	tax authority, sport
Sports lesson without facilities	21 percent	tax authority, sport
Renting out a sailing boat	21 percent	tax authority, active sport

Does the reduced rate apply to sports lessons?

When you also provide the place where the sport happens. The tax authority writes that giving the opportunity to do sport falls under the 9 percent rate. Lessons or coaching you give together with that opportunity fall under it as well. When you only teach, without facilities, the lessons fall under 21 percent (tax authority).

The tax authority gives no example for surfing, sailing or diving. Whether your surf lesson falls under 9 or 21 percent depends on what you provide: only the lesson, or also the beach access, the equipment and the facilities. Put that to your accountant before you set your prices.

The plan to raise sport and culture to 21 percent from 1 January 2026 was reversed. The act that keeps the reduced rate is in Bulletin of Acts 2025, 339.

When is a course exempt from VAT?

A course is exempt when it trains directly for a specific trade or profession and is legally recognised, or when the provider is in the Central Register for Short Vocational Training (CRKBO) (tax authority). Training to become a surf instructor can fall under it; a surf lesson for a family on holiday does not.

Hobby courses do not get the exemption, except language courses. For lessons in music, dance, drama, visual arts and circus skills, the exemption only applies to people under 21 (tax authority). A drawing lesson for a ten-year-old is exempt; the same lesson for their parent is not.

What about a package with different rates?

A surf camp with accommodation, a workshop with lunch or a sailing lesson with boat rental contains parts at another rate. Put each part on the invoice with its own rate. Split the price over the parts by their real value and agree that split with your accountant.

Do you have to charge VAT when you start small?

Not if you use the small business scheme (KOR). It is open to businesses with a turnover in the Netherlands of no more than 20,000 euros a year (article 25a of the VAT Act). With the KOR you charge no VAT and file no return. In return, you cannot deduct VAT on your purchases (tax authority). For a studio that just bought a potter’s wheel and a kiln, that can work out badly.

And in Belgium or elsewhere?

Every country has its own rates and exemptions. We could not read the official pages of the Belgian tax authority for this piece, so Belgium is not covered here; it will get a piece of its own.

Setting VAT rates in Superota

You fill in the VAT rates of your country with one button and confirm them yourself; without confirmation Superota makes no invoice. You choose the rate per activity, and a variant can have its own rate. A part at another rate, such as accommodation, lunch or rental, gets its own line on the invoice. When you use a small business exemption, you switch it on and Superota prints the required text under every invoice. An issued invoice never changes, even when you later change a rate.