DigiD, eHerkenning and Mijn Belastingdienst: the English guide Dutch tax logins never had

You registered your business at KVK. Two weeks later a letter from the Belastingdienst arrives with your btw-id, and somewhere in the Dutch text it tells you that you'll need to file a VAT return — online, in a portal, behind a login. Which login? DigiD? eHerkenning? Both get mentioned everywhere, both sound mandatory, and one of them costs money.

Here's the answer up front, because it's simpler than the internet makes it: if you're a freelancer with an eenmanszaak (sole proprietorship), you need DigiD and nothing else. It's free. eHerkenning is for BVs and other legal entities. Everything else in this guide is the how.

The three-second decision

Not sure which you are? If you registered alone at KVK without a notary, you almost certainly have an eenmanszaak.

One edge case: if you have an eenmanszaak and another legal form, DigiD only covers the eenmanszaak — the other entity needs its own eHerkenning (Belastingdienst).

What DigiD actually is (and how to get it)

DigiD is your personal digital identity for the entire Dutch government — tax, healthcare, municipality, pension, all of it. It's tied to your BSN, which means the prerequisites are hard ones: you need a BSN and a registration address in the BRP (your municipality's personal records database). No BSN, no DigiD — there is no workaround (digid.nl).

The application itself is in English and takes five minutes:

Then install the DigiD app. It replaces the password-plus-SMS dance with a 5-digit PIN or your fingerprint, and some services require the app's higher assurance level anyway. Activating the app via ID-check needs an NFC-capable phone and a Dutch-issued ID document; if you only have a foreign passport, activate the app with an SMS code instead (digid.nl).

The two portals you'll actually use

The Belastingdienst splits your life in two, and the split confuses everyone:

Mijn Belastingdienst (mijn.belastingdienst.nl) is your personal portal: income tax returns, voorlopige aanslag, toeslagen-adjacent matters (new to these terms? Our Dutch tax glossary explains them). As a sole proprietor your business profit is part of your personal income tax, so your annual return happens here.

Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk (mijnzakelijk.belastingdienst.nl) is the business portal: this is where you file your quarterly BTW (VAT) return and your ICP declaration if you have EU clients. Since 1 July 2024 this is the only Belastingdienst portal for VAT — the old "ondernemersportaal" is gone (Belastingdienst).

Both accept DigiD for eenmanszaak owners (Belastingdienst, updated Sep 2025).

Now the part nobody warns you about: the portals themselves are Dutch-only. The Belastingdienst's information pages have decent English versions; the moment you log in, everything — menus, buttons, the VAT return itself — is in Dutch. That's not a settings problem you can fix. So here's the login screen, translated:

(For the fields inside the VAT return — 1a, 5b and friends — see our step-by-step first BTW return in English.)

eHerkenning, briefly (skip if you're an eenmanszaak)

eHerkenning is the business counterpart of DigiD: a login you buy from one of six authorised commercial suppliers (eherkenning.nl). The Belastingdienst requires assurance level EH3. Three variants matter:

There's a compensation scheme: businesses that must use eHerkenning purely for tax filings can claim back roughly the lowest market price per year via RVO (applications for 2025 run until 30 September 2026). Note the fine print — it explicitly excludes eenmanszaken, because they can file free with DigiD (Belastingdienst, updated Jan 2026).

Don't want to touch the portal at all? Two legitimate exits

Option 1 — authorise your accountant. Through DigiD Machtigen you can authorise an accountant (or your partner, or anyone with their own DigiD) to file for you — scoped to a specific tax and period. Setup takes about a week. Bookkeepers with professional software use their own "chain authorisation" instead; you sign a form and never see a portal again. If you're looking for one, start with our guide to English-speaking accountants in the Netherlands.

Option 2 — file from software. The Belastingdienst officially supports filing VAT returns directly from accounting software — no portal login involved. This is how most modern tools submit returns.

And a third path that keeps you in control: prepare everything in English, then transfer the final numbers. The ZZP Pulse app keeps your VAT overview live all year in English — what goes in box 1a, what you can reclaim in 5b — so the quarterly portal visit becomes five minutes of copying numbers into a Dutch form whose fields you already understand.

Your first-year timeline

The btw-id letter usually lands within two weeks of registering (KVK). Not sure what it — or any other blue envelope — is trying to tell you? Our guide to Belastingdienst letters explained decodes them one by one, and the complete guide to freelancing in the Netherlands without Dutch covers the rest of your first year.

FAQ

Can I use Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk in English?

No. The logged-in portal is Dutch-only. The information pages around it exist in English, but the return screens don't. Prepare in English, file in Dutch — or authorise someone.

Does DigiD cost anything?

No. DigiD is free, always. eHerkenning is the paid one — and sole proprietors don't need it.

I'm a freelancer with a BV. Can I still use DigiD?

For your personal income tax, yes. For the BV's returns you need eHerkenning EH3 — the BV's VAT return isn't even visible when logged in with DigiD (Belastingdienst).

I don't have a Dutch ID document — can I still use the DigiD app?

Yes. The ID-check (NFC scan) step requires a Dutch document, but you can activate the app with an SMS code instead and log in normally.

Will the EU Digital Identity Wallet replace all this?

Eventually, maybe. The Netherlands is building the NL-wallet under eIDAS 2.0, but rollout has slipped to roughly 2027. Through 2026, DigiD remains the way in (nldigitalgovernment.nl).