Registry entry

Netherlands Sole Proprietorship Registration (Eenmanszaak, KVK Form 1)

Register a new one-person sole proprietorship (eenmanszaak) — or report that an existing business or establishment is being taken over and continued as an eenmanszaak — in the Business Register (Handelsregister), on behalf of the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel, KVK). This is the Dutch analogue to sg/acra/sole-proprietorship-registration, gb/companies-house/company-incorporation-in01, ie/cro/company-incorporation, ca/on/registration/business-incorporation, and de/gewerbeamt/business-registration, and is the first schema in this registry for the Netherlands (NL), a new jurisdiction. An eenmanszaak has exactly one owner, even if other people work in the business; the owner may only have one eenmanszaak at a time, though it may operate more than one establishment. Scoped to a single individual owner completing KVK Form 1 (Formulier 1): partnerships (vennootschap onder firma, two or more owners, a distinct KVK form), corporate or nominee position holders, and the equivalent kvk.nl/eenmanszaakregistration online pre-fill path are out of scope — see VERIFICATION.md. KVK requires the applicant to visit a KVK office in person, with a valid proof of identity, to complete the registration even when this form has been filled in and printed in advance; this document does not submit the registration or book that appointment, and does not model appointment scheduling. The official form is bilingual: an English translation (this document's primary source) auto-fills an authoritative Dutch original that alone is signed and submitted. The live kvk.nl and Business Register sources are always authoritative.

Registry entry

nl/kvk/sole-proprietorship-registration-eenmanszaak

Jurisdiction
Netherlands · national
Version
1.0.0
Verification
draft
Authority
Netherlands Chamber of Commerce

GovSchema spec v0.3

Authoritative source KVK Form 1 (Formulier 1) — 'Register an eenmanszaak (sole proprietorship)', English translation of version August 2025 (a bilingual EN/NL fillable AcroForm PDF; pages 1-5 are the English translation, pages 6-10 are the identically-fielded authoritative Dutch original)

Machine access

Schema document
registry/nl/kvk/sole-proprietorship-registration-eenmanszaak/1.0.0/schema.jsonapplication/schema+json
Verification record
registry/nl/kvk/sole-proprietorship-registration-eenmanszaak/1.0.0/VERIFICATION.mdtext/markdown
Registry catalog
registry/index.jsonone record per schema id

Field reference

47 fields across 6 steps, read from the published schema.json — names, types, requiredness, and validation as the document states them. The live government form remains the authoritative source.

Start or continue

  • registrationType enum required

    Determines which start-date and prior-business fields apply. 'Continuing' means taking over an existing business or establishment (e.g. by purchase) and carrying it on as a sole proprietorship.

    enum: new_eenmanszaak | continuing_existing_business
  • startDate date optional

    The date the applicant started setting up the new business — usually the date they start helping customers, though earlier registration is sometimes necessary (e.g. to arrange contracts).

  • existingBusinessName string optional

    The registered name of the business or establishment the applicant is taking over and continuing as an eenmanszaak.

    length: 1–200
  • existingBusinessLocation string optional

    The registered location (place/municipality) of the business or establishment being taken over.

    length: 1–100
  • existingBusinessKvkNumber string optional

    The Business Register (KVK) number already assigned to the business or establishment being taken over.

    patternlength: 8–8
  • continuationDate date optional

    The date the applicant takes over the business or establishment — the date on the signed takeover contract.

  • originalEstablishmentDate date optional

    The original 'establishment date' the business or establishment first received in the Business Register. If unknown, KVK enters it instead, so this field is never required even on the continuation path.

Details of the eenmanszaak

  • primaryTradeName string required

    The trade name (handelsnaam) the eenmanszaak uses to do business, written first if there is more than one.

    length: 1–200
  • hasAdditionalTradeNames boolean required

    An eenmanszaak may use more than one trade name, for example when it carries out different activities under different names.

  • additionalTradeNames string optional

    Any further trade names beyond the primary one, most important first.

    length: 0–500
  • businessActivities string required

    Description of the eenmanszaak's current activities, products, and services — not planned future activities. KVK uses this description to assign one or more SBI (Standard Industrial Classification) codes, so it must be described clearly. Must be written in Dutch, per the form's own instructions.

    length: 1–1000
  • mainBusinessActivity string required

    Which of the described activities above is the eenmanszaak's main activity.

    length: 1–500
  • sellsToConsumersRetail boolean required

    Does the eenmanszaak sell products to consumers (retail)?

  • retailInShop boolean optional

    Sells in a shop

  • retailAtMarket boolean optional

    Sells at a market

  • retailViaStreetTrading boolean optional

    Sells via street trading

  • retailViaInternet boolean optional

    Sells via the internet

  • retailFromHome boolean optional

    Sells from home

  • retailOtherChannel boolean optional

    Sells via another channel not listed

  • retailOtherChannelDescription string optional

    Description of the other sales channel

    length: 0–200
  • sellsWholesale boolean required

    Does the eenmanszaak sell products to other businesses or legal entities (wholesale)?

  • importsGoods boolean required

    Includes importing ingredients or components for an end product, not only finished goods for resale.

  • exportsGoods boolean required

    Does the eenmanszaak export products abroad?

Address, contact details, and staff

  • businessVisitingAddress string required

    The address of the eenmanszaak's principal establishment. Cannot be a PO Box. If the visiting or postal address is not the owner's home address, KVK may require proof (e.g. rental agreement, proof of ownership, or a declaration of consent) that the eenmanszaak is allowed to use it.

    length: 1–200
  • hasDifferentPostalAddress boolean required

    Is the postal address different from the visiting address?

  • businessPostalAddress string optional

    May be a PO Box address, unlike the visiting address.

    length: 1–200
  • shieldVisitingAddress boolean required

    If shielded, the visiting address is no longer visible in the public Business Register. Shielding requires a postal address different from the visiting address.

  • businessPhoneNumber1 string required

    A contact telephone number for the eenmanszaak. Not published in the Business Register.

    length: 1–20classification: pii
  • businessPhoneNumber2 string optional

    An optional second contact telephone number for the eenmanszaak.

    length: 0–20classification: pii
  • businessWebsiteUrl string optional

    The eenmanszaak's website address, if any. Published in the Business Register.

    length: 0–200
  • businessEmailAddress string required

    The eenmanszaak's email address. Published in the Business Register.

    length: 1–100
  • employeeCount15PlusHoursPerWeek integer required

    Includes the owner, employees, hired and temporary workers, and other persons (e.g. family members) who work in the business. If the eenmanszaak has more than one establishment, count only the principal establishment.

    range: 0–∞
  • employeeCountUnder15HoursPerWeek integer required

    Same population as employeeCount15PlusHoursPerWeek, counted separately for those working under 15 hours per week at the principal establishment.

    range: 0–∞

Details of the owner of the eenmanszaak

  • ownerLastName string required

    Owner — last name

    length: 1–100classification: pii
  • ownerFirstNames string required

    As shown in the owner's passport.

    length: 1–100classification: pii
  • ownerCitizenServiceNumber string required

    The Dutch Citizen Service Number (Burgerservicenummer, BSN), found on a Dutch passport, ID card, or driving licence, or issued on municipal registration for those from another country. Modelled as an 8-or-9-digit string per the BSN's publicly documented format (not independently confirmed against KVK's own field validation, which sets no length constraint on this field); see VERIFICATION.md.

    patternlength: 8–9classification: pii
  • ownerDateOfBirth date required

    Owner — date of birth

    classification: pii
  • ownerPlaceOfBirth string required

    Owner — place of birth

    length: 1–100classification: pii
  • ownerCountryOfBirth string required

    Owner — country of birth

    length: 1–100classification: pii
  • ownerGender enum required

    Owner — gender

    enum: male | female | otherclassification: pii
  • ownerHomeAddress string required

    Owner — home address

    length: 1–200classification: pii

Advertising and hiring-out-employees declarations

  • allowMarketingUseOfAddress boolean required

    If declined, KVK records on the Business Register extract that other businesses may not use the eenmanszaak's visiting or postal address for marketing purposes, reducing unsolicited advertising mail and doorstep sellers.

  • hiresOutEmployeesForPayment boolean required

    Triggers a notification obligation under the Waadi Act (Wet allocatie arbeidskrachten door intermediairs). Answer 'No' if hiring out employees is itself one of the eenmanszaak's activities (e.g. a temp agency) — that case is described under businessActivities instead, not this field.

Signing this form

  • signerLastNameAndInitials string required

    By signing, the signer declares that all information entered is correct and that they are authorised to sign on behalf of the eenmanszaak.

    length: 1–100classification: pii
  • signerEmail string required

    Signer — email address

    length: 1–100classification: pii
  • signerPhoneNumber string required

    Signer — telephone number

    length: 1–20classification: pii
  • signingDate date required

    Signing date

Verification record

This file is the source-review record for this document version, per the manual-source-review-v1 practice.

Current claim

  • status: draft
  • verification.method: manual-source-review-v1
  • verification.lastVerifiedAt: 2026-07-03

Sources examined

  • Document (id, version): nl/kvk/sole-proprietorship-registration-eenmanszaak / 1.0.0
  • Spec version: GovSchema 0.3.0
  • Authority: Netherlands Chamber of Commerce ("KVK", Kamer van Koophandel).
  • Primary source: KVK Form 1 (Formulier 1) — "Register an eenmanszaak (sole proprietorship)", English translation of version August 2025, downloaded directly from https://production-site-en.kvk.bloomreach.cloud/binaries/content/assets/kvkwebsite-en/categorie/registration/01-sole-proprietorship.pdf (linked from https://www.kvk.nl/en/about-the-business-register/download-form-1-registration-eenmanszaak-sole-proprietorship/). This is a genuine, official, fillable AcroForm PDF, retrieved with a direct curl fetch (HTTP 200, no block).
  • Cross-referenced pages:
  • Field extraction method: pdfjs-dist's getAnnotations() (AcroForm field names, types, checkbox export values, and each field's PDF-level required flag) and getTextContent() (visible label/instruction text), run against every page of the PDF — the same rigor as ca/on/registration/business-incorporation and de/gewerbeamt/business-registration's static-PDF extractions, and stronger than sg/acra/sole-proprietorship-registration's automated-fetch-and-summarize sourcing (Bizfile has no downloadable form at all). The PDF is bilingual: pages 1-5 are the English translation (this document's primary source for field labels/descriptions), pages 6-10 are the authoritative Dutch original: getAnnotations() on both page sets confirmed identical field names and checkbox export values across the English/Dutch mirror (e.g. 1.1_onderneming, 2.4.1_verkoop-1), which is what the form's own "About the English version of this form" section states ("If you answer a question in the digital English form, the same answer is automatically filled in on the Dutch form").
  • Retrieved / reviewed: 2026-07-03.
  • Reviewer: GovSchema Engineering (Standards Engineer — initial authoring source review).

What was confirmed against the source

| Source element | Field(s) | |---|---| | Form 1, §1.1: start/continue choice and dates | registrationType, startDate, existingBusinessName, existingBusinessLocation, existingBusinessKvkNumber, continuationDate | | Form 1, §1.1 (continued, page 2): original establishment date | originalEstablishmentDate | | Form 1, §2.1: trade name(s) | primaryTradeName, hasAdditionalTradeNames, additionalTradeNames | | Form 1, §2.2-2.3: activities | businessActivities, mainBusinessActivity | | Form 1, §2.4: retail/consumer sales and channels | sellsToConsumersRetail, retailInShop, retailAtMarket, retailViaStreetTrading, retailViaInternet, retailFromHome, retailOtherChannel, retailOtherChannelDescription | | Form 1, §2.5-2.7: wholesale/import/export | sellsWholesale, importsGoods, exportsGoods | | Form 1, §2.8-2.10: visiting/postal address, shielding | businessVisitingAddress, hasDifferentPostalAddress, businessPostalAddress, shieldVisitingAddress | | Form 1, §2.11: contact details | businessPhoneNumber1, businessPhoneNumber2, businessWebsiteUrl, businessEmailAddress | | Form 1, §2.12: staff numbers | employeeCount15PlusHoursPerWeek, employeeCountUnder15HoursPerWeek | | Form 1, §3.1: owner details | ownerLastName, ownerFirstNames, ownerCitizenServiceNumber, ownerDateOfBirth, ownerPlaceOfBirth, ownerCountryOfBirth, ownerGender, ownerHomeAddress | | Form 1, §4.1: advertising/marketing preference | allowMarketingUseOfAddress | | Form 1, §5.1: Waadi Act hiring-out-employees notification | hiresOutEmployeesForPayment | | Form 1, §6: signing, accepted identity-document types | signerLastNameAndInitials, signerEmail, signerPhoneNumber, signingDate, documents[].ownerIdentityProof, documents[].ownerHandwrittenSignature |

What is NOT independently confirmed / out of scope

  • No PDF-level required flags. Every one of KVK Form 1's AcroForm fields was programmatically checked (getAnnotations()[].required) and none set the PDF's own Required bit — unlike a submission portal, a paper/print form of this kind typically leaves required-ness to be enforced at the in-person appointment, not the PDF widget. This document's required: true/requiredWhen assignments are therefore derived from the form's own prose instructions and standard registration necessity (core identity, trade name, activity, address, and signature-block fields), the same honesty discipline au/ato/individual-tax-return-mytax and sg/iras/individual-income-tax-return-formb1 applied to their own prose-derived requiredness. businessPhoneNumber1/businessEmailAddress are modelled as required (a registration needs at least one way to contact the business) while businessPhoneNumber2/businessWebsiteUrl are modelled as optional, consistent with the form's own "Telephone number 1"/"Telephone number 2" ordinal naming implying the second is supplementary.
  • BSN (citizen service number) format. ownerCitizenServiceNumber is modelled with an 8-or-9-digit pattern based on the BSN's publicly-documented general format (Dutch central government sources: a BSN is 8 or 9 decimal digits, no letters or separators), not a pattern confirmed against KVK Form 1's own field validation, which imposes no length constraint on this text field. The same discipline sg/acra/sole-proprietorship-registration applied to Singapore's 6-digit postal code (a public fact, independently pattern-asserted) versus its NRIC/FIN (not independently confirmed, left as free text). The BSN's eleven-test (elfproef) checksum is not asserted at all.
  • Existing-business KVK number format. existingBusinessKvkNumber is modelled with an 8-digit pattern based on the Business Register's publicly-documented KVK-number format, not a pattern confirmed against this specific form field.
  • Partnerships (vennootschap onder firma, VOF). KVK publishes a separate, structurally similar registration form/flow for partnerships (two or more owners); this document scopes to the single-owner eenmanszaak path only, consistent with this registry's single-entity/single-owner scoping convention (e.g. sg/acra/sole-proprietorship-registration's sole-proprietorship-only scope, ca/on/registration/business-incorporation's single director/incorporator).
  • Online pre-fill path (kvk.nl/eenmanszaakregistration). The KVK website also offers an online form that pre-fills the same paper Form 1; it was not independently reviewed, since KVK's own guidance states an in-person appointment is required either way and the field set is the same underlying Form 1 — see "Path to a verified claim" below.
  • Fees. The registration fee is not modelled as authoritative structured data — no fee amount was reviewed for this document at all (not referenced in any field description), unlike several other Business Formation schemas in this registry that reference (but do not assert) a fee for context.
  • Address decomposition. Addresses are modelled as flat single-line strings (businessVisitingAddress, businessPostalAddress, ownerHomeAddress), matching the PDF's own single free-text address boxes (§2.8, §2.9.1, §3.1) rather than a decomposed street/number/postal code/city object — the PDF genuinely does not break the address box down further, unlike sg/acra/sole-proprietorship-registration's address-line/unit-number/postal-code triple (which reflects Bizfile's own guide sectioning).
  • In-person appointment / identity verification at KVK. Not modelled as a field or step; KVK's own guidance states registration is only completed in person at a KVK office regardless of how the form was filled in. This document's scope ends at preparing the form's answers.

Scope and jurisdiction notes

  • This is the first schema in this registry for the Netherlands (NL), a new jurisdiction discovered during the GOV-829 "GovSchema Standard Research" cycle after auditing discovery/catalog.json and finding no unauthored candidates remaining in any of the 6 focus verticals (DMV, Business Formation, Visa, Passport, Taxes, National ID & Civic Documents) across all 9 previously-catalogued jurisdictions (US, GB, IE, CA, NZ, AU, DE, SG, plus FR which had been added to the registry without being added to discovery/catalog.json's scope.jurisdictions — fixed in this same commit alongside adding NL).
  • Business Formation was chosen for the first NL schema because KVK Form 1 is a directly downloadable, genuinely fillable AcroForm PDF with a stable field structure (unlike a login-gated portal), giving the strongest sourcing rigor available for a first entry in a new jurisdiction.
  • Conditional flow is expressed with requiredWhen/visibleWhen (GSP-0013) rather than transitions/exitReason, because neither the "new vs. continuing" choice nor any retail-channel/address sub-question disqualifies the applicant from registering — every path leads to the same registration, just with a different subset of applicable fields. This differs from sg/acra/sole-proprietorship-registration's eligibility-gate transitions, which genuinely exit the flow for foreign-owner paths this registry doesn't model.
  • The multi-select retail-channel checkbox group (§2.4.1: shop / market / street trading / internet / from home / other) has no array field type in GovSchema v0.3 ($defs.field.properties.type is a closed string/number/integer/boolean/date/enum/file/object enum), so each checkbox option is modelled as its own optional boolean field, gated visibleWhen sellsToConsumersRetail: true — the same decomposition this registry uses wherever a source form presents a non-exclusive multi-select checkbox group.

Path to a verified claim (next step)

To advance to status: verified, a reviewer completes an actual KVK appointment (or has independent confirmation from someone who has) with a mock/test eenmanszaak registration, confirming: the exact requiredness KVK enforces at the appointment for every field in this document, the BSN and existing-KVK-number validation KVK itself applies, and whether the online kvk.nl/eenmanszaakregistration pre-fill path exposes any field this document's paper-form sourcing does not — and records the outcome here, shipping a new schema version if discrepancies are found (VERSIONING.md §3, immutability).

Re-verification

Per the practice's Cadence, nextReviewBy is set to 2027-01-01 (6 months).

View the raw record (VERIFICATION.md)

Version history

  • 1.0.0 draft latest this page has verification record schema.json

Independent and non-affiliated

GovSchema is an independent, open-source project. This reference is not produced, reviewed, or endorsed by Netherlands Chamber of Commerce or any government. The authoritative source is always the live government form and its official instructions.