GUIDELINE VAT AND INCOME TAXES FOR UBER EATS COURIERS

Transcription

1 GUIDELINE VAT AND INCOME TAXES FOR UBER EATS COURIERS 1. INTRODUCTION As a courier using the Uber Eats app you might be generating income that you need to declare with the tax authorities. Below you will find instructions on whether you ll need to pay VAT and/or income taxes. VAT VAT is due if you are self-employed and supplying services for which you are compensated. If you are already making or will make so-called trips for restaurants associated with Uber Eats, and maybe for other parties as well, you will indeed be supplying services independently for which you are compensated. This means that you are a VAT entrepreneur and you will have to register with the tax authorities. As a result, you will receive a VAT number and you will have to file VAT returns every quarter. You will find instructions on how to compile a correct VAT return on pages 7 till 9. As a VAT entrepreneur you will have to provide your clients (the restaurants) with invoices. The Uber Eats system does this automatically, so you won t have to worry about this. INCOME TAX Whether you will need to pay income taxes depends on a few factors. First of all we will need to determine what kind of income you are receiving. Therefore, we have put together a diagram that you will find on the next page. By answering all questions with either yes or no you should be able to determine which source of income is applicable. In almost all cases the result will be Benefits from miscellaneous activities (ROW or Inkomen uit overig werk in Dutch). On page 3 you will find instructions on what to do with your result. 1

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3 2. INCOME TAX Given the nature and content of the contract you have entered in with Uber, the diagram commenced with I m self-employed and I work at my own risk with regard to deliveries. This means that you are not employed by Uber Eats with regard to the deliveries you are making. You might have other employment outside of your delivery-activities. That is absolutely no problem for passing the first bullet. Point is that you are working independently regarding your delivery work. You will have gotten one of two results from following the diagram on the previous page. In most cases you will have gotten the result Benefits from miscellaneous activities. However, in some cases it s not that clear which one of the two is applicable. Did you get Business profits as a result or does your turnover exceed roughly a year, then we would advise you to contact either the tax authorities (call ) or a tax advisor to review your specific case, mainly because there a lots of benefits for those who earn business profits. Which means that it would be a shame not to use these benefits if you are entitled to them, but it would also be tedious and costly if the tax authorities determine afterwards that you ve filed an incorrect tax return and you should have reported your income as benefits from miscellaneous activities. Note that If you ve gotten the result Business profits, you should at least register your company with the chamber of commerce. An income tax return is due every year. The deadline for filing is 1 May. 2.1 File an income tax return: benefits from miscellaneous activities Here you will find instructions on how to file your income tax return with regard to the income from deliveries. Follow all steps listed below. If you don t understand or if you have a specific question, then click the?-button in the tax authorities system. This may take away your doubts. If not, you could call the tax authorities on Log onto Mijn Belastingdienst by going to the following website: and by using your DigiD account. 1 Unfortunately the only available language in this system is Dutch, so you should ask for assistance filling out the tax return if you don t understand the questions asked. After 1 Do you not have a DigiD account? Then request a tax return form that you will receive and need to fill in on paper by calling the tax authorities via

4 you ve logged in you choose the tab Inkomstenbelasting. Choose a year ( Belastingjaar ) on the left of the screen. Subsequently select aangifte inkomstenbelasting doen. You will need to click on the blue link, displayed in the image above. 2. The system will take you through a bunch of questions that you will need to answer, followed by clicking on Volgende (next). Use the question mark buttons if you don t understand the substance of the question. 3. When you reach the question: Welke inkomsten had u in 2017?, then you will need to select (among others) Inkomsten uit overig werk and subsequently click akkoord. 4. You will reach a screen as displayed on the following page. The letters below are also visualized in this example income tax return. You may use the annual tax summary that Uber supplies you with to fill in the questionnaire. a. Gross fares should be listed as inkomsten. An example is provided on the next page. b. Incentives should also be listed as inkomsten. c. The Uber service fee should be listed as aftrekbare kosten. d. You may have had other costs that you may deduct, such as gas or insurance for a scooter, insofar you ve used the gas for delivery trips and not for personal use. This also applies to other costs. e. The system will ask you some additional questions, such as did you earn this income as an artist or athlete?. Most questions should be answered with no. But this may vary depending on personal circumstances. f. Further on in this document you will find an explanation on the VAT return. In some cases a tax relief is applicable. This tax relief must be accounted for in the income tax return. If this is applicable in your situation, then add another sort of income under Inkomsten. The description should be as follows: kleine ondernemersregeling. Subsequently add the amount of tax relief you ve received. 4

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6 5. After you ve completed the module, the system will show you if you ll need to pay taxes or if you ll (still) get a refund. This fully depends on the situation at hand, for instance if you have another job. If your income doesn t exceed the average amount of per year, then you most likely won t have to pay income taxes because of the general tax credit. Note that you will have to file the return even though you won t actually have to pay taxes. 6. Complete and submit the form (don t forget to fill in all the other questions that don t relate to your delivery activities!). Note! On the next pages you will find instructions on how to register for VAT purposes. You may have been delivering for Uber for a while now, without having paid VAT. After registering you may need to pay VAT with regard to this earlier period. This means that your net earnings that you may have included in previous income tax returns should be altered to the new amount. Note! If you haven t filed an income tax return or if you haven t included your earnings for delivering in past years, then file a (correct) income tax return for the applicable year retrospectively. This doesn t necessarily lead to a payable amount considering the general tax credit. 6

7 3. VAT 3.1 Overview Summaries Uber Eats provides you with monthly summaries of your turnover. Before you start preparing your VAT return, gather the applicable summaries. You will have to file quarterly VAT returns, so you will need the following summaries: First quarter: January March Second quarter: April June Third quarter: July September Fourth quarter: October - December Payment Invoice The summaries display your turnover and the VAT that was charged with regard to Uber Eats service fee. You may additionally deduct VAT paid with regard to business costs (socalled input VAT) if you administrated receipts or invoices. For instance, VAT charged on the gas you ve used for deliveries. On the next page you will find an example of a VAT return using one monthly summary. You will have to add the figures from the three applicable summaries in the VAT return. 7

8 3.2 Example of a VAT return 8

9 3.3 Formal requirements The VAT return needs to be filed and paid for at the latest on the last day of the month following the end of the quarter. The following dates are therefore the deadlines for filing and payment. First quarter: April 30 th Second quarter: July 31 st Third quarter: October 30 th Fourth quarter: January 31 st Make sure to be on time with filing VAT returns, because you may be fined for late filing and late payment! 3.4 Special scheme for small undertakings If you owe less than in VAT in a certain calendar year (add the total amount of the VAT returns from that year together) then you might be entitled to a tax relief. If you owe less than 1.345, then you might not have to remit the amount at all. This special scheme is only applicable to entrepreneurs established in the Netherlands. You may only use the special scheme if you are compliant with administrative procedures. You must keep accounting records and send invoices. In our example VAT return an amount of 210 was due. The tax relief is usually calculated on the basis of the annual figures, but you can apply a provisional deduction in your quarterly VAT returns if it is likely that you ll qualify for the overall leniency. If your turnover amounts to around each quarter, then the turnover for the entire year will likely amount to The VAT will in that case amount to (21% times 6.000). This means that you owe less than 1.345, so the relief will be (equal to the payable amount). The relief must be reported in box 5d of the VAT return. You will find an example on the next page. 9

10 NOTE! The tax relief must be accounted for in the income tax return as extraordinary income. You can find more information on this on page How to acquire a VAT number Normally a VAT number is provided after you ve registered with the Chamber of Commerce. If you have not registered with the Chamber of Commerce, it is also possible to contact the tax authorities directly and ask them to provide you with a VAT number. A standard form to acquire a VAT number has been sent to you. Send this form to the tax authorities to acquire a VAT number. You will have to fill in some personal data and collect supporting documents, such as your monthly or annual statements. The tax authorities will review each case separately, which means that the tax authorities could draw different conclusions from different cases. NOTE! Attached you will find the form that you will have to fill in. The paragraphs are explained below: 1. Fill in your personal data. The terms are in Dutch, but they are pretty straight forward. We assume that you will have no problem filling this in. 10

11 2. Has already been filled in. 3. Fill in paragraph 3a with your personal data. Burgerservicenummer is your social security number. You may skip paragraph 3b! 4. May be skipped. 5. Paragraph 5a has already been filled in and you may skip the rest of paragraph At paragraph 6a you must describe the number of clients you are expecting to have in the first year. Your clients are the restaurants you deliver for! Try to estimate this amount if you deliver for many different restaurants. Paragraph 6b has been filled in with a standard explanation of your activities. If this isn t correct in your case, then alter the text accordingly. 7. This paragraph relates to income taxes. At paragraph 7a fill in if you re expecting to have other income besides from delivery (translation: no other income, business profits, income from miscellaneous activities, wages from current employment, (unemployment) benefits). At paragraph 7b fill in the amount of hours that you spend on delivering per week. Paragraph 7c may be skipped, unless your income qualifies as business profits. In that case fill in an estimation of your profit or loss this year. Have you skipped 7c? Then fill in an estimation of your profit or loss in paragraph 7d. 8. In paragraph 8a fill in an estimation of your turnover in the next year and an estimation of costs in paragraph 8b. 8c and 8d have already been filled in. 9. You may skip paragraph You may skip paragraph Sign the form at paragraph 11. NOTE! In the form you will fill in the start date of your entrepreneurship. This date is the day you started delivering. It is possible that you started delivering some time ago. This means that you will have to file a VAT return with regard to this previous period as well. You may use the tax relief (kleine ondernemersregeling) if you have been compliant with administrative procedures and if other requirements as described above are met. NOTE! As soon as you ve received your VAT number, inform Uber Eats about this and provide them with your VAT number! 11

12 mr. K. Schriek mr. R.C. Zevenbergen RB / / This document is intended solely for general informative purposes for the benefit of couriers affiliated with Uber Eats. The given information is not intended as advice in concrete cases. Everyone will have to account for individual circumstances when complying with tax obligations. We strongly advise you to seek individual guidance and specific tax advice for your situation. Only you are accountable and liable in respect of tax obligations. Flynth adviseurs en accountants B.V. accepts no liability for any damage whatsoever, either direct or indirect, occurring or resulting in any way from the use of the information provided in this document including due to the incomplete or inaccurate nature of the information. 12