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Which invoice number format does the Dutch tax office allow?

The law (Wet OB art. 35a) requires a sequential number that uniquely identifies the invoice. No mandate on year or layout, only unique and non-skipping per sequence.

Try this first

  1. 1Pick a simple format like YYYY-NNNN or NNNN-YYYY, both fine with the tax office.
  2. 2Start at 0001 every January 1, or hold one continuous sequence, pick and stick.
  3. 3Do not skip numbers, a missing one means you must be able to prove no invoice was sent.
  4. 4Use separate sequences for credit notes and pro-formas if that helps bookkeeping, provided they are also unique and ascending.
  5. 5Let the package handle numbering, not manually, otherwise you get duplicates or gaps.

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If you went off-script with manual numbers and want to clean up, we can plan corrections.

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