Equity, not a bank balance
The IND asks for a minimum investment of €4,500 in your business. What counts is the business’s equity: what it owns minus what it owes. €4,500 sitting in a business bank account isn’t automatically €4,500 of equity.
- Your own money paid into the business counts.
- A loan doesn’t: the business now owes it back, so it’s a debt.
- A genuine gift from family can count, because nobody has to be repaid.
- Business debts later on, such as unpaid invoices or a tax bill, reduce your equity.
What an opening balance sheet shows
An opening balance sheet is a snapshot of your business on the day it starts: the investment you made, what the business owns, and any debts. It’s the clearest way to show the IND that the €4,500 went in as equity. Our partner prepares it with a statement from a BECON-registered bookkeeper, which is the kind of independent check the IND asks for on its forms.
Why it matters again at renewal
At every extension the IND checks “whether the invested capital remained in the business.” It does that with your annual accounts and a balance sheet or income statement. If you start with a clean opening balance sheet and keep your bookkeeping up to date, the renewal is a formality. If you can’t show where the €4,500 went, it isn’t.
Get it done
Slim Geregeld Administratie prepares the opening balance sheet for Japanese treaty applicants: €495 excl. VAT in 5 working days, or €595 in 48 hours, at the time of writing. Their service is in English. Check their page for current prices.