Reclaiming VAT on a home battery: how it works
Reclaim the 21 percent VAT on your home battery: conditions, step-by-step process, KOR timing and a worked example. Free eligibility check included.
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If you trade power with your home battery via a dynamic contract and an EMS, you qualify as an entrepreneur for VAT purposes and can reclaim the 21 percent VAT on purchase and installation. Timing is critical, especially if you are currently in the KOR small business scheme.
Why the VAT can be reclaimed
Home batteryA home battery carries the standard 21 percent VAT; the zero rate for solar panels does not apply here. Since 2024 you can nevertheless get that VAT back under conditions. The reasoning: if your battery buys power when it is cheap and feeds back for a payment, you are trading in power. That makes you an entrepreneur for VAT purposes, and entrepreneurs may deduct the VAT on their investment.
So this is not a subsidy but a tax route, with real obligations attached. The other arrangements around home batteries are covered in our overview of home battery subsidies. This page covers the one route that yields the largest amount for most private owners: the VAT refund itself.
The conditions in brief
The Dutch Tax Administration checks whether you genuinely trade: the battery has an energy management system (EMS) that steers on the power price, you have a dynamic energy contract and your energy supplier pays you for what you feed back. The purchase invoice and the energy contract must be in your name, and at the time of purchase and installation you must not be in the small business scheme (KOR). If you only use the battery privately, there is no refund.
Not sure whether your situation fits? Take our free VAT refund check first: a few questions, an instant first estimate. Not tax advice, but a useful first filter.
Step by step to the refund
| Step | What you do | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Check your situation | Run through the conditions, for example with our check | EMS, dynamic contract, invoice and contract in your name |
| 2. In the KOR? Deregister first | Deregister from the KOR in Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk | Deregistration takes effect on the first day of a quarter; allow 4 weeks of processing time |
| 3. Register as a VAT entrepreneur | Use the form Opgaaf startende onderneming (sole proprietorship) | Do this around the purchase, not months later |
| 4. Reclaim the VAT | Enter the VAT on purchase and installation as input tax in your VAT return | The invoice date must fall in a period in which you are not a KOR participant |
| 5. File a return every quarter | Declare 21 percent VAT on the payments from your energy supplier | Annual filing is only possible if you meet the conditions for it |
| 6. Declare private use yearly | Calculate the private share from your EMS data and include it in the year's final return | This ends after the 5-year adjustment period |
The Tax Administration advises arranging the refund as soon as possible, and in any case within 6 months after the year of purchase. The full explanation is on the Tax Administration page Thuisbatterij en btw (Dutch).
Worked example: reclaiming and partly repaying
You get the full VAT back if you allocate the battery to your business assets, but you repay VAT each year on the share you use privately. The Tax Administration illustrates this with a battery of 12,100 euros including VAT that is used 45 percent privately.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Purchase including VAT | 12,100 euros |
| VAT you reclaim (21 percent) | 2,100 euros |
| Costs excluding VAT, spread over 5 years | 2,000 euros per year |
| Private share per year (45 percent) | 900 euros |
| VAT on private use, repaid yearly | 189 euros |
After 5 years the adjustment period ends and the yearly payment for private use stops. There is no flat rate for home batteries: you calculate the private share yourself, using your EMS data.
On balance you keep well over a thousand euros of the refund in this example, spread over five years. Note that the net metering scheme ends on 1 January 2027, which can shift the balance between trading and private use. If you then use the battery more privately, you also repay more VAT.
Timing is critical with the KOR
Many homeowners with solar panels are in the KOR without realising it, because they once registered as solar panel owners or stay below the registration threshold. To reclaim VAT on the battery you must not be a KOR participant at the time of purchase and installation. Deregistering only takes effect on the first day of a calendar quarter and the Tax Administration needs 4 weeks to process it. So plan the deregistration well before the invoice date of your battery.
If you are too late, you may not deduct the VAT in full. An adjustment route remains: in the 4 years after the year of first use you can reclaim one fifth of the VAT each year, but only if that yearly amount is at least 500 euros. For an average home battery one fifth of the VAT quickly falls below that threshold, and then that route lapses too. Buying too early and deregistering too late genuinely costs money.
What comes with the refund
From the refund onwards you are liable for VAT. You file a return every quarter and pay 21 percent VAT on the payments you receive from your energy supplier. If you have solar panels, you also declare the VAT on that feed-in, even if you bought the panels at 0 percent VAT or your partner already reclaimed the VAT on them.
Want to return to the KOR later to be rid of the paperwork? You can, but if you rejoin within the 5-year adjustment period you may have to repay part of the reclaimed VAT. Above the threshold of 500 euros per year in deducted VAT, repayment applies, and VAT you previously deducted for solar panels counts towards it. Choose that moment deliberately.
Special situations
If you already run a business with a VAT number, the battery joins that existing administration and the deduction depends on your overall VAT position. That is bespoke work for your accountant. If the energy contract is in your partner's name, that needs attention: invoice and contract must be in the same name. And a battery without solar panels can also qualify, because the core is trading power, not generating it. In all three cases: investigate first, sign later.
What SolarFast looks at
Technically your installation must support the route: a battery with an EMS that trades on hourly prices and an inverter that registers feed-in properly. Our home batteries meet that, and we make sure the invoice is in the right name. During the quote we walk through the VAT route with you and align the planning, so a KOR deregistration does not trail behind the invoice date. We do not give tax advice; for the return itself we refer you to the Tax Administration or your adviser.
Want to know where you stand first? Take the VAT refund check or put your situation to us. What the battery itself costs is covered under home battery costs; whether a battery suits you at all is weighed up in the comparison with or without a home battery.
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Your energy use
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Your data
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We can often start within three weeks. A day later your panels are on the roof and everything is connected. We leave your home clean and make sure you know exactly how it all works.
- Store your solar power for the evening
- 0% VAT makes the investment even more attractive
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Frequently asked questions
The full 21 percent VAT on purchase and installation, if you meet the conditions and allocate the battery to your business assets. If you also use the battery privately, you repay VAT on that share yearly, during the 5-year adjustment period.
As soon as possible after purchase, the Tax Administration advises, and in any case within 6 months after the year in which you bought the battery. The invoice date must also fall in a filing period in which you are not a KOR participant.
Only if you deregister first. That takes effect on the first day of a calendar quarter and processing takes 4 weeks. So deregister well before the purchase; if you buy the battery while still in the KOR, the full deduction lapses.
Then you may not reclaim the VAT in full. Through adjustment you can reclaim one fifth of the VAT yearly in the 4 years after first use, but only if that amount is at least 500 euros per year. For smaller systems little or nothing usually remains.
Yes, by default you file quarterly and pay 21 percent VAT on the payments from your energy supplier. There is no flat rate for home batteries, so you calculate the amounts yourself using your EMS data. Annual filing is only possible under conditions.
Yes. Once you are liable for VAT, you also declare the payment for exported solar power. This applies even if you bought the panels at 0 percent VAT, or if your partner already reclaimed the VAT on the panels.
Yes, the core of the route is trading power, not generating it. You do need an EMS and a dynamic energy contract, and an energy supplier that pays for feed-in.
You can, but if you rejoin within 5 years of first use you may have to repay part of the reclaimed VAT once you exceed the adjustment threshold of 500 euros per year. VAT previously deducted for solar panels counts towards that.
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