How to verify a Dutch company (KVK) before a wire transfer

The KVK number is the key

Every Dutch business is registered in the Handelsregister kept by KVK (Kamer van Koophandel, the chamber of commerce) and receives an 8-digit KVK number. A proper Dutch invoice or quote shows it, usually together with the VAT ID (btw-id: NL, nine digits, the letter B, two digits). Ask for the KVK number before anything else. It is public information, so a legitimate supplier hands it over without hesitation.

The free check, step by step

1. Search at kvk.nl/en/search, by KVK number (best) or by name. The free result shows the registered name, KVK number, legal form, status, and addresses.
2. Match everything against your quote. Name spelled identically? Address consistent with where they say they operate? A trade name (handelsnaam) can legitimately differ from the legal name, but the KVK record lists trade names too, so the name you know them by should still appear somewhere on the record.
3. Note the legal form. A B.V. is a private limited company. An eenmanszaak is one person trading with unlimited liability. Neither is good or bad in itself, but it tells you what "the company" actually is when you size up a prepayment.
4. For directors and signing authority, get the extract. The free search does not show who is authorized to act for the company. That lives in the Business Register extract (uittreksel), which anyone can buy from KVK for a small fee and receive as a PDF; the digitally certified version carries a KVK seal that third parties can validate. For a meaningful prepayment, it is the document worth having.
5. Validate the btw-id in VIES, and read what a valid result does and does not prove.
6. Cross-check the website. Dutch businesses commonly publish their KVK number in the site footer or terms. A "Dutch company" with no KVK number anywhere on its site is a flag.

What the register will not tell you

• Creditworthiness. KVK records identity, not the ability to pay or deliver. Filed accounts for small companies are limited and lag the year end.
• Bank details. No register publishes them. A recurring fraud pattern is a real KVK number pasted onto an invoice that routes to an unrelated account, so verify the IBAN by phone on an independently sourced number. A Dutch company asking to be paid into a non-NL IBAN deserves one direct question.
• Who is behind an email address. The extract proves who may sign for the company; it cannot prove that the person in your inbox is one of them.

One note on third-party reports about Dutch companies, including ours: KVK's reuse rules mean officer details belong in the official extract itself, so our Dutch reports include the certified KVK extract, purchased for you and delivered alongside the report. For current information with legal effect toward third parties, always consult the Handelsregister.

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