Transferring an agricultural business, a step-by-step plan
Is the ownership or legal structure of your agricultural company changing? Inform the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce KVK and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) of this change. This is called an agricultural business transfer. On this page, you can read which steps you need to take to transfer an agricultural company.
Determine which situation applies to you
There are different types of business transfers. Determine which situation applies to you (in Dutch) and what you need to arrange in that situation. If you end your business or if the manager dies (in Dutch), you will still need to report changes but not all steps will apply.
The steps you need to take will depend on the situation. Will you take over the company, or are you transferring the company? Or are you changing the legal structure of the company? KVK explains what to do in each situation. Report the change. Once the change is processed in the Business Register, KVK will give the company a new KVK number.
View when taking over or transferring a company and report your change on KVK.nl.
Arrange a new eHerkenning with level 2+ or 3. You can find all suppliers on eHerkenning.nl. Do not forget to cancel your old eHerkenning if you no longer need it.
Read more about applying for eHerkenning.
You need a new RVO relation number. To do this, log onto mijn.rvo.nl with your new KVK number and your new eHerkenning. At the top of the page, click on ‘Inloggen’ on mijn.rvo.nl. RVO will then register your data.
Read more about your agricultural registration (in Dutch) at RVO.nl.
You can authorise (machtigen) yourself on behalf of your old company. Arrange an authorisation with RVO for the deregistered KVK number. This way you can update details for 1 year and view the old file for 5 years.
Read more about authorising someone or being authorised (in Dutch) on RVO.nl.
Is your authorisation with RVO active? Then report the change in the company to RVO. You have 30 days to do this after KVK has removed the old KVK number from the Business Register. You report the change using the form Melding overdracht of beëindiging agrarisch bedrijf (in Dutch) on RVO.nl.
In the RVO article Stappenplan agrarisch bedrijf overdragen (in Dutch), you can read which steps to follow under step 6. Also read the points of attention (in Dutch) for more information on filling in the form. And on what else you need to arrange separately from the form. RVO will process your change within 6 weeks.
Is someone taking over your business? Then that party has to sign the business transfer notification. The buying party will receive an e-mail about this.
You should also pass on your new details to others:
Do you have identification and registration (I&R) reports made through your management programme? Then request a new user code and password from RVO. Please contact (in Dutch) RVO by telephone to arrange this. Then you must enter this new data into the management programme. Your software supplier can help you with this.
Did you transfer your Agricultural Nature and Landscape Management (Agrarisch Natuur- en Landschapsbeheer, ANLb, in Dutch) in step 6? And have you applied for an ANLb subsidy from a collective? This is a collaboration of farmers and other managers of agricultural land. Then report the change there as well.
Pass on your new KVK number and relation number at RVO to your customers, suppliers, and carriers. They must use your new data.
Did you authorise people to act on your behalf that used the old relation number at RVO? Re-authorise the appropriate people on behalf of the new company. If you saved your authorisations in step 5, you can use them now. Read more about authorising someone or being authorised (in Dutch) on RVO.nl.
Questions relating to this article?
Please contact the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, RVO