The short answer
A KVK uittreksel is an extract from the Dutch Handelsregister, the business register kept by the Kamer van Koophandel (KVK), and you order it on kvk.nl. There are three versions. A non-certified extract you view online costs 2.95 euros. A digitally certified PDF costs 9.60 euros and arrives by email within 10 minutes. A paper certified extract costs 19.20 euros and arrives by post within five working days. KVK products are exempt from VAT, so these are the full prices. Both certified versions are available in English. The history product, covering changes since 23 May 2010, also costs 2.95 euros. Basic details such as the KVK number, trade name and address are free in KVK's search. For use abroad, a Dutch court adds an apostille to the paper extract for 27 euros in 2026.
Prices below come from KVK's tariff overview for 2026 (dated 4 March 2026), KVK's product and help pages, and Rechtspraak.nl for the apostille, read on 1 October 2026.
The three versions and what they cost
Version | Price | How you receive it | Official proof? | In English? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Online view (niet-gewaarmerkt) | 2.95 euros | On screen, straight away | No, no seal | - |
Digitally certified (digitaal gewaarmerkt) | 9.60 euros | PDF by email within 10 minutes | Yes, as long as it is forwarded digitally | Yes |
Paper certified (papier gewaarmerkt) | 19.20 euros | By post, sent the same day if ordered before 15:00 on a working day, received within 5 working days | Yes | Yes |
Handelsregister Historie | 2.95 euros | Online | Not stated by KVK | - |
Source: KVK tariff overview 2026. All prices are exempt from VAT.
Digital and paper extracts hold the same information. The digital one only stays legally valid while you forward the email itself. KVK says plainly that a printed copy of the digitally certified PDF is no longer fit for official use.
To buy the online view you log in with a KVK access code (toegangscode), which doubles as your KVK account. For a certified extract, digital or paper, you do not need one; you can pay directly with iDEAL or a credit card.
Websites that resell KVK extracts must say they are intermediaries; KVK notes they usually charge more.
Free basic data or a paid extract?
Anyone can search the Handelsregister on kvk.nl by name, address or KVK number, free of charge. Each result shows the KVK number, the legal form, the establishment number (vestigingsnummer) for main and branch offices, usually a visiting or postal address, and the activity description if the company filled one in. How to look up a KVK number goes through it step by step.
What the free search does not show is who runs the company and who may sign for it. For that you need at least the 2.95-euro online view.
What is on a KVK extract
An extract shows the data registered for a company at the moment you order it:
Company details: name, trade names, address, founding date and registration date.
Legal form, the business and its establishments, including business activities.
Officers and signing authority, in most cases: owners, directors, a sole shareholder, holders of a power of attorney, with what each may do.
Bankruptcy: KVK notes that you can see on the extract whether a company is bankrupt. Court records: see the Dutch insolvency register.
One trap: an extract ordered for a branch office (nevenvestiging) lists no officers. They appear on the extract of the main establishment, which the kvk.nl company page links to at the top.
Not on the extract:
Non-public data. Phone numbers, citizen service numbers (BSN), officers' home addresses and shielded visiting addresses are in the register but not public. Notaries, lawyers and bailiffs can apply for authorisation to see some of it.
Financial figures. Annual accounts are a separate filed document at 3.90 euros each. See how to get Dutch annual accounts.
Beneficial owners. The KVK UBO extract is a separate product at 3.10 euros, in Dutch only, and only for people who are authorised to sign for the organisation or authorised to view its UBO data.
History. Former directors, earlier names and addresses are in the history product below.
The history extract
KVK Handelsregister Historie shows who used to have signing authority, earlier names, addresses and business descriptions, changes of legal form, departed officers and how often the registration changed. Ordered online it covers changes registered from 23 May 2010 up to one week before your request, for 2.95 euros. Changes registered between 1993 and 23 May 2010 you request by phone; KVK gives them verbally or, for a fee it does not publish on that page, as a PDF by email, usually within three working days.
The English version
Choose a digitally or paper certified extract and pick English in the order; the price is the same. KVK does not translate everything. The company's own business description stays in Dutch (the SBI code description is translated), and so do extended restrictions on a power of attorney, rulings by a foreign court and certain officer job titles.
When you need a certified extract
To check who you are doing business with, the non-certified online view is enough. When an organisation wants official proof of a company, for example a bank or a grant application, it will ask for a certified extract. In Dutch public tenders you first declare on the Uniform European Procurement Document (UEA); the contracting authority must request the evidence from the bidder it intends to award, and PIANOo, the government's procurement centre, notes that case law allows a late KVK extract as a correction.
An extract has no fixed expiry date. KVK says it is valid as long as the receiving organisation accepts it, and that most ask for one no older than a month. Ask the requesting party which version it wants and how recent before you pay.
Using a KVK extract abroad: apostille and legalisation
A KVK extract is already signed by KVK, and KVK does not legalise its own register products. If the destination country is party to the Apostille Convention, a Dutch district court (rechtbank) adds the apostille. The court only accepts the paper version on original KVK paper with a signature, so order the 19.20-euro paper extract; a digital extract or your own printout will not do. The court fee is 27 euros in 2026 (26 euros in 2025). Any court will do, but only at its designated locations, and each has its own procedure.
If the country is not party to the convention, the extract goes to the Consular Service Centre (CDC) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and some countries then want a further legalisation by their own embassy in the Netherlands. Within the European Union an apostille is often no longer needed, Rechtspraak.nl notes, so ask the receiving authority first.
The Belgian equivalent
Belgium's KBO extract works differently. Recognised business counters such as Xerius or Acerta sell it, not the register, at a fee fixed by royal decree: 16.50 euros including VAT in 2026. A free printout from KBO Public Search shows the officers, which the free KVK search does not. For use abroad the counters sell a legalised extract with an apostille from FPS Foreign Affairs for 73.50 to 95 euros including VAT. The full comparison of counters is in how to get a KBO extract in Belgium.
One company or many
An extract proves one company at one moment. For data on hundreds of Dutch companies, extracts are the wrong tool. KVK's own API costs 6.40 euros a month for the connection plus 0.02 euros per company profile, with searching free. If the goal is prospecting rather than proof, where B2B leads in the Netherlands come from sets out the sources. Bizzy covers Dutch companies through Creditsafe data, next to register-sourced data for Belgium, so you can build a list without paying per company. It does not issue KVK extracts, and it does not replace one when a bank, court or authority asks for certified proof. Plans start free; see pricing.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a KVK uittreksel cost? 2.95 euros to view online, 9.60 euros for a digitally certified PDF and 19.20 euros for a paper certified extract, all exempt from VAT, according to KVK's 2026 tariffs.
Is a KVK extract free? No. Searching the register for the KVK number, trade name, legal form and address is free, but every extract is paid.
Can I get a KVK extract in English? Yes. Order a digitally or paper certified extract on kvk.nl and choose English in the order. The business description, some officer titles and a few other fields stay in Dutch.
How do I get an apostille on a KVK extract? Order the paper certified extract and take it to a designated location of any Dutch district court. The fee is 27 euros in 2026. Digital extracts cannot be apostilled.
Photo: the Sint-Servaas bridge in Maastricht, Michielverbeek, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons