Opening a business account as a self-employed professional
With a sole trader business the account separates the bookkeeping, but not your liability. Your insurance does have to make that separation, and that goes wrong more often than the bookkeeping.
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The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert.nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
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- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
- Independent advice
- Several insurers
- Switching arranged
- Help with claims
In brief
You open a business account at a bank. We act as intermediaries in insurance only. What you should know alongside it: a sole trader business is not a legal entity. You are the business owner yourself, and therefore the policyholder yourself. A creditor of the business can enforce against your private assets, even where the payment once came from the business account. The separation you make in your administration does not exist in law.
For insurance it works the other way round. Your personal liability insurance expressly excludes damage you cause in the course of a profession or business. As soon as you invoice, every loss at a client is a business loss. For that you need business liability insurance, with an description of business activity that matches exactly what you do.
If you work from home, there is another boundary. home contents insurance covers household contents, not business contents and not trading stock. A working stock in the shed or an expensive machine in the loft falls outside it or is covered only up to a small amount. If you drive to clients in a private car and carry materials in it, check that the use stated on the motor policy is correct; carrying goods for business on a private policy leads to arguments.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on SME insurance package.
Insurance never stands alone
A mortgage, loan or investment often touches your insurance too. We look at the bigger picture and point you to the right specialist whenever something falls outside insurance itself.
Financial
Overview
AdviceWhy arrange it through Finass Verzekert?
We look at the terms as well as the premium, and stay your point of contact when there is a claim.
Independent
We are not tied to one insurer and compare on the basis of an objective analysis of several companies.
One fixed adviser
You call or email someone who knows your file. No menu options, no changing call centres.
Switching without hassle
We cancel your old policy and align the start date, so you are never a day without cover.
Help with claims
We report the claim and monitor how it is handled. In urgent cases you can reach us on the emergency line.
Four boundaries between private and business
What changes the moment you register and start invoicing.
The AVP stops where the work starts
If you trip over a client's laptop during a job, the loss is a business one and the private policy does not pay. That also applies to sideline earnings, hobby jobs for a fee and work for family that you invoice. The liability itself still exists under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code; it is only the cover that is missing.
A client's property in your custody
If you work on, with or inside property that is not yours, you run into the care, custody and control exclusion. A borrowed scaffold that falls over, a leased machine you drop, a car you move for a client: damage to those is not covered on the standard policy. Separate care, custody and control cover exists, but you have to ask for it expressly.
Advice and design fall somewhere else
If you supply a calculation, a drawing, a report or a software configuration, the client's loss is usually pure financial loss: materials ordered wrongly, a grant missed, production stopped. That is excluded on the business liability policy and belongs on professional indemnity insurance.
Your own injury and inability to work
As a self-employed professional you are not an employee, so there is no continued payment of wages and no employers' liability under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code. If you are unable to work, the turnover stops. A disability insurance absorbs that, and a personal accident insurance pays out on permanent injury or death. Both are entirely separate from the account your turnover comes into.
What does your premium depend on?
- Described business activity: the activity determines acceptance and rate
- Annual turnover: the usual basis for self-employed liability
- Working on site or from home: visiting clients changes the risk
- Value of tools and equipment: determines the sum on the equipment cover
- Hiring in help: a hired-in worker brings a duty of care with them
- Waiting period for income cover: the period you bridge yourself if unable to work
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | Personal policy | Business policy |
|---|---|---|
| You damage a client's newly laid parquet floor with your toolbox | No | Yes |
| Your dog bites a passer-by while out for a walk on Saturday | Yes | No |
| In a burglary at home, the laptop you invoice with disappears | Provided that | Yes |
| A fire at home destroys the trading stock kept in the garage | No | Yes |
| You fall off a ladder at a client's premises and cannot work for six weeks | No | Provided that |
| A client claims for lost turnover because your calculation led to the wrong choice of materials | No | Provided that |
It is not the account the money comes into that determines the cover, but whether you caused the loss in the course of your business.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Will Finass open a business account for me?
No. We are independent insurance advisers and act as intermediaries in insurance only. You open an account directly with a bank or payment institution, and for credit or finance we refer you on. What we do is go through your activities and apply for the cover that goes with them, with an insured capacity that matches exactly what you invoice.
With a sole trader business, am I personally liable?
Yes. A sole trader business has no separate assets, so a debt or a claim arising from the business also affects your private assets. A separate account changes nothing about that. It is a bookkeeping separation. That is precisely why business liability cover is no luxury for a sole trader, because an injury claim runs on for years.
Can I use my private policies for business?
For liability, no: acting in the course of a profession is excluded on the private policy. For home contents the same applies to business contents and trading stock. For a car it depends on the use stated on the policy schedule. Always report business use, because an unreported change can lead to a reduced payment under Article 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code.
As a starter, when do I need more than liability cover?
As soon as you carry value with you or depend on your own efforts. Tools and equipment call for plant or business contents cover, advisory work for professional indemnity, and being unable to work for income protection. An overview of the usual combinations is at the insurance package for self-employed starters.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
- Finance: we refer you onThe main page
- Free business accountNo bank, direct debit, starting the business
- Business credit card for self-employed professionalsCard cover, business travel, not a bank
- Business account for self-employed professionalsBurden of proof, turnover figures, purchase invoices
- Business accountAccount name, payment fraud, legal form
- Tools insurance for self-employed professionalsTheft from the van, overnight clause, market value
- A business loan as a self-employed professional: we refer you onNote: borrowing money costs money, private and business, BKR