Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Yes. In the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and France it is written into law — each time in a different provision. What has to be counted, at what value, and why all of that changes when every piece is one of a kind.
“Inventory” means three different things, and that is exactly where it goes wrong.
On the shop floor your inventory is your stock: the pieces standing there. In accounting, taking an inventory is an act — the yearly count of everything the business owns and owes. And on the balance sheet the word means a third thing again: fixtures, shelving and equipment, so precisely not the goods you sell.
This page is about the second meaning: the stocktake the law asks for. For a dealer in antiques, vintage or second-hand goods it comes down to one thing — counting and valuing the stock, because that is where the money sits. What you have to record all year round is a separate question: see the stock book page.
As long as those three run together, you and your accountant are talking about different things.
The duty to take stock at least once a year exists in all four countries. The provision differs, and so does the emphasis: one country stresses the count, another mainly the value.
Companies Act 2006, s.386(4) — plus every stocktaking
article III.89 CEL — on a date you choose yourself
Belastingdienst — the value of stock at the close
article L123-12 C. com. — existence and value
The same duty four times over, worded four different ways:
If the company’s business involves dealing in goods, the accounting records must contain “statements of stock held by the company at the end of each financial year” and “all statements of stocktakings from which any statement of stock… has been or is to be prepared”.
A sole trader falls outside section 386, but under traditional accounting HMRC still asks you to keep “the value of stock and work in progress at the end of your accounting period”.
“Elle doit contrôler par inventaire, au moins une fois tous les douze mois, l’existence et la valeur des éléments actifs et passifs du patrimoine de l’entreprise.”
“Toute entreprise soumise à l’obligation comptable procède, une fois l’an au moins, avec bonne foi et prudence, aux opérations de relevé, de vérification, d’examen et d’évaluation nécessaires pour établir à la date choisie un inventaire complet de ses avoirs…” — there is no official English text; the law is published in Dutch, French and German.
One Belgian nuance that is easy to miss: paragraph 2 of article III.89 — ordering the inventory to the chart of accounts, and the valuation criteria — does not apply to businesses on simplified bookkeeping (article III.85: turnover up to 500,000 euro excluding VAT). The stocktake itself, paragraph 1, applies to them all the same.
The main rule is the same across these countries: the purchase price, unless the piece is worth less on the balance sheet date. Then that lower figure applies. In the UK it is the familiar “lower of cost and net realisable value”.
Belgium words it, in Accounting Standards Commission opinion 132/7, as acquisition value or the market price at the balance sheet date if that is lower. The Netherlands puts it shorter: normally you value stock at cost price, and a lower figure is allowed only for goods that have become unsaleable.
What is not in there: your asking price. A cabinet you bought for 200 and put on the floor at 600 stands at 200 in your stocktake. The 400 difference is only booked when it sells — and on second-hand goods that is exactly the margin your VAT is calculated on.
The lower of purchase price and expected proceeds, added up. Leave the bottom two fields empty if no piece is worth less than you paid.
This is the main rule, not your return. The Netherlands applies fixed write-down percentages for textiles, clothing and furniture, and whether a piece counts as unsaleable stays a judgement. Take the figure to your accountant rather than posting it.
A shop selling series counts boxes and multiplies by a unit cost. In your trade that per-line unit cost does not exist.
You have 140 pieces standing — and one total on the bank statement. Without a purchase price per piece, every valuation is an estimate, and an estimate does not survive an inspection.
The most tempting mistake, because that figure is on the label. Your stock looks three times as valuable, and your profit with it.
A list that is not kept up counts pieces on 31 December that went out in October. With one-off pieces nothing gives it away: there is no quantity that fails to add up.
The law asks for the position on the chosen date, not three months later. What you count in March is March’s stock.
Measured on 8 September 2026 at legislation.gov.uk and gov.uk (UK), the Belgian Accounting Standards Commission (Belgium), the Belastingdienst (Netherlands) and Légifrance (France). Sources cited: section 386 of the Companies Act 2006, articles III.89 and III.85 of the Belgian Code of Economic Law, Accounting Standards Commission opinion 132/7, and article L123-12 of the French Code de commerce.
This explains your records, and is not tax or accounting advice. Which scheme and which valuation apply to your business is a question for your accountant.
Yes. In the UK, section 386(4) of the Companies Act 2006 requires a company dealing in goods to keep statements of stock held at the end of each financial year, plus all the stocktakings behind them; a sole trader on traditional accounting is asked by gov.uk for the value of stock and work in progress at the end of the accounting period. Belgium requires a full inventory at least once a year under article III.89 of its Code of Economic Law, France every twelve months under article L123-12 of the Code de commerce, and the Netherlands the value of stock at each year end.
Your stock is what you have: goods bought for resale. The stocktake is what you do: the yearly count in which you check and value that stock. On the balance sheet, fixtures and fittings form a third category again, under fixed assets, and have nothing to do with the pieces you sell.
At the purchase price, unless the piece is worth less on the balance sheet date -- the lower of cost and net realisable value. Belgian Accounting Standards Commission opinion 132/7 uses acquisition value, or market price at the balance sheet date if lower. The Dutch Belastingdienst uses cost price, allowing a lower figure only for unsaleable goods. Your asking price is never the stock value: the difference is booked when the piece sells.
At your year end, because the stocktake has to support the balance sheet. Section 386 ties the statement of stock to the end of each financial year. France allows any date as long as no more than twelve months pass between two inventories, and Belgium lets the business choose the date outright. Counting on 31 December while your year ends 30 June leaves the accounts unsupported.
The count does. In Belgium, businesses on simplified bookkeeping -- individuals and certain partnerships with turnover up to 500,000 euro excluding VAT, under article III.85 -- fall outside paragraph 2 of article III.89, which covers the chart of accounts and the valuation criteria. Paragraph 1, the duty to count and value, still applies. In the UK a sole trader falls outside section 386 but still has to record the value of stock at the end of the accounting period.
Vintro Pro keeps the purchase price and the date with every piece. On 31 December the list is already there — including what each piece cost you.
Free up to 10 pieces, no card details and no end date.