SMEs are estimated to have 5.5 billion euros in fiscal administrative burdens, according to research by Taxence. This amount is so large that the government is now investigating how these burdens can be reduced. At the same time, the 2026 Trend Survey of Salary Professionals by NIRPA, published via Accountant.nl, shows that 46 percent of salary professionals believe that administrative burdens around payroll reporting have increased over the past five years. For you as a business owner, this means you cannot wait for the government to solve the problem. The burdens are already growing, and you feel it in the time your team spends on paperwork instead of on your business.
What these figures mean for your business
If tax and payroll administration have been getting heavier for years, there is a good chance this is also happening in your organization. Think of the hours your team spends manually processing invoices, payslips or VAT returns. That time comes at the expense of work that actually adds value.
Why manual work makes the pain worse
Many companies try to cope with the growing burden by working harder or bringing in extra people. But that does not solve the core problem, processes that are still largely manual remain error-prone and time-consuming. Smart technology can help ease recurring administrative tasks, so your people can focus on things that really need human attention.
- Identify which administrative tasks take the most time
- Look for repetition and manual data entry
- Determine which step can be improved first
Practical first step
Do not try to tackle everything at once. Choose one recurring administrative process, such as invoicing or payroll processing, and investigate how much time it takes on an ongoing basis. This insight gives you a concrete starting point to make targeted improvements, rather than continuing to put band-aids on a problem that, according to the figures, is only getting bigger.
Source
- Taxence (October 2026): taxence.nl
- Accountant.nl (October 2026): accountant.nl