Blue Umbrella Anmeldelser 

Have used Blue Umbrella since August 2020. I have been a client for years both for private income and my BV. Just spoke to the owner, Martin van Wingerden, my BV Q1/2026 VAT reporting was filed late. Received a fine. My filing also does not reflect current earnings. I speak to the team regularly - about once a month - at no point had they said, Georgina your Q1/26 is still open (you simply need to log on to their system and check a box - as all details were there an up to date), your taxes will not be filed. I had in this same period spoken to them extensively about my earnings for 2025 to finalise the 2025 taxes and wanted to sure all the documents were correct and allocated to the right quarter. Owner, said it's their email system, and after two reminders (last one sent 11April 2026) they do not send further reminders. I am like ok - so you charge clients monthly to file their taxes (about €2000+ a year in fees) and then outsource the tax responsibility and care to a 3rd party email system. That is the level of care.

For context, under Dutch law a service provider such as Blue Umbrella acts as an 'opdrachtnemer' under a contract of engagement (Article 7:400 et seq. of the Dutch Civil Code), and is required under Article 7:401 to exercise the standard of care of a reasonably competent and reasonably acting professional in the same field. In practice, this means checking in on outstanding obligations through the channels actually used with a client - in our case, monthly calls - rather than relying solely on a single unmonitored email channel. Where a service provider falls short of this standard and this causes a client financial loss, this can amount to a breach of contract (Article 6:74 BW), which may give rise to a claim for damages, including a fine incurred as a direct result. I am not a lawyer, and I raise this only to explain why I do not consider the two-email process to meet the standard of care I am entitled to expect, not as a threat of legal action at this stage.

Would prefer to loose a client of 6 years than look after them with some customer care - or state 'yup I agree, only one of the calls in the last 3 months we should have checked that TINY Q1/2026 box on our Blue Umbrella system.

I hired Blue Umbrella because I was an expat running a Dutch BV and needed professional help navigating Dutch tax and administrative requirements.

Instead, I ended up with years of unresolved tax issues, significant fines, interest, and additional tax costs. The situation became so serious that I had to hire an external tax lawyer at substantial expense to sort out the mess.

What frustrates me most is that Blue Umbrella continued charging fees while problems accumulated in the background. Had I understood the severity of the situation, I would have acted much sooner. The whole reason I hired professionals was because I did not have the expertise to understand Dutch tax procedures and their consequences.

I submitted a formal complaint explaining why I believed my case had been poorly handled. Blue Umbrella reviewed its own conduct and concluded that it had done nothing wrong. My request for compensation was rejected in full.

My tax lawyer, who has been assisting in resolving the situation with the Dutch Tax Authorities, supports my concerns regarding how my case was handled.

To make matters worse, I am now having to chase my own records and correspondence so that another accounting firm can take over the administration of my company.

My experience with Blue Umbrella was expensive, stressful, and ultimately left me with far less confidence in their service than when I started.

I cannot recommend them based on my experience

Dear Blue Umbrella - it is over 1 month since I submitted my tax return to you - no actions have been taken your side and I have had close to no response from you, despite payment having been made. Our tax situation is straightforward so it should be a simple matter. Please see my latest email and please respond.

Three errors in a single tax return. 1) 2rong payroll tax figure (off by €2,000+), 2) a notary cost entered as €9,728 instead of €928, and 3) incorrect mortgage classification that triggered a 12-page correction notice from the Belastingdienst. When we pointed this out, their response was essentially "you approved it, so it's partly your fault." We were handed a 13-page technical tax document, given a four-line summary, and told to click approve. No explanations, no flags, no guidance. That's not a client approval, that's a cover-your-back exercise.

They were hired to do a professional job. They didn't. And when caught, they blamed the client instead of owning it.

Zero professionalism. Zero accountability. Do not use them.

I used them to file my taxes in 2024 - it was a complicated situation and I wanted to save some energy. They did the filing, I reviewed as much as I could, they submitted. This year I decided to check things myself and found several omissions they made in 2024, increasing my return with over 1k. To me this is substantial. They are less expensive than most such services working with expats but then why pay if you will have to be policing all they do when you can simply do it yourself. Turns out the time and effort of submitting the documents to them, reviewing what they submit to the belastingdienst against allowances, instructions, etc. and the correspondence with them is nearly the same as me doing it all.

Incredible service for over two years. The platform is very straightforward and the customer service is great. I would absolutely recommend it if you are starting or maintaining a business in the Netherlands and need an English-facing platform

They have helped me with my income tax filing for over 5 years now, it has been a great experience. Also helped me with the 30% ruling application, very smoothly. I highly recommend if you are looking for experts who know what the ins and outs of the Dutch tax system!

I was a client of Blue Umbrella for several years, starting 2010 till 2013. I must say, they have done a good job while I was their client: I got everything set up for me for child care first at a creche, and afterwards at after school day-care. I had just to give my yearly salary slip and creche/day care cost declaration and everything was perfectly handled.
However, I learned Dutch and how to fill all the tax papers online and stopped as a client from Blue Umbrella. And when it started: for these three years I was a client of Blue Umbrella, I got to pay extra money, according to Dutch Tax office. Something between 1000-2000 euro per year. And it was additional to what I have already paid during these years for the day care. According to Tax office, I was not paying properly, according to my salary.
In this case I found that trusting somebody to do your financial work is not good. They cheat for you, but responsibility lays on you, and not on Blue Umbrella. Because you are responsible for the taxes, not they. And it is not worth the money you pay.
I would say: if you are leaving the country after using help of Blue Umbrella - you will win. But if you will stop using Blue Umbrella at some point, everything you paid too little will come back to you.

Knowledgeable, available, professional, reliable, trustworthy. Blue umbrella is a good value for tax service if that’s what you need.

Blue Umbrella have taken the stress that doing VAT filing brings me, thank you Blue Umbrella! HIGHLY recommended

Took 2 months (!) to complete the initial assessment of the questionnaire. Declines to reimburse the late fees. They take a week to respond to every single question. Used to be a decent service, but this year it's terrible.

Make mistakes in reports that affect the amount of taxes refund. Refused to make corrections or pay back service fee. When I contacted Paypal, they began to threaten and demand paid back their fee. 100% not recomend

The worst company to deal with. They just keep finding ways to avoid doing their job, asking for the same information over and over again, information THEY HAVE.
In the end, just use an AI translation service and do it yourself YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO ANYWAY.
Absolutely useless company

I absolutely do not recommend this firm. I'm starting to wonder if it's all a scam and they've paid bots for their Google reviews as everything is hidden by the info@ address and there is no way to find anything about management on their website which is frankly a concerning lack of transparency.

Working with them has been nothing but a headache since the beginning. I'm glad that I'm on top of my finances and my administration in general so I've been able to catch all of their mistakes, even though I shouldn't have to be.

Financial services is supposed to be client oriented and helping people with their money but this is just awful. Don't do it.

1/6 - this is still ongoing.

14/5 - I have used Blue Umbrella for years. No issue until my 2024 tax filing. 6+ week delay and counting. Minimal communication and no updates, no action that I can tell. Client ID 64502, please get in contact.

In my perception, providing good service is not important for this company and its staff, the most important thing for them is money. They did not help me, I have always had to pay fines to the belastindiest

I’ve read the other’s comment and found the same issue that the service level is significantly decreasing. It is a signal of something dangerous in the management.
In my case, it started with a much slower responses compared to the previous years. They implemented the blue envelope which doesn’t function at all. It is literally “not at all” and I am asking the refund.
If you are an expat and looking for an agent, you had better NOT take this company just because of the advertisement size on the expat platform.

The worst service ever, inefficient, careless. Rate should be -5!

I have been a client of Blue Umbrella for over three years, and unfortunately, the quality of service has significantly declined.

Over the past months, I have experienced slow communication, lack of customer support, and unresolved issues that have caused considerable frustration.

Communication has become increasingly sluggish, with emails going unanswered for a week or longer. When I called their office to try to get an answer sooner, I was told they are busy and "have a lot of clients", which is a very unprofessional and unacceptable response. This has left me feeling undervalued as a client.

This lack of responsiveness is particularly concerning given the time-sensitive nature of accounting and financial matters.

Moreover, the customer support provided has been inadequate. My queries and concerns have often been met with vague responses and have also been ignored altogether.

Lastly, problem resolution has been a persistent issue. Several important matters have remained unresolved despite multiple attempts to address them. This lack of efficiency and attention to detail is unacceptable for an accounting service.

After being a loyal client for over three years, I am deeply disappointed with the recent decline in service quality. I can no longer recommend Blue Umbrella. I have decided to cancel my business subscription and seek an alternative who can offer the professionalism and support that is essential for effective financial management.

Best experience I had so far in the Netherlands in 2 years of living here! Best TELEPHONE customer care! Finally, the first company in the Netherlands where I could solve my problem super fast ON THE PHONE. My God, I had no idea how rare this would be in this country. No robots that answer you in Dutch, no waiting 10 minutes on the line so that maybe someone will pick up. I prefer calling a company because you can solve things incredibly fast, unlike the long exchange of emails. So smooth, so clean, so fast, and so on point. This washed away all the bad service I had with other companies that are trying to cut costs by not caring about the customer. I mean I did learn Dutch and I speak Dutch, but when it comes to very technical matters regarding taxes, things are complicated as they are in English, and I can't do it in Dutch. Also, I really can't afford to make mistakes about taxes so I prefer a nice safe communication in English. That's why I'm paying for their service: to make sure I'm not making tax mistakes.
This company was recommended by an expat colleague who said that is indeed worth paying for their services instead of doing it by yourself. I can say now that he was right.
I strongly recommend them!