Before you share your letter: what you need to know about the BSN
Published: June 22, 2026 · 3 min read · The Letrin team
Dutch words in this post
Hover over an underlined word in the text (tap it on a phone) and see what it means straight away.
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| BSN | citizen service number · Your personal number for tax, healthcare and employment |
| DigiD | government login · The digital identity you use to sign in to official websites |
| zaaknummer | case number |
| toeslag | government allowance · Support for rent, health insurance or childcare |
An official letter usually carries all of this: your name, your address, your BSNcitizen service number · Your personal number for tax, healthcare and employment, sometimes your IBAN, an income figure, and a zaaknummercase number that opens your file. So the letter holds quite a lot of information about you in one place.
This is not a horror story. It is just a good reason to be a little picky about who you hand the letter to when you want it translated.
The usual ways people get a letter translated
The family group. The photo goes into the WhatsApp group: "what does this say?" It works, but the photo is now on the phone of everyone in that group and can be forwarded on easily. If the letter is about debt or your residence status, you may not want everyone to know.
Camera translation apps. Point the camera, get a rough translation. There are two gaps: many of them upload the image to a server, and a word-for-word translation will not tell you that this particular word carries a six-week deadline. So you have shared the letter and still missed the part that mattered.
Someone who reads Dutch. Often the nicest solution, as long as it is someone you trust. Just know one thing: the person helping you also sees everything else on the letter. Pick someone you trust, and always keep your official access (like DigiDgovernment login · The digital identity you use to sign in to official websites) in your own hands.
Scanning at the library and emailing it. A letter scanned on a shared computer can leave traces in the downloads folder and the browser session. On a public computer, remember to sign out of everything when you are done.
Why is the BSNcitizen service number · Your personal number for tax, healthcare and employment different from other details?
The BSNcitizen service number · Your personal number for tax, healthcare and employment is the number that connects the Dutch systems: tax, healthcare, employment, allowances. Together with your name and address, the BSNcitizen service number · Your personal number for tax, healthcare and employment makes life needlessly easy for anyone who wants to start something in your name. The government's own advice is plain: share your BSNcitizen service number · Your personal number for tax, healthcare and employment only when the law requires it.
So this is not about "trust nobody". It is about knowing where the photo of your letter ends up.
How do you recognise a good translation tool?
You can understand a letter without letting it out of your hands. Ask any tool you are considering these four questions:
- Where is the text read? On the phone is best, which means the photo is never uploaded at all.
- What exactly gets sent? Text only, with personal details covered. And you should be able to see what goes out before it goes.
- What is kept on the server? The right answer is: nothing.
- Is an account required? No account means no record to link back to you.
That list is, as you may have guessed, a description of how Letrin works: the text is read on the phone, personal details are covered on the phone, you see the outgoing text on a review screen, no copy is kept on the server, and no account is needed.
Whichever route you pick (someone you trust, a professional, or an app), asking those four questions is enough. The letters will keep coming; what matters is that you decide where the photo of each one goes.