NETHERLANDS Trends and Developments Contributed by: Tijmen Noordoven, Maarten Minnaard, Claire Huijts and Annemeijne Zwager, Rutgers & Posch
(VAR), introduced in 2005, was intended to provide freelancers with advanced clarity regarding their tax status. In practice, however, this regime often resulted in pseudo self-employment. Its successor, the Dereg - ulation of Assessment of Employment Relationships Act (Wet DBA) of 2016, failed to resolve these issues and instead generated further uncertainty. Conse - quently, the Dutch Tax Authority implemented an enforcement moratorium, which remained in effect for nearly ten years. This moratorium was lifted ear - lier this year, once again causing unrest within soci - ety. To this day, it remains unclear when an individual qualifies as self-employed, which may result in tax penalties and retrospective assessments of employ - ment relationship. As a result, parties are currently cautious about engaging contractors. Despite twenty years of legislative efforts, a satisfactory solution has yet to be achieved. Currently, there are two legisla - tive proposals in place. First of all, the Clarification of Assessment of Employment Relationships Act (Wet VBAR), as amended (for the third time) and submit - ted on 7 July 2025, aims to provide greater clarity regarding the position of self-employed persons in the labour market. However, this proposal also creates uncertainty, according to four political parties, who ini - tiated another legislative proposal: the Self-Employed Persons Act. The Wet VBAR In the original proposal from 2023, the legal assess - ment of the employment relationship consisted of three elements: • criteria indicating employee status (W); • criteria indicating self-employment within an assignment (Z); and • Personal Entrepreneurship (outside the assign - ment) (OP). The assessment initially focused on whether clarity regarding the employment classification could be obtained based on W and Z. If this was not possible, OP was then considered. The government amended the bill following the Supreme Court’s Uber judgment (HR 21 February 2025, ECLI:NL:HR:2025:319), which held that no hierarchy should be applied to the factors as formu -
lated in the Deliveroo judgment (HR 24 March 2023, ECLI:NL:HR:2023:443) and created (inter alia) the basis for the previous version of the Wet VBAR. This meant that the hierarchy previously established in the bill between the W and Z criteria on the one hand, and the OP criteria on the other, could not be maintained. In the most recently amended version of the Wet VBAR, the qualification of the employment relation - ship is now based on two elements: W and Z. The OP element has been incorporated into the self- employment assessment, Z. The criteria regarding independent entrepreneurship are primarily aimed at whether the self-employed person operates at their own expense and risk. The criteria for employee sta - tus focus on substantive or organisational direction and control. Companies will need to assess, for each assignment, whether the individual qualifies as self- employed or as an employee. Additionally, the bill aims to provide greater protection to low-paid pseudo self-employed workers by intro - ducing a legal presumption. For self-employed per - sons (zzp’ers) earning less than EUR36 per hour, there will be a legal presumption of employee status. This will make it easier for them to claim employee rights. If a self-employed person invokes this presumption, it is up to the employer to prove that the individual is genuinely self-employed and not an employee. This provision remains unchanged from the previous ver - sion of the Wet VBAR. The intended effective date of the Wet VBAR is 1 July 2026. The law does not provide for transitional arrangements, meaning that the new rules will apply immediately upon entry into force. The Self-Employed Persons Act (Zelfstandigenwet) This private member’s bill intends to largely replace the Wet VBAR and pursues three objectives: • to provide legal certainty for self-employed persons and their clients; • to better align legislation with the modern labour market and to recognise the need for autonomy among a large group of self-employed persons; and
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