The Dutch government is taking steps to combat false self-employment. Starting January 1st, 2025, the Wet DBA (Wet deregulering beoordeling arbeidsrelaties), originally introduced in 2016, will be enforced. This act regulates client-contractor relationships, ensuring that freelancers or ZZP’ers are genuinely treated as self-employed professionals.
This legislation has raised concerns among companies that benefit from excluding professionals from their headcount, thus avoiding paying taxes, pension contributions, and other employee-related costs.
Criteria to avoid false employment
Disguised self-employment occurs when an individual works under an independent contract, but operates more like an employee.
The DBA Act requires both freelancers and clients to share the responsibility to prevent employment misclassification. Here is what to keep in mind:
- Project scope: A self-employed person should focus on specialised, short-term projects. Simple, long-term tasks often indicate an employment relationship.
- Autonomy and control: Contractors control their schedules and decide on tasks with clear, predefined requirements. Restrictions imposed by clients (e.g., attendance at company events or additional tasks outside the agreed-upon scope) can suggest an employment arrangement.
- Integration: High levels of integration into the company (e.g., using company equipment, being closely managed by a supervisor) align more closely with employment.
- Contractual flexibility: Employment contracts usually offer less flexibility in negotiating terms than independent contracts.
- Non-compete clauses: Employees may face limitations on working for competitors, while outsourced professionals have the freedom to choose their clients.
- Financial risk: Employees are usually paid during illness or project cancellations, while freelancers assume full commercial risk and are only compensated for completed work.
What the DBA Act means for companies hiring in the Netherlands
Starting in 2025, companies mislabeling their contractor’s, risk penalties and retroactive tax assessments going back to the start of the enforcement period. A transitional grace period of one year (until January 1, 2026) allows time to adjust practices, provided businesses can prove active efforts to correct any bogus-employment cases.
The Dutch government is offering a tool for companies to asses whether their contractor-client relationship is accurate in line with the Wet DBA.
Why hiring temporary employees is now more favourable
The increased scrutiny on freelance or ZZP contracts means companies face heightened risks if they fail to categorise workers properly. Using staffing agencies such as Adams Multilingual Recruitment for your hiring needs now offers even greater advantages:
- We handle all legal and regulatory requirements, avoiding risks of pseudo-self-employment, investigations, and fines.
- We ensure a clear contractual relationship, reducing ambiguity and compliance concerns.
- We manage recruitment and payroll, saving time and reducing administrative burden.
- You can easily adjust workforce size to meet changing needs, add specialised skills for projects, and boost team numbers without increasing headcount.
- As an ABU-certified recruitment agency, we ensure all employment rules are followed.
In light of the shifting regulations around freelance and ZZP work, companies will need to navigate compliance more carefully than ever. Hiring temporary employees delivers the flexibility and expertise you need.
Let us discuss how you can meet your hiring goals, without increasing your headcount.
