The DBA Act: avoid false self-employment

The Employment Relationships Deregulation Act (DBA Act) sets out when there is entrepreneurship and when there is salaried and temporary employment. If you work as a zzp'er (self-employed professional without personnel) but do not meet the conditions for entrepreneurship, this is called false self-employment. The Tax Administration will check this more strictly from 2025 onwards.

Conditions for entrepreneurship

According to the DBA Act, conditions for entrepreneurship include deciding your own working hours, using your own tools, and not supervising or being supervised by the client's employees. Think of a writer typing up the text of an advert for their client's website from home on their own laptop. The client does not employ its own writers.

Work that employees of the client do falls under salaried or temp agency work. Think of a writer typing an article for a magazine at their client's editorial office, behind a desk, and under the supervision of a chief editor. Or a chef who spends week after week in the kitchen at the same restaurant. These people are not entrepreneurs.

Consequences of false self-employment

If you, as a zzp’er, have accepted an assignment while not fulfilling the conditions for entrepreneurship, you have false self-employment. If the Tax Administration discover this, the consequences can be serious for you and your client.

If you have received unjustified tax benefits for entrepreneurs, you must pay them back. Think of the private business ownership allowance (zelfstandigenaftrek)or the tax relief for new companies (startersaftrek). You may also be entitled to an employment contract with your client. Your client will then have to pay payroll tax and pension. Your client may also be fined.

Preventing false self-employment

The DBA Act states that a self-employed professional and a client must assess their working relationship. You do this by checking whether the assignment qualifies as entrepreneurship.

There are tools for this check. You can do a check (in Dutch) on the website of the Tax Administration. And the Business.gov.nl website has an employment relationship evaluation tool.

You can use a model agreement to put your working relationship with your client down on paper. These agreements have been approved by the Tax Administration. Find more information on model agreements.

Enforcement and legislation

From 2025, the Tax Administration will take stricter action against false self-employment. Until that time, usually only an added levy and/or a fine is imposed if someone intentionally violates the DBA Act. If a person does not intentionally violate the law, they are now usually given 3 months to put everything in order. If they are still in breach after that, measures will follow.

From 2025 onwards, the Tax Authorities will take stricter measures (in Dutch). They will no longer first warn someone if they accidentally break the law. They can also, for example, impose retrospective taxes up to 5 years back if someone intentionally violates the rules.

Changes to the DBA Act are in the pipeline. This should improve and clarify the law. The proposed amendment would introduce a minimum hourly rate for zzp’ers. It also defines more clearly how a client may manage a self-employed professional.