VBAR

In recent years, there has been a major increase in the number of self-employed people in the Netherlands. However, according to the government, in some of these cases there is no real self-employment. These self-employed persons work, voluntarily or not under a similar relationship of authority as employees, while employers do not comply with the obligations that apply to their staff, such as accruing pension, paying payroll tax and contributing to Employee insurance. In order to better trace this group of so-called false self-employed workers and to prevent self-employed persons from having the obligations but not the rights of employees, the VBAR has created. The earlier law that defined criteria for self-employment - the enforcement moratorium under the DBA Act - leaves too much grey area open and, according to Van Gennip and various employee organisations, should be abolished. If the work you do as a self-employed person, could potentially be classed as disguised employment, You may have more rights or your client may need to offer you employment under the forthcoming VBAR Act.

Do you work with a model agreement? Here also, changes are imminent!
As of 2025, it is not only the DBA that will be enforced, the Tax and Customs Administration will no longer approve model agreements. In September the Dutch government published this statement on their (website).
"The use of such model agreements is no longer tenable, because model agreements cannot provide certainty in advance about working outside the employment contract. This depends on how work is done in practice, not on what is written in a contract. Current model contracts will continue to be respected until the end date of the agreements."

What are the new criteria for self-employment?

In some cases there were previously no clear criteria to determine whether someone is self-employed or employed, the VBAR has (more) clearly defined definitions. Please check carefully whether the work you perform for your client meets the criteria set by the VBAR for self-employed persons:

• Relationship of authority: there are no hierarchical instructions and supervision by the client (e.g. management by a salaried manager).
• Embedding in the organisation: the work may not form an integrated part of the regular business activities (e.g. you are working on an assignment, a defined project).
• Entrepreneurship: you bear entrepreneurial risks, such as investments and profits.
• Multiple clients: you do not work exclusively for 1 client.

The above criteria were already in place, but were less clearly defined and therefore easier to circumvent.  You may like to read this article to help you determine whether you are considered a self employed entrepreneur.

• What is new is the criterion for the required minimum hourly rate for self-employed persons: if the hourly rate you are paid as a self-employed person is € 33 or less, this will be seen as an indication of false self-employment.

The expectation is that establishing clear criteria such as these will prevent disguised employment by providing a fair and objective standard for establishing whether self employed people have genuine independence.

Consequences for self-employed workers

Please check whether your ongoing collaboration(s) meet the requirements of the VBAR. If this is not the case, your client may be in violation of the VBAR. What next? First of all you should talk to your employer. Indicate that the contract form does not comply with the (upcoming) law and that the employment relationship must be converted into a wage construction, or that the collaboration must be designed differently in order to meet the independence criteria. If your client is not open to the required change in the employment relationship, the new law gives you an option to challenge this legally. Is making a claim for a different employment relationship in court not something you feel comfortable with and are you unable come to an agreement with your employer/client? Then as an intermediate step, you may wish to consider mediation via a trade union representative or legal advisor. If the VBAR is triggered, you are more likely to be vindicated.

Remaining independent according to VBAR

If you are self-employed and do not consider yourself to be in disguised employment but your employment relationship does not meet the criteria of the VBAR? Then discuss with your client(s) what changes can be made to bring your collaboration in line with the new law. Perhaps this will require an increase in your hourly rate, greater freedom in your work schedule or working with more clients. Making these changes now will avoid you being defined as an employee at a later date, after all this can have negative consequences for your tax payments and social security.

Find out more

If you want to learn more about the VBAR and the consequences for you as a self-employed person, you can visit the website of The Central Government. Trade union FNV also has additional information about disguised employment here (in Dutch). Moneywood  has also published articles on the  legislative changes for entrepreneurs in 2024 and rising self employment in the Netherlands. Are you unsure about your position as a self-employed person?  We are always happy to discuss your situation with you. Please feel free to contact us!