Starting in 2025, the Dutch Tax Authority will enforce stricter rules on cases of clear false self-employment, as the enforcement moratorium on the DBA law will be lifted. While this won’t result in drastic changes, it’s essential for businesses working with freelancers to understand how to correctly classify employment relationships. In this article, you’ll learn what changes are coming and how you can prepare.
About the DBA law
The DBA law was introduced in 2016 with the goal of providing more clarity on how to qualify employment relationships and to prevent false self-employment. However, the law failed to provide the clarity needed, causing significant unrest among organizations, clients, and freelancers.
False self-employment refers to situations where a person is officially working as a freelancer, but in reality, should have been hired as an employee. Learn more about this in our article: What is false self-employment and how to avoid it as a business.
Due to the unrest in the market, an enforcement moratorium was put in place. This means that the Dutch Tax Authority hasn’t been actively monitoring and won’t impose retroactive fines unless there's evidence of deliberate non-compliance or an official warning from the Tax Authority. This warning gives businesses time to adjust their employment arrangements to avoid false self-employment.
Read more about what the DBA legislation means for you as a client in our article.
Key changes in freelance regulations in 2025
Now, nine years after the law was enacted, it has been decided to lift the enforcement moratorium. This has again raised concerns in the market, as businesses fear fines and tax recoveries. In response, the Dutch Parliament has recently passed several important motions indicating that there will be a "soft landing" approach, with a primary focus on addressing the most extreme cases of false self-employment and labor abuses.
This means that the Tax Authority will target problematic cases such as forced self-employment, underpayment, clear false self-employment, and migration-related labor schemes. This will allow businesses and freelancers to continue working together without fear of immediate fines and tax recoveries.
For freelancers working through Temper, there are no signs of labor exploitation or misconduct. Freelancers who use Temper work entirely voluntarily, meaning there’s no forced self-employment. Additionally, they consistently earn well above the legal minimum wage, have the freedom to appoint substitutes, negotiate their rates, work for multiple clients, and bear commercial risk themselves. These factors are clear indicators of true self-employment.
Are you unsure as a client how to determine the correct employment relationship? Check out our blog on determining the correct employment relationship, which includes a handy scorecard.
What are the implications of these new rules for clients?
The freelance regulations for 2025 bring several key points for clients to consider.
The most significant difference is that starting in January 2025, the Dutch Tax Authority may impose payroll tax recoveries and fines in cases of false self-employment—though not retroactively. These recoveries will only apply from January 2025 onwards, and freelancers will not face penalties.
Clients may face a default fine of ten percent of the unpaid payroll taxes, with a maximum of €5,514. Therefore, clients need to be vigilant in how they use freelancers within their company. It’s crucial to ensure that the relationship with freelancers isn’t seen by the Tax Authority as an employment relationship.
Below, you’ll find more information on the actual risk of tax recoveries and fines.
What is the risk of tax recoveries and fines from the tax authority?
Before the Dutch Tax Authority can impose tax recoveries in cases of false self-employment (only after the enforcement moratorium ends), it must first establish that an employment contract exists between the client and the freelancer. In practice, determining the exact nature of this relationship can be complex and often involves a detailed evaluation.
The Tax Authority has indicated that it will conduct checks using what is known as the “layered approach.” This means that if a business can demonstrate during an initial check that it is actively taking measures to prevent false self-employment, the Tax Authority won’t proceed to further investigation ("not advancing to the next layer").
Read more about the steps you can take to ensure your first layer is well-structured in this article.
How to avoid false self-employment?
Avoiding false self-employment begins with clarity. Does the contract still meet the conditions for hiring someone as a freelancer? There are a total of nine criteria—known as "perspectives"—that the Dutch Tax Authority will assess to determine whether false self-employment is occurring. These perspectives are assessed holistically, meaning that each case will be reviewed based on all the criteria collectively.
This holistic review is crucial because one criterion may indicate an employee relationship, while another points toward a contract relationship. Therefore, the case is evaluated as a whole to determine which factors carry the most weight.
Check the full list of all nine perspectives and applications in our blog or through our handy scorecard.
What if a freelancer performs the same tasks as permanent employees?
Many businesses hire freelancers to perform tasks also handled by their permanent employees, leading them to wonder if this constitutes false self-employment. For instance, if a barista in a coffee shop performs the same work as regular staff, this might be considered “work integration”—the freelancer’s work closely resembles that of employees. However, this doesn’t automatically mean the freelancer is integrated into the company.
Several factors are crucial when determining whether false self-employment exists for freelancers, including:
- The freelancer decides whether or not to accept a job
- The freelancer can negotiate their hourly rate
- The freelancer can appoint substitutes
- The freelancer behaves as a commercial entrepreneur and assumes commercial risk, such as non-payment of invoices
Thus, it’s not just about work integration—many other factors must be considered to assess whether false self-employment exists. Learn how these factors manifest in our article: How to determine the correct employment relationship with workers within your organisation.
How does Temper supports clients?
Temper has implemented several measures to ensure that freelancers can truly work independently, thereby preventing false self-employment and protecting both clients and freelancers. For example, freelancers using the Temper platform are always free to appoint substitutes, either through or outside the platform. This is a significant indicator of genuine self-employment. Moreover, Temper is the platform in the Netherlands that utilizes the 660-hour rule. This rule, developed in collaboration with the Dutch Tax Authority, encourages freelancers to work for multiple clients (on average, they work for eight clients per year), helping to prevent false self-employment. Additionally, freelancers working through Temper can negotiate their rates and assume commercial risk.
For clients, these measures offer additional protection by providing clarity about the relationship with the freelancer, helping companies demonstrate compliance with the law and avoiding disguised employment.
Would you like to learn more about working with freelancers through Temper and how to build a flexible workforce around your core business? Book a free demo, and we’ll be happy to tell you more.
