Until 1st January 2016, the freelancer and self-employed professionals could obtain a Declaration of Independent Contractor Status (Verklaring Arbeidsrelatie, VAR). This certificate was specific proof that there was no employment relationship between the worker and the end-client. Since then, the Dutch authorities have agreed with the Unions that the contractor and end client agree (Model Agreement). The Model Agreement sets out that the parties do not intend there to be an employment relationship between them, and this is borne out in practice.
The Model Agreements, introduced by the current Employment Relations Deregulations Act (DBA), will be replaced on January 2020. The proposed new system will be stricter as the Tax and Customs Administration intends to penalise heavily any fictitious self-employment or bogus self-employment arrangements.
Unless a worker is genuinely and demonstrably self-employed, becoming an employee of a temporary workers agency, such as our company is the only option.
Contact us
