Dutch businesses are cutting freelance hiring as enforcement against false self-employment affects staffing choices. Since 1 January 2025, payroll-tax corrections and additional assessments can follow where work is employment in practice. From 31 December 2026, professionals paid below €38 an hour can invoke a presumption of employment.
Why this matters
Ending a freelance contract does not remove the work. Employees may work overtime, projects can slip, and customers may wait. A contract is only part of the file. Fixed hours, manager direction, team routines, personal performance and commercial risk also matter. Putting work on payroll changes monthly cash needs. Add holiday pay, employer charges, sickness costs and payroll administration. Agency workers bring their own fees and hirer responsibilities.
Example
A project manager signs a three-month assignment. Eighteen months later, she joins weekly staff meetings, works fixed hours and needs approval for leave. Her work is central to customer delivery. The contract still calls her independent. Her working week suggests otherwise. Stopping the assignment leaves customer work uncovered. Keeping it unchanged may create payroll-tax exposure. The business can redesign the assignment, hire an employee, use an agency or reduce its customer commitment.
XTROVERSO tips
- List recurring freelance work. Flag assignments that are long-running, rostered or central to customer delivery. Include work that has grown beyond the original scope.
- Compare the contract with the working week. Check who sets hours, gives instructions and approves leave. Record whether substitution and commercial freedom exist in daily practice.
- Price each staffing route. Compare the freelance invoice with payroll, agency fees, recruitment, overtime and delayed delivery. Include cash timing and quiet months.
- Review lower-rate assignments separately. Identify engagements below €38 an hour that continue after 31 December 2026. A higher rate does not settle employment status.
- Keep responsibility visible. Give one person responsibility for each contract, review date and evidence file. Apply the same discipline to agency-supplied staff.
- Recheck when work changes. Review the arrangement when a project runs longer, duties expand, or a manager adds fixed hours and team routines.
Need help choosing a staffing route for recurring work? We can compare the contract, daily routine, costs and cash impact
The data, sourcing, and analysis behind this article were conducted by Linda Pavan. AI was not used to identify sources, build the factual basis, or produce the analytical judgment contained here. AI was used only as a drafting aid. The final English text was personally reviewed, edited, and approved by Linda Pavan before publication.
References
- Handhaving schijnzelfstandigheid leidt tot minder zzp-inhuur bij mkb-klanten administratiekantoren
- Belastingdienst - Current enforcement of false self-employment
- Belastingdienst - 2026 enforcement approach
- Rijksoverheid - Proposed Zelfstandigenwet
- Ondernemersplein - Low-rate presumption of an employment contract
- CBS - Observed shift from self-employed to employee jobs
- UWV - Staffing scarcity and capacity pressure
- CBS - Wage cost when freelance work moves onto payroll
