The House Of Representatives Requests Policy Change In The Enforcement Of The DBA Act And Other Developments: An Update

In response to the termination of the enforcement moratorium as of 1 January 2025, the House of Representatives has addressed that a different enforcement strategy should be adopted...
Netherlands Tax

In response to the termination of the enforcement moratorium as of 1 January 2025, the House of Representatives has addressed that a different enforcement strategy should be adopted, in any case for the first year. Several motions (moties) were adopted by the House of Representatives for this purpose.

In 2024, it was announced that the enforcement moratorium will be terminated as of 1 January 2025. For more information, we refer to our previous news item. This announcement has caused considerable concerns among self-employed individuals and principals (opdrachtgevers). To ease these concerns, various parties in the House of Representatives have indicated that a different enforcement strategy should be adopted to introduce a 'soft landing', at least for the first year (i.e., 2025). Several motions have been submitted for this purpose.

On 1 October 2024, the House of Representatives adopted the following motions requesting the government to:

  • Amend the enforcement strategy in order to introduce a softer landing with the termination of the enforcement moratorium by temporarily, in any case for the first year, focusing on risk-based enforcement. This includes targeting problem cases such as forced self-employment, underpayment, evident pseudo self-employment, and labor migration schemes by imposing additional assessments on these problem cases. In other cases, the choice of enforcement tools, including prior warnings, should be conducted by the Dutch tax authorities in a humane and a customized manner as much as possible.
  • Facilitate that pre-consultation on the assessment of labor relationships becomes an important part of obtaining clarity in advance and to allow that already approved model agreements remain effectively in force after 1 January 2025.
  • Be lenient in the enforcement with subconsciously incompetent self-employed individuals and not immediately proceed to impose fines on this group of self-employed individuals and principals. The application of this leniency should be monitored, and the House of Representatives should be informed of the results half-yearly.
  • Publish a clear enforcement framework on the website of the Dutch tax authorities by 1 November 2024.

The following motions were also adopted:

  • Ensure that by 1 January 2025, no pseudo self-employed individuals are working within the Dutch State Department.
  • Explore how the agricultural sector can be exempted from the disability insurance for self-employed individuals.

Despite the motion to amend the enforcement strategy in order to introduce a softer landing with the termination of the enforcement moratorium, we do not expect any drastic policy changes for the time being. These motions align with the intentions of both the government and the Dutch tax authorities, as expressed in various recent debates. During the committee debate, the government already indicated that there will not be hysterical audits, a soft landing will be ensured, and supervision will be conducted in a humane manner. For more information about these recent debates, we refer to our previous news item.

We look forward to seeing how the government will respond to these motions and whether the Dutch tax authorities will adhere to the proposed policy or take a different approach.

Information Campaign by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment has launched an information campaign as part of the termination of the enforcement moratorium. For this purpose, a website has been launched providing information and a decision aid to help individuals and principals to determine whether someone is working as a self-employed person or as an employee. This decision aid asks 10 questions based on characteristics that, according to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, are associated with self-employment or employment. The decision aid does not provide a final conclusion but provides an advice to 'engage in a conversation together to determine the appropriate agreement.'

Furthermore, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment provides examples of 10 specific situations in the brochure "Self-Employed, Yes or No" to illustrate when someone is considered self-employed individual according to the Ministry. It is noteworthy that these examples correspond with those in the Explanatory Memorandum of the legislative proposal of the VBAR law and therefore do not contain any new information. Since all facts and circumstances of the labor relationship should be taken into account to determine whether someone is considered a pseudo self-employed individual, we believe the relevance of the brochure is minimal and does not eliminate the ambiguity.

After reading this news item, do you need further clarification on the potential consequences? Or are you interested in a no-obligation consultation? If so, please contact your Loyens & Loeff adviser or one of our tax advisers from our Employment & Benefits team. We will be happy to assist you.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

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