Employers try to pass sham-self employment fines to freelancers
Freelance contracts increasingly include clauses requiring the freelancer themselves to pay any fines if they turn out not to be working in line with the rules for self employment, broadcaster NOS reported on Monday.
At the beginning of this year, the tax office said it would start checking if people claiming to be freelancers are working in line with the regulations, as part of a crackdown on sham self-employment.
The rules, which actually came into force in 2016 but have been ignored until now, state that someone is presumed to be self-employed if they carry financial risks, have their own tools and other equipment, have specific expertise that the company renting them does not have and presents themselves as a freelancer while working.
The broadcaster says it has spoken to a number of freelancers who have discovered such clauses in their contracts, and to lawyers who say this is unlawful.
Lobby group ZZP Nederland says an average of one member a day have asked for advice, particularly those working in business services and IT.
Labour lawyer Bastiaan van Rossum says he is asked to check out such contracts on a daily basis and says most clauses transferring responsibility for fines to the freelancer are illegal, even if they have signed the document.
One freelancer told NOS they had lost the job because they refused to accept the terms and conditions. Cristel van de Ven from freelancer association VZN said she was aware of more cases. “There are freelancers who refuse to sign such contracts and then don’t get the work,” she said.
The Netherlands has some 1.7 million registered self-employed, according to Chamber of Commerce figures. According to national statistics agency CBS, some 13% of the working population primarily earn most or all of their income as a freelancer.
The tax office has said it will focus first on employers who are avoiding paying premiums and other taxes by using freelancers, rather than the self-employed themselves, and will not issue any fines in the first few months
Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl.
We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day.
Make a donation