False self-employment and the DBA Act: where you stand in 2026

For years the Dutch tax authority barely looked at whether a freelancer was really an employee. Since 1 January 2025 that has changed: the enforcement moratorium on the DBA Act has been lifted and checks are back. Here is what false self-employment is, how enforcement looks in 2026 and what you can do. Note up front: this is a general explanation, not legal advice.

What false self-employment is

False self-employment (schijnzelfstandigheid) means you work as a freelancer on paper, while in practice the relationship is employment: you work under the client's direction, function like a regular colleague and carry hardly any business risk. Under the DBA Act the client shares responsibility for that assessment.

If it goes wrong, the bill lands mostly with the client, who has to pay payroll taxes retroactively. But you feel it too: clients become cautious about hiring freelancers, contracts get converted or ended, and a reclassification can cost you entrepreneur deductions.

Enforcement: from moratorium to checks

From 2016 through 2024 an enforcement moratorium applied: the tax authority only acted against deliberate offenders. That ended on 1 January 2025.

2025 was a transition year with a "soft landing": no fines, but correction obligations and retroactive assessments were possible, going back no further than 1 January 2025 (except in cases of malicious intent). The tax authority visited over 800 companies in 2025 and started audits at over 200 of them.

For 2026 the soft landing has been partially extended. There are no default penalties this year, but serious-offence penalties (for intent or gross negligence) are possible since 1 January 2026. Capacity goes mainly to obvious cases. A bill to codify the criteria (VBAR) is pending but not yet in force; check the current status on belastingdienst.nl.

How the assessment works

There is no checklist. Since the Supreme Court's Deliveroo ruling (2023), courts and the tax authority weigh all facts and circumstances together: authority (who decides how, where and when you work), embedding in the organisation, free substitution, entrepreneurship (risk, your own rate, multiple clients, your own investments) and the nature and duration of the work. No single factor decides; the overall picture does.

What helps in practice

• Work for multiple clients, or actively build towards it with your own site and acquisition.
• Use your own equipment where possible: your own laptop, van, software.
• Set and negotiate your own rate, preferably per project or result rather than per hour of presence.
• Carry real risk: liability insurance, a guarantee on your work, finishing the job at your own expense if needed.
• Make sure your contract describes reality, and then work accordingly.

What does not help

Paper constructions. A model agreement or a clause saying "no employment intended" changes nothing if you function like an employee in practice. The tax authority looks at how the work is done, not at what was written down, and deliberately staged paperwork can even count against you.

Make your business visible

Your records are part of your evidence: invoices to multiple clients, your own rate per client, hours per project and investments in your business. In Finq that all sits together, free for invoices, quotes, hours and mileage. Weighing employment against freelancing? Run the numbers with the employed or freelance comparison.