Freelancing alongside a job in the Netherlands

A job plus your own business on the side: for many starters the safest route into freelancing. Your salary keeps coming while you build clients and turnover. Tax-wise it works slightly differently than full-time freelancing: some benefits you miss, others fully apply.

Is it allowed?

Yes. No Dutch law forbids a business next to employment. Do check your contract for a clause on side activities, and avoid competing with your own employer. An employer can only refuse side work with a good reason, but being open about it prevents trouble.

Register with the Chamber of Commerce (KvK)

If you earn money structurally, you register with the KvK like any freelancer and receive a KvK number and a VAT id. From that moment you are an entrepreneur for VAT; whether you also count as one for income tax depends on the scale and independence of your work.

You will often miss the hours criterion

The self-employed deduction (€ 1,200 in 2026) and starters deduction (€ 2,123) require 1,225 hours per year in your business. Next to a four or five day job that is rarely feasible, so do not count on these deductions. See the guide on the hours criterion. Good news: the 12.7% SME profit exemption has no hours criterion and applies to your side income too.

VAT applies from the first euro

There is no VAT threshold: even your first invoice carries 21% VAT in principle, with a quarterly return. If your turnover stays small, the small business scheme (KOR) may help: you invoice without VAT and skip the returns, but you also cannot reclaim VAT on costs. See the guide on the KOR.

Your profit is taxed on top of your salary

Your employer withholds wage tax as if your salary were your only income. Your freelance profit comes on top in your income tax return, so it falls in your highest bracket: often 37.56% or even 49.50%, plus the 4.85% Zvw healthcare contribution. Set aside a substantial part of every paid invoice; no employer does it for you.

When to switch to full-time freelancing?

That is a calculation, not a feeling: what rate replaces your net salary including holiday pay, pension and non-billable hours? The employed or freelance calculator puts both situations side by side with the 2026 figures.

How Finq helps

A side business still needs proper books: sequential invoice numbers, expenses and quarterly VAT returns. Finq handles that from your phone, so your evenings go to clients instead of admin. This is general information, not personal tax advice.