{"id":2609,"date":"2026-03-14T10:00:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T10:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nedpolcenter.com\/2026\/03\/14\/what-is-disguised-self-employment\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T10:00:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T10:00:55","slug":"what-is-disguised-self-employment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nedpolcenter.com\/en\/2026\/03\/14\/what-is-disguised-self-employment\/","title":{"rendered":"What is disguised self-employment?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Disguised self-employment is a situation in which a self-employed person formally operates as an independent contractor, but in practice their work resembles full-time employment. In practice, this means that the Belastingdienst may classify such cooperation as an employment relationship, which imposes additional financial obligations on your client. In such a situation, the client may be required to pay outstanding social security contributions, taxes, and penalties, and your business activity may be treated as employment.<\/p>\n<p>To assess your current working relationship with your client, please answer the following questions, which will help determine whether you meet the criteria for an employment relationship or independent entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n<p>Does the client determine how you should perform the work or what the working hours are?<\/p>\n<p>If the client controls the manner of work performance or sets the hours, this may suggest an employment relationship.<\/p>\n<p>Is the work performed over an extended period of time?<br \/>\nLong-term cooperation may indicate a permanent employment relationship.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Do you perform tasks that are also carried out by employees at this company?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you perform similar tasks to salaried employees, this may indicate that you fulfill a role similar to that of an employee.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Are your tasks an integral part of the organization&#8217;s operations?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Examples include construction work at a construction company or teaching lessons at a school\u2014such tasks may indicate an employment relationship.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Must you perform the work personally, and is substitution only possible with the client&#8217;s consent?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you do not have freedom in choosing a substitute, this indicates greater dependence on the client, which is a characteristic of an employment relationship.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Is the remuneration fixed in advance per hour (or month) and paid at a specified time?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A fixed rate and regular payment are typical of an employment relationship.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Is the amount of remuneration comparable to the salary of employees for similar work?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If your remuneration is at the level of salaried wages, this may suggest that the relationship resembles full-time employment.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Do you not bear financial risk related to the work, and does the client cover costs when the work is not performed correctly?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The absence of financial risk on your part is another characteristic feature of an employment relationship.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Do you have only one assignment at all times and do not work with different clients?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Working for one main client may suggest greater dependence.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Are you obliged to perform tasks according to agreements, but does the outcome of the work depend on your effort?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If the result of your work is measured based on commitment rather than achieving a specific outcome, this may indicate an employment relationship.<\/p>\n<p>If you answer <u>negatively<\/u> to most of the questions above, this means that your work <u>meets the requirements of an independent entrepreneur<\/u>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>It is important to:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li> have business liability insurance and independently bear the risk for the services you provide;<\/li>\n<li>set a rate for the service significantly higher than that accepted for an employee under an employment contract.<\/li>\n<li> perform assignments on various projects or for different clients throughout the year, so that the same work does not last too long;<\/li>\n<li>invest in your own business by purchasing professional equipment, tools, or materials used when providing services;<\/li>\n<li>advertise externally through a website or online advertisements;<\/li>\n<li>be responsible for the final result of the assignment arising from the contract with the client; the self-employed person decides on the manner of performing the work.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Pay attention to these principles to avoid being classified by the Belastingdienst as a salaried employee during an inspection.<\/p>\n<p>A self-employed person who has a contract with an intermediary agency for self-employed persons has a contract that excludes the rules of salaried employment. What such a contract should specify is established by the Belastingdienst; sample contracts for intermediary agencies for self-employed persons are available at: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.belastingdienst.nl\/wps\/wcm\/connect\/bldcontentnl\/themaoverstijgend\/brochures_en_publicaties\/algemene_modelovereenkomst_bemiddeling_nbbu\">https:\/\/www.belastingdienst.nl\/wps\/wcm\/connect\/bldcontentnl\/themaoverstijgend\/brochures_en_publicaties\/algemene_modelovereenkomst_bemiddeling_nbbu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Information sourced from:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rijksoverheid.nl\/onderwerpen\/aanpak-schijnconstructies\/maatregelen-tegen-schijnconstructies\">https:\/\/www.rijksoverheid.nl\/onderwerpen\/aanpak-schijnconstructies\/maatregelen-tegen-schijnconstructies<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Disguised self-employment is a situation in which a self-employed person formally operates as an independent contractor, but in practice their work resembles full-time employment. In practice, this means that the Belastingdienst may classify such cooperation as an employment relationship, which imposes additional financial obligations on your client. In such a situation, the client may be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[107,109,108,110],"class_list":["post-2609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bez-kategorii","tag-belastingdienst","tag-disguised","tag-self-employment","tag-zzp"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nedpolcenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nedpolcenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nedpolcenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nedpolcenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nedpolcenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nedpolcenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nedpolcenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nedpolcenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nedpolcenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nedpolcenter.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}