Netherlands extends DBA enforcement 'soft landing' to January 2027 – freelancer fines deferred
The Dutch government has extended its “soft landing” approach to enforcement of the DBA Act (Wet DBA) against false self-employment to 1 January 2027. The Tax Authority (Belastingdienst) will not impose standard misclassification penalties through 2026; only cases of deliberate violation or gross negligence will be fined. Retroactive payroll-tax and social-security corrections for periods from 1 January 2025 onwards remain possible, and company visits and assessments of actual working practices will continue. The extension followed a Cabinet decision in March 2026 that responded to market unrest after the original 2025 enforcement moratorium ended.
The hourly-rate presumption bill (36783) – which introduces a rebuttable presumption of employment for engagements below €36 per hour – was debated on 15 April 2026 and adopted by the Tweede Kamer on 21 April. The file is now with the Eerste Kamer. The broader Wet VBAR clarification section was scrapped on 6 March 2026; the remaining track focuses on the hourly-rate presumption and the Cabinet is working towards a future Self-Employed Persons Act (Zelfstandigenwet).
Why this matters
For freelancers (ZZP’ers) and the businesses that engage them, the soft-landing extension provides a 12-month window to restructure relationships without facing standard misclassification fines. But it does not eliminate exposure: the Belastingdienst can still impose corrective payroll-tax obligations from January 2025 onwards, and intent-based fines (vergrijpboetes) remain possible for deliberate misclassification. The €36/hour threshold under the upcoming hourly-rate presumption matters most for lower-margin assignments and embedded long-term contracts that look operationally like employment.
For remote workers hired by Dutch employers on freelance terms, the practical advice is: ensure the contract documents independence (substitution rights, own equipment, entrepreneurial risk, freedom to take on other clients), and check that day-to-day practice matches the contract. Approved model agreements remain valid until 31 December 2029 but only if reality matches the agreement.
The Wet VBAR is expected to enter into force in July 2026 per Hogan Lovells’s outlook, though the timeline remains contingent on Eerste Kamer review.
Context
The Dutch DBA framework has been in legal limbo since the enforcement moratorium ended on 1 January 2025. The Cabinet’s planning sequence is: DBA Act enforcement (current law); hourly-rate presumption (incoming, possibly July 2026); future Zelfstandigenwet (replacing the DBA framework, no firm date). The maximum tax-free remote-work allowance for 2026 is set at €2.45 per day, with the Dutch statutory minimum hourly wage at €14.71 gross (21+) from 1 January 2026.
What to watch
The Eerste Kamer’s review of bill 36783 will set the operative entry-into-force date for the €36/hour presumption. Any further Cabinet decisions on the Zelfstandigenwet timeline. From January 2027, standard misclassification penalties resume.