Hire a self-employed professional

Working with a self-employed professional

You can hire a self-employed professional for a specific assignment or project. In Dutch, this role is often referred to as zzp’er (zelfstandige zonder personeel), A self-employed professional schedules their own hours, work, and holidays. They can do assignments for other clients at the same time. You do not supervise the self-employed professional like you would with your own staff. You agree on general terms and conditions and purchasing conditions together. For example, the hourly rate and the number of hours needed for the assignment.

Types of hiring

You can hire a self-employed professional in 3 ways:

• Directly: you hire a self-employed professional without the intervention of another party. Make sure to check whether a model agreement is available.
• Intermediary: this can be a temping or employment agency. They hire a self-employed professional and hire them out to you. The self-employed professional invoices the intermediary.
• Payroll company: with payrolling, the self-employed professional is on the payroll of the payroll agency. This agency takes care of the entire administration for you.

Check if there is salaried employment

There are rules for hiring self-employed professionals (Wet DBA). For example, you must make certain that there is no salaried employment. If you give an assignment to a self-employed professional and it meets the conditions of salaried employment, this is called false self-employment. You are then actually an employer, but are not paying the taxes associated with salaried employment. You must prevent false self-employment. If it turns out there is employment, you must pay wage tax and social security contributions.

Tax Administration will check for false self-employment

As of 1 January 2025, the Netherlands Tax Administration will enforce the Employment Relationships Deregulation Act (in Dutch). Do you hire a self-employed professional? And is your relation with this zzp'er really one of employment (false self-employment)? Then you may receive a fine and an extra tax assessment. You and the zzp'er must be able to prove that your collaboration is not in fact a salaried employment.

Working conditions

A zzp’er is entitled to the same working conditions as your employees. This means that when they carry out the work within your office, you must ensure a healthy and safe workplace. If you fail to do so, you run the risk of complaints and an inspection by the Netherlands Labour Authority.

Hiring a foreign self-employed professional

If you are looking for a self-employed professional abroad, you are obliged to recruit in the EU or EEA first. If you cannot find anyone here, you can look outside this area.