Yes­ter­day (27 Feb­ru­ary 2024), a news report announced that the bill Cla­ri­fic­a­tion of employ­ment rela­tion­ship assess­ment and leg­al pre­sump­tion (in Dutch: Wets­voor­stel ver­duidelijk­ing beoor­del­ing Arbeidsrelaties en Rechts­ver­moeden) can­not be pub­lished at the begin­ning of 2025 as ini­tially planned. For­got­ten what this bill entailed? Please read our pre­vi­ous blog!

The demis­sion­ary Min­is­ter Van Gen­nip of Social Affairs and Employ­ment informed the First Cham­ber­through a letter that it seems unreal­ist­ic to pub­lish the bill in the Offi­cial Journ­al by 1 Janu­ary 2025. The inter­net con­sulta­tion on the bill has led to a large num­ber of responses, indic­at­ing that the bill needs to be more thor­oughly con­sidered. In the fur­ther elab­or­a­tion, it will be con­sidered what a reas­on­able trans­ition peri­od for the entry into force would be, allow­ing the mar­ket to pre­pare for this and also enabling the imple­ment­ing organ­iz­a­tions to man­age.

How­ever, demis­sion­ary Min­is­ter Van Gen­nip emphas­izes that the inten­tion to lift the enforce­ment morator­i­um by 1 Janu­ary 2025, remains unchanged. There­fore, be aware that the Dutch Tax Author­ity can impose reas­sess­ments more quickly and act­ively if an employ­ment rela­tion­ship should be con­sidered as a fisc­al employ­ment rela­tion­ship. Com­pla­cency due to the pos­sible delay of new legis­la­tion is thus far from advis­able. This applies not only to tax risks but also to employment law risks, as so far, noth­ing is known about any form of trans­ition­al law. Poten­tially, pseudo-inde­pend­ent con­tract­ors could sub­mit claims ret­ro­act­ively, once it turns out there is indeed an employ­ment con­tract.

We will, of course, keep you updated on devel­op­ments! And we are eager to think along with you about the best setup for your (flex­ible) organ­iz­a­tion.

Want to know more about everything related to the top­ic of inde­pend­ent con­tract­ors? Click here!