The Enforcement Wave: Sham Self-Employment Risk in the Netherlands

What Changed

The Dutch Tax Authority now actively investigates and enforces cases of sham self-employment, situations where someone works as a contractor on paper but functions, in practice, as an employee. Enforcement centers on three factors: whether the client exercises authority over how and when the work is done (gezag), whether the contractor is organizationally embedded in the client’s business (imbedding), and whether genuine indicators of entrepreneurship are present, such as multiple clients, own tools and equipment, and real financial risk.

The Penalties Have Gotten Sharper

Three categories of consequence now apply where misclassification is found.

• Back taxes and social security premiums, assessed retroactively across the entire period the relationship is deemed to have been an employment relationship rather than a contractor engagement.
• Neglect penalties for late or incorrect filings connected to the misclassified relationship.
• Gross negligence penalties, new as of 2026, ranging from 25% to 100% of the recovered tax where the misclassification is found to be intentional or the result of clear disregard for the rules.

On top of the fiscal exposure, the individual can separately claim retroactive employee rights, including sick pay, holiday pay, and pension contributions, for the period of the misclassified relationship.

Which Sectors Are Most Exposed

Enforcement is not evenly distributed. Construction and infrastructure carry the highest exposure, with an estimated 20,000 self-employed positions eliminated in the sector during 2025 alone as organizations restructured ahead of enforcement. Transport and logistics face particular scrutiny for owner-operator drivers working under a single client’s direction. Healthcare is exposed wherever direct supervision and institutional protocols leave little room for genuine independence. IT and consulting carry moderate risk, generally lower where engagements are clearly project-based rather than embedded in day-to-day operations.

The Three-Factor Test, in Practical Terms

• Authority (gezag): Does your organization instruct the contractor on how, when, and where to do the work in the way you would a staff member, beyond agreeing deliverables and deadlines?
• Organizational embedding (imbedding): Does the contractor attend team meetings, use your systems and email domain, and appear functionally indistinguishable from an employee doing the same role?
• Entrepreneurship (ondernemerschap): Does the contractor work for multiple clients, invoice at their own commercial rate, carry their own liability insurance, and bear real financial risk if the work goes wrong?

No single factor is decisive. The Belastingdienst and the courts weigh them together.

Practical Steps to Take Now

• Audit current contractor relationships against the three-factor test, not just against the wording of the contract. Enforcement looks at actual working practice, not paperwork.
• Where a role looks embedded and supervised in practice, consider converting it to an employment contract rather than waiting for an assessment to force the issue.
• Keep documentation of the contractor’s independent business activity: other clients, own equipment, own liability cover, and evidence of financial risk.
• Review onboarding and day-to-day management practices for contractors specifically, since many misclassification findings turn on informal supervision that was never written into the contract.
• Watch for the draft Self-Employed Persons Act (Wet verduidelijking beoordeling arbeidsrelaties), which has been drafted but not yet published. It is expected to further formalize how employment status is assessed.

Before and after the enforcement moratorium

Quick answers

Is the enforcement moratorium really over?

Yes, since January 1, 2025, after nearly a decade of suspended enforcement.

Can penalties apply retroactively?

Yes. Back taxes and premiums can be assessed for the full period the relationship is found to have been an employment relationship.

Does a well-drafted contract protect us?

Not on its own. Enforcement looks at how the relationship actually functions day to day, not only at what the contract says.

When to involve legal counsel

Before renewing a long-standing contractor arrangement: run the three-factor test against how the relationship actually functions, not against what the contract says.

Before restructuring a team that mixes employees and self-employed contractors in similar roles: identify which contractor roles look embedded and supervised in practice.

Before responding to an inquiry or audit notice from the Belastingdienst: get advice immediately, since early positioning materially changes the outcome in most of these cases.

SØRENSEN LAWYERS audits contractor relationships against the current enforcement criteria, advises on converting high-risk arrangements to employment contracts, and represents organizations in Belastingdienst inquiries.

If your organization relies on self-employed contractors in the Netherlands, contact us for an audit before the Belastingdienst runs one for you.