| In practice, there is often still much uncertainty about the qualification of employment relationships with the self-employed. With the VBAR bill (Verduidelijking beoordeling arbeidsrelaties en rechtsvermoeden), the Cabinet wants to further clarify the so-called "authority criterion. |
What exactly will change for principals and self-employed persons?
It is expected that principals and employees vas of 1 July 2026 assess the employment relationship on the basis of the law VBAR. The assessment is done on the basis of of two main elements: 'work content and organizational direction', which points to employee status, and 'working for one's own account and risk', which belongs to self-employment. Each element is filled in with concrete indications, such as the degree of instruction, supervision, financial risk and whether the work is structural within the organization is embedded. These indications are always given in mutualcoherence assessed; What weighs more heavily determines whether there is an employment contract or a zzp relationship.
The recently published Decree VBA enters into force expected simultaneously in effect With the bill VBAR and complements the bill by making the assessment more concrete and uniform. Also the legal presumption for self-employed persons with an hourly rate below €1,000. 36 remains in force, giving low-paid self-employed workers additional protection against false self-employment.
Parallel to the bill VBAR Work is also underway on an alternative: the Self-Employed Workers Act. It is not yet clear whether this law, which is characterized by the introduction of a self-employment test, a working relationship test and a sectoral test, must eventually give way to the VBAR bill or prevail. This is up to the new cabinet.