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Under the Dutch DBA law (Wet DBA, the act on assessing employment relationships) you can still hire a freelance developer, as long as they work as an entrepreneur and not as an employee without a contract: with a defined result, their own way of working and without your authority over how, when and where they work. If the assignment looks like employment in practice, the Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst) can claim payroll taxes from you as the client, and since 1 January 2026 it can also impose a penalty for intent or gross negligence.
A developer who spends months in your team, picks up tickets from your backlog and sits in your stand-up every morning is the textbook case. Not because it is forbidden, but because that assignment looks, on almost every point, like what an employee does.
This guide is for companies in the Netherlands that hire developers: Dutch firms, international companies with a Dutch entity, and start-ups whose founders moved to Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Eindhoven and work in English. It sets out what the Tax Administration has enforced since 2025, what it looks at, what changes on 31 December 2026 with the presumption at a low hourly rate, and which three routes you have if you want to buy development work. It is practical information for clients; for your own contracts, go to your accountant or a lawyer.
What the Tax Administration has done since 2025
| Period | What applied or applies |
|---|---|
| Until 1 January 2025 | enforcement moratorium: only bad faith was enforced |
| From 1 January 2025 | the normal rules: the Tax Administration can issue additional assessments, going back no further than 1 January 2025, except for bad faith or an ignored instruction |
| 2025 | no default or intent penalties yet |
| 2026 | intent penalties possible, no default penalties yet; according to the parliamentary letter of 19 December 2025, an audit in principle starts with a company visit |
| 31 December 2026 | presumption of an employment contract at an hourly rate of no more than 36 euros, indexed |
| 1 January 2027 | the soft landing of 2025 and 2026 ends |
An additional assessment means that you as the client pay payroll taxes after all: wage tax and contributions, employee insurance contributions and the health insurance contribution, with tax interest. If you knew it was employment, or could have known, the Tax Administration charges the wage tax at the rate of 52 percent.
What the Tax Administration looks at
There is employment when there is authority, an obligation to work personally and pay. Since the Deliveroo ruling of the Dutch Supreme Court of 24 March 2023, the courts look at all circumstances together, in no fixed order. The Tax Administration names several that almost always apply to a developer:
| Point | What it means | For a developer in your team |
|---|---|---|
| Authority | you decide how, when and where the work is done | your sprint planning, your working hours, your tools |
| Personal work | they must do the work themselves | you want that one person, no substitute |
| Embedding | the work is part of your organisation | they do what your own developers do, in the same team |
| Nature and duration | structural work, for a long time | ongoing, without an end date |
| Entrepreneurship | own risk, several clients, own investments | one client, paid by the hour, no risk |
| Pay | the amount and the way of paying | a fixed hourly rate every month, like a salary |
No single point decides alone. A senior architect who leads a migration for three weeks for four clients at once is in a different position from a mid-level developer who sits full-time in your team for a year.
Five questions before you hire a developer
Answer for your developer
- 1Do you decide how, when and where they work?authorityyes?
- 2Must they do the work themselves, without their own substitute?personal workyes?
- 3Do they do work your own staff also do, in your team?embeddingyes?
- 4Does it run longer than a defined job, without an end date?durationyes?
- 5Do they have no other clients or entrepreneurial risk of their own?entrepreneurshipyes?
Not a sum: the Tax Administration weighs everything together, and how you work counts more than what the contract says. From 31 December 2026 an employment contract is also presumed at an hourly rate of no more than 36 euros, indexed every year.
The 36 euro hourly rate: what changes on 31 December 2026
The act clarifying the assessment of employment relationships and the legal presumption was passed in 2026, but without the clarification part: that was dropped in March 2026. What remained is article 7:610aa of the Dutch Civil Code. Anyone working for another party for pay of no more than 36 euros an hour is presumed to do so under an employment contract. The amount is indexed like the minimum wage, and the Senate mentioned 38 euros with reference date 1 January 2026. The rule applies from 31 December 2026, not when the client is a private individual.
For developers that is rarely the line: the market pays more than double. On Freelance.nl clients offered 89 euros an hour on average for development and implementation in the first quarter of 2026. A high rate is no free pass: above the line the presumption does not apply, but the Tax Administration simply looks at the points above. What developers ask per role is in freelance developer rates in the Netherlands.
Model agreements and the web module
Since 6 September 2024 the Tax Administration no longer assesses new model agreements. A model agreement that was valid on that day may be used until 31 December 2029, but it only gives certainty if you actually work as it says. Models based on free substitution were withdrawn on 1 January 2024. The Tax Administration points clients to the Web Module Assessing Employment Relationships (Webmodule beoordeling arbeidsrelatie), a questionnaire that gives an indication per assignment, with an English explanation on business.gov.nl.
Three routes to buy development work
- Choose a freelancer ifit is a defined job with its own result, they have several clients and decide how they work. Put the result, the duration and the way of working on paper, and work that way in practice too.
- Choose secondment ifyou want someone in your team for months, under your own direction. The agency is then the employer and carries the payroll taxes; you pay its margin on top of the salary.
- Choose a project with an agency ifyou want a platform, a module or an app built. The agency directs its own people, covers sickness and holidays and delivers a result at an agreed price.
| Freelancer | Secondment | Project with an agency | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who has authority | the freelancer, if done right | you | the agency |
| Who carries payroll taxes | nobody, or you after an assessment | the agency as employer | the agency for its own people |
| What you buy | hours or a result | hours | a result |
| Cover during sickness | none | the agency finds someone | the team carries on |
| Suited to | a specialist for a short job | capacity in your own team | a product with a start and an end |
A project can drift too. If you have an agency send one fixed person who only does your tickets under your direction, that looks like secondment. A project stays a project if the agency decides who does the work and how. How a project with an agency works and what it costs is in hire developers in Europe and best countries to outsource software development. How a freelancer and an agency differ for a website is in freelancer or agency.
Three clients
- A scale-up with its own product teamhas hired a freelance backend developer for two years, full-time, in the same team as the permanent developers. Five times yes in the decision tree. Route: offer employment, or run the role through secondment.
- A small businesshas a freelancer build a link between its online shop and its accounting in six weeks, at a fixed price and with their own way of working. The freelancer also works for other clients. Once or twice yes; a freelancer fits.
- A wholesalerwants a client portal and has no developers of its own. It has it built as a project by an agency, with a price per module. Nobody works under its authority.
Questions from clients
Can I still hire a freelancer in the Netherlands in 2026?
Yes, if they work as an entrepreneur and the assignment does not look like employment in practice. Since 1 January 2026 the Tax Administration can impose penalties for intent or gross negligence, though.
Who pays for false self-employment?
The client. The Tax Administration claims the payroll taxes from you, going back no further than 1 January 2025, except for bad faith.
Does it help if the freelancer has several clients?
It counts as a sign of entrepreneurship, but it does not decide alone. Authority and embedding in your team weigh too.
Does a project with a foreign agency fall under the DBA law?
In a real project, nobody works under your authority; the agency directs its own people. If it sends one fixed person who works under your direction, it looks like secondment.
Does the 36 euro presumption apply to developers too?
To everyone working for a business at no more than that hourly rate, from 31 December 2026. Most developers are far above that line; for them the normal criteria decide.