Background: from Vbar to Self-Employed Persons Act
The government has decided to continue, in an amended form, the bill entitled Assessment of Employment Relationships and Legal Presumption (Clarification) Act (Wet verduidelijking beoordeling arbeidsrelaties en rechtsvermoeden – Vbar), that was submitted to the Lower House on 7 July 2025. A memorandum of amendment drops the provision on ‘clarification’. This was the provision that would introduce a legal framework to assess when a situation constitutes ‘working in the employment of’ (a relationship of authority). Instead, the approach is to work step by step towards a Self-Employed Persons Act. The only provision retained from the previous Vbar bill is the legal presumption of an employment contract based on an hourly rate. By dropping the provision on clarification originally proposed, progress can be made more quickly on the legal presumption linked to the hourly rate.
The bill also has an intended preventive effect: it is expected that clients will assess more thoroughly in advance whether engaging a worker at an hourly rate below the threshold is compatible with working as a self-employed person.
Legal presumption of employment
The core of the bill is the introduction of a civil-law presumption of an employment contract for individuals who currently work as self-employed persons for an hourly rate below EUR 38 (reference date 2026). The legal presumption makes it easier for low-paid self-employed persons to claim an employment contract from their client. If a worker invokes the legal presumption, it is for the client to prove that no employment contract exists. If the client cannot prove this, the employment relationship is deemed to be an employment contract and the worker is entitled to all the protections that this entails, such as continued pay during illness and protection against dismissal.
Not a fixed threshold, but a presumption
During the debate on the bill in the Lower House, the Minister stressed that the hourly rate of €38 is merely a legal presumption and not a fixed threshold. It is not a minimum or maximum rate. Individuals working for less than this rate can also be classified as self-employed, provided they meet the criteria established in settled case law (wages, labour, authority) as laid down in the Deliveroo and Uber rulings. The qualification of the employment relationship remains based on Article 7:610 of the Dutch Civil Code and is unchanged by this bill. The holistic assessment still applies: each situation must be assessed separately. The legal presumption has effect exclusively in civil law matters between the worker and the employer and does not extend to tax or social security matters; The Tax and Customs Administration therefore does not rely on the legal presumption but carries out its own assessment. The proposed Self-Employed Persons Act will set out the circumstances under which self-employment in any case does not exist.
Entry into force
Addressing bogus self-employment and the introduction of new legislation for the self-employed are mandatory elements of the Dutch Recovery and Resilience Plan (Herstel- en Veerkrachtplan). Since these measures must have been fully implemented by the end of 2026, the Minister urges that the bill be published in the Bulletin of Acts and Decrees by 31 August 2026.
The intended date of entry into force is 1 July 2026, provided its implementation is feasible. The bill will enter into force immediately: the legal presumption will therefore also apply to existing employment relationships that are still in effect on that date.
As regards the Self-Employed Persons Act, the aim is to submit it at the end of 2026 to the Council of State for its opinion, with 1 January 2028 as the proposed date for its entry into force.