Wet DBA audit 2026: the 7 questions the Belastingdienst asks Dutch hiring clients

The enforcement moratorium ended on 31 December 2024. From 1 January 2025 the Belastingdienst can issue payroll-tax back assessments to companies that hire freelancers who in practice qualify as employees. From 1 January 2026 deliberate-misclassification fines apply too. Below: the criteria that come up in an audit, the cost of reclassification, and the file every hiring company must keep on its accountant's desk today.

• Up to 100% – Fine
• 1 Jan 2025 – Back assessment to
• 6 weeks – Objection window
• 200,000 – Estimated cases

Key takeaways

• The enforcement moratorium ended on 31 December 2024; since 1 January 2025 the Belastingdienst can issue payroll-tax back-assessments (naheffingen loonheffing).
• From 1 January 2026 vergrijpboetes of 10% to 100% of the back-assessment also apply.
• The back-assessment currently reaches back to 1 January 2025.
• The window to object to a back-assessment is six weeks after the assessment date (Awb art. 6:7).

Timeline: from moratorium to full enforcement

The Wet DBA (Dutch act on the assessment of employment relationships) has been in force since 1 May 2016 and replaced the earlier VAR. Until the end of 2024 an enforcement moratorium meant the Belastingdienst only acted in cases of clear bad faith. The moratorium has now ended and enforcement is being phased in:

1. 1 May 2016: Wet DBA replaces the VAR. Until the end of 2024 the enforcement moratorium applies to most hiring clients.
2. 24 March 2023: Hoge Raad ruling Deliveroo: the holistic test is anchored. No single criterion is decisive in isolation; all circumstances of the engagement are weighed.
3. 1 January 2025: Enforcement moratorium ends. The Belastingdienst can issue payroll-tax back assessments to hiring clients, with retrospective effect to this date.
4. Throughout 2025: Soft landing: back assessments only, no deliberate-misclassification fines, unless evident bad faith. Administrative fines (verzuimboetes) remain suspended.
5. 1 January 2026: Deliberate-misclassification fines (vergrijpboetes) of 10% to 100% of the back assessment apply for gross negligence. Administrative fines remain suspended under the soft landing.
6. From 2027: Announced further extension of the look-back period toward the statutory five-year maximum. Administrative fines expected to be activated.

The look-back period is already concrete in practice: a back assessment in April 2026 reaches back to 1 January 2025, that is more than 15 months of payroll tax and employer-side social premiums.

How a Wet DBA audit unfolds in practice

The Belastingdienst has a dedicated team of approximately 80 full-time equivalents conducting more than 1,100 company visits and 300 books-and-records investigations into sham self-employment in 2026. An audit follows four phases:

1. Information request or company visit

An audit almost always begins with a written information request or an announced company visit. The inspector asks for all agreements with ZZP'ers, invoices, time sheets and correspondence over recent years. Typical response window: four weeks.

2. Assessment interview

After receipt of the documents an interview follows with the actual line manager or the HR officer. The inspector then asks the seven questions described in this article. Attendance by the accountant is customary and recommended.

3. Preliminary view

Based on the actual practice the inspector forms a preliminary view per ZZP engagement. Where doubt remains, a deeper investigation or a sample of additional files follows.

4. Back assessment or no reclassification

If reclassified, the hiring client receives a payroll-tax back assessment with any deliberate-misclassification fine and tax interest. An objection (Awb art. 6:7) is possible within six weeks of the assessment date. If no reclassification, a written position is issued on which the hiring client may rely in subsequent financial years, provided the actual working relationship does not change.

The 7 questions the Belastingdienst asks

Since the Hoge Raad's Deliveroo ruling (24 March 2023) no single criterion is decisive in isolation. The inspector weighs all circumstances of the actual working relationship. Below the seven core questions that recur in almost every Wet DBA audit in 2026, with the legal basis, the typical red flag, a safe statement of fact, and the documentation you should keep in the client file.

1. Can the freelancer be replaced by someone else?

Legal basis: Personal performance of work is a defining feature of employment (BW art. 7:610). A genuine self-employed contractor must in principle be able to send a qualified substitute without the hiring client's prior consent. Since Deliveroo this is one of the most heavily weighted criteria.

Red flag: Substitution requires the hiring client's prior approval; only specific named individuals may substitute; substitution suspends or terminates the engagement.

Safe statement of fact: Substitution is permitted by a qualified third party without prior approval; the hiring client sets only qualification requirements (diploma, experience, certification), not personal-identity requirements.

File evidence to keep: A written substitution clause in the agreement plus, where applicable, examples of actual use over the past 12 months (substitution during holiday or illness).

2. Who decides how the work is performed?

Legal basis: Employer authority (BW art. 7:610) is the right to give instructions on how the work is carried out. A hiring client may specify the result; an employer may prescribe the process. The Belastingdienst examines instruction emails, attendance at team meetings, fixed working hours, and performance reviews.

Red flag: Fixed working hours or required physical presence; daily or weekly instructions; attendance at team meetings; performance and appraisal interviews; inclusion in performance cycles.

Safe statement of fact: The freelancer decides how and when the work is performed. The hiring client specifies only the result (delivery, quality criteria, deadline). Communication runs through formal hand-off and delivery moments, not daily supervision.

File evidence to keep: An assignment description with SMART results and clear delivery criteria; archived email correspondence without process instructions; absence of invitations to performance reviews.

3. Does the freelancer work for several clients?

Legal basis: Entrepreneurship for income tax purposes (Wet IB 2001 art. 3.4, read with the criteria from the Belastingdienst's Handboek Ondernemen) requires, among other things, several clients, own acquisition activity, and commercial risk. A single long-term client points strongly to employment.

Red flag: Single client; exclusivity clause; relationship of more than 70% of annual turnover with one client; absence of active acquisition or website; no Chamber-of-Commerce marketing activity.

Safe statement of fact: The freelancer has invoiced at least three different clients during the current year; no exclusivity clause; demonstrable acquisition activity through website, LinkedIn, network, or platform.

File evidence to keep: Chamber-of-Commerce extract; filtered invoice overview showing the number of distinct clients; URL of the freelancer's website or professional profile; agreements with other clients.

4. How is the freelancer paid?

Legal basis: Wages (a fixed periodic payment independent of performance) are a defining feature of employment. An entrepreneur invoices per assignment or per hour worked at a rate that covers entrepreneurial risk. The law adopted on 18 June 2026 (Staatsblad 2026, 158, article 7:610aa BW) enters into force on 31 December 2026 and creates a legal presumption of employment for low hourly rates: the statute names EUR 36, the government separately communicated EUR 38 (reference date 1 January 2026); the amount for first application is still to be set by ministerial regulation, consult the current text for the definitive application.

Red flag: Fixed monthly amount independent of hours worked or result delivered; continued payment during illness or holiday; holiday allowance; year-end bonus; commuting allowance equivalent to that of employees; hourly rate below the legal-presumption threshold.

Safe statement of fact: Payment by invoice per assignment or per hour worked, at a rate demonstrably above the legal-presumption minimum that covers entrepreneurial costs and risk. No continued payment during illness or holiday. No holiday allowance or thirteenth-month payment.

File evidence to keep: Invoice overview with variable amounts or time sheets; rate justification (cost-price calculation including insurance, pension, training budget); supplemental disability insurance in the freelancer's name.

5. Who provides the working tools?

Legal basis: An employee typically receives a laptop, software, office space, and email account from the employer. An entrepreneur invests in their own tools and bears the associated risk. The Belastingdienst examines hardware, software, and digital identity.

Red flag: A complete working environment provided by the hiring client: laptop with hiring-client imaging, badge, fixed desk with name plate, email address within the hiring-client domain, listing on the organisation chart or telephone directory.

Safe statement of fact: Own laptop and software; access to hiring-client systems only where functionally necessary, with separate guest or consultant credentials; own email address within the freelancer's domain; no fixed desk or badge.

File evidence to keep: Purchase receipts for laptop and software licences in the freelancer's name; email correspondence via the freelancer's domain; absence of a personal workspace at the hiring client.

6. Is the freelancer embedded in the organisation?

Legal basis: Embedding in the organisation (attending staff outings, listing in the organisation chart, wearing company branded clothing) points to employment. A genuine entrepreneur delivers a result to a contact person and is not a functional part of an internal team.

Red flag: Permanent place in the organisation chart; participation in staff outings and Christmas-package distribution; company branded clothing; job title on business card or email signature; access to internal HR systems.

Safe statement of fact: The freelancer works on a project basis, delivers hand-off moments to a single point of contact, and does not appear on the organisation chart or staff list. No participation in staff events in an employee role.

File evidence to keep: Organisation chart with no mention of the freelancer; email signature that clearly identifies the freelancer status; absence from HR systems and Christmas-package distribution.

7. How long has the freelancer worked for this client?

Legal basis: An uninterrupted long-term relationship points to employment, especially in the absence of concurrent assignments and a defined end date. The Deliveroo ruling explicitly cites duration as one of the weighted criteria.

Red flag: Uninterrupted relationship of more than two years without clearly defined sub-assignments; automatic annual renewal without a renewed assignment confirmation; agreement for an indefinite period without concrete delivery criteria.

Safe statement of fact: Each assignment has a defined end date or a clear delivery moment; new assignments require a renewed assignment confirmation; the freelancer works in parallel or alternation for other clients.

File evidence to keep: Assignment confirmations with start and end dates per assignment; delivery documents per phase; invoice frequency that reflects the project nature; agreements with overlapping or sequential other clients.