As of May 1th, 2016 the Dutch VAR (declaration of independent contractor status) has expired. The declaration of independent contractor status gave the employer and contractor certainty upfront about their employment relationship for wage tax purposes.
Model agreements
With the declaration of independent contractor status expired the Dutch tax authorities will test the contract to determine if an employment relationship exist. An employment relationship is assumed to be in existence if the following cumulative requirements are met:
- the contractor is obligated to execute work personally;
- the employer is obligated to remunerate the contractor on a regular basis and
- there is a relation of subordination between the employer and contactor
If one of the above mentioned requirements are not met, no employment relationship exist. If an employment relationship does exist, wage tax and social security premiums should be withheld from the contractors remuneration.
In order to still provide some certainty upfront after the disappearing of the declaration of independent contractor status the Dutch tax authorities published model agreements on their website. Using the model agreements will give certainty that no wage tax and social security premiums have to be withheld from the remuneration. Contracts which differ from the model agreements can be discussed with the Dutch tax authorities.
