Coming soon: Sham Self-Employment Knowledge Base
On October 1, 2026, we will introduce our Sham Self-Employment Knowledge Base. To this end, we have collected, explained and clearly structured the rules surrounding bogus self-employment throughout Europe, country by country. So that everyone who hires, places or mediates freelancers sees the complete picture at a glance.
Why now?
The EU directive on platform work (Directive EU 2024/2831) introduces a rebuttable legal presumption of an employment contract to combat false self-employment. This shifts the burden of proof to platforms and clients: if the facts of a working relationship show management and supervision, the law will from now on assume an employment relationship, and the platform or client must prove the opposite. EU member states have until December 2, 2026 to transpose the directive into national law.
Some countries are not waiting for the deadline. In the Netherlands, the Tax Authorities lifted the enforcement moratorium on the DBA Act on January 1, 2025, and from 2026 actual fines may follow in the event of demonstrable malice. Slovakia has tightened the definition of 'dependent work' and is tightening controls on bogus self-employment. And enforcement has a bite. The Spanish delivery service Glovo was fined 78.9 million euros for working with bogus self-employed people. The challenge: fragmentation Keeping track of one country is already a challenge. Keeping track of them all at once is virtually impossible. Each country imposes its own assessments, timelines and enforcement priorities on top of the EU base, and some national rules themselves have not yet been determined. For example, the Dutch government has now deleted the clarification part of the Clarification of Assessment of Employment Relations and Legal Presumption (Vbar) bill, and a separate Self-Employed Act will be introduced. The legal presumption for self-employed persons with a low hourly rate has already become law.
What you can expect
Our Knowledge Base fills exactly that gap: one continuously updated source, broken down per country, so that you always know which rules apply where and what has most recently changed. From October 1, you can browse the entire knowledge base per country, follow the status of the national implementation of the Platform Work Directive, and be explained in plain language what a rule means in practice.
Stay tuned. As the launch gets closer, you will hear more from us.
More News
View all news →This year, has ushered in new developments and launched new initiative —all with the goal of preparing leaders, businesses and skilled professionals for the future of work.
A new platform feature calculates and withholds tax obligations automatically for placements spanning multiple EU jurisdictions, eliminating a manual reconciliation step that agencies previously handled in spreadsheets outside the platform. The rollout covers the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and France at launch, with additional jurisdictions planned for later this year based on customer demand.
The Dutch DBA Act (Deregulering Beoordeling Arbeidsrelaties) enforces joint responsibility of clients and contractors to prevent false self-employment. The Netherlands Tax Administration (Belastingdienst) assesses working relationships; if a zzp'er (self-employed professional) does not meet entrepreneurship conditions, they face additional tax assessments, repayment of tax benefits, and potential fines. Clients may owe payroll tax, pension contributions, and fines. From 1 January 2025, unintentional false self-employment triggers retroactive assessments; intentional cases can be backdated further. Model agreements remain valid until 2029 but do not guarantee protection. A new Self-Employment Act (Zelstandigenwet) is announced for 1 January 2028, introducing two tests for self-employment and a special commission. Businesses hiring freelancers must reassess working relationships to avoid financial and legal consequences. Some Hyperlink Here
Some summary here