You hire an IT freelancer, but when does the Tax Authority actually consider that disguised employment? There is no simple yes-or-no rule. Instead, nine factors together determine whether someone is genuinely independent.
In this article you will learn what those nine factors of the Dutch DBA Act are. You will see where they come from, why they matter to you as a client, and how to make sure your IT hiring passes. For each factor, I link you to an in-depth article.
This is the complete guide. Use it as a starting point: read the overview here, and dive deeper per factor via the links. That way you build up a complete picture, step by step, of what the Dutch DBA Act means for your hiring.
This blog is for clients: IT managers and hiring managers who hire freelancers and want certainty that they work compliantly. Do you work as an IT freelancer yourself? Then there is a companion version from your perspective. Do you run a Dutch DBA Act risk as an IT freelancer?
What are the 9 assessment factors of the Dutch DBA Act?
The nine factors are the criteria used to judge whether a working relationship is an employment contract or a genuine assignment. They come from the Dutch Supreme Court's Deliveroo ruling of 2023. The core: no single factor is decisive. All circumstances count, weighed in relation to each other.
Important to know: there is no ranking. You do not work through the factors top to bottom until you reach an outcome. The Tax Authority and the courts look at the overall picture. One strong factor toward independence does not automatically outweigh three factors toward employment. That makes the assessment nuanced, but also steerable.
Why do clients in particular run a risk under the Dutch DBA Act?
Because you as a client get the bill if the Tax Authority sees your freelancer as a disguised employee. That brings a back-tax assessment for payroll tax and contributions, imposed on you, not on the freelancer. Since 1 January 2025, enforcement on disguised employment is full again.
That back-tax assessment can be imposed retroactively to 1 January 2025. The longer a non-compliant hire runs, the larger the risk amount becomes. On top of that, the Tax Authority explicitly names IT as a sector where disguised employment occurs relatively often. That means your industry is under extra scrutiny.
For you, this means: know the nine factors and set up your assignments with them in mind. Not as a bureaucratic exercise, but because it protects you from an expensive back-tax assessment afterwards. Want to see the full cost picture of hiring? See what hiring an IT professional costs.
What does enforcement in 2026 concretely mean for you?
Enforcement is a fact, but has a nuanced approach in 2026. The government has extended the so-called soft landing. On suspicion of disguised employment, the Tax Authority usually starts with a company visit, followed by a warning. Only after that does a heavier books examination follow.
Concretely, this means no default fines are imposed for disguised employment in 2026. Offence fines are possible, but only for intent or gross negligence, so for those who deliberately circumvent the rules. And the back-tax assessment for payroll tax and contributions remains possible, retroactively to 1 January 2025.
The message is nuanced but clear: those who act in good faith and set up their hiring properly get room and a warning first. Those who deliberately ignore risks run into fines and back taxes. The risk is real, even without every mistake immediately triggering a fine. Do not underestimate it, but do not panic either.
The 9 factors one by one
Below you walk through the nine factors briefly. Each gets a short explanation, with a reference to an in-depth article where you read exactly what it means for your hiring and how to steer on it.
Factor 1: the nature and duration of the work
What kind of work does the freelancer do, and for how long? Long-running, continuous work points toward employment. A defined assignment with a clear result points toward independence. An assignment lasting more than three months and more than twenty hours a week can be a signal toward an employment contract.
For IT hiring this is crucial, because assignments often overrun or become structural. The key is steering on a result instead of on continuous effort. How long you can hire an IT freelancer and how to safely define an assignment.
Factor 2: how the work and working hours are determined
Does the freelancer decide how and when they work? Much freedom in method, time and location points to a genuine assignment. If they must keep fixed hours and follow your method, it looks more like employment. The degree of autonomy is decisive here.
In practice this is a subtle point: some coordination is fine, but too much direction tips the picture. Can you impose fixed working hours and a method on an IT freelancer?
Factor 3: embedding in your organisation
Has the freelancer become part of your organisation? Do they work to a fixed schedule, join team meetings, attend staff outings? The more embedded, the more it looks like employment. For IT hiring, this factor is often the biggest stumbling block.
Precisely because IT professionals quickly become part of a team, this factor deserves extra attention. When is an IT freelancer embedded in your organisation, and how do you prevent it?
Factor 4: the obligation to do the work personally
Must the freelancer do the work themselves, or may they send a replacement? An obligation to do it personally points toward employment. The freedom to direct someone else points toward independence, even if that replacement rarely happens in practice.
For specialised IT roles this is nuanced, because not everyone is interchangeable. Can an IT freelancer send a replacement, and what does that mean for your contract?
Factor 5: how the agreement came about
Who drafted the contract, and was it negotiated? A freelancer who negotiates terms behaves like an entrepreneur. A ready-made contract with no room for input looks more like an employment contract.
Factor 6: how the pay is set and paid
Does the freelancer get fixed pay at fixed moments, similar to a salary? Or do they invoice per assignment or result, with their own freedom on rate? The latter fits independence. These two factors are related and often assessed in combination. What do the formation of your contract and your pay say about your working relationship?
Factor 7: the level of pay
A low rate often signals disguised employment. An entrepreneur usually charges more than an employee, because they carry business risk and arrange their own insurance and pension. For IT professionals, this is rarely an issue: their rates are well above the risk level.
Still, it is good to know where the threshold lies and why rate weighs in. Is a low hourly rate a Dutch DBA Act risk for IT hiring?
Factor 8: whether the freelancer runs commercial risk
Does the freelancer carry their own risk? Think liability for mistakes, fixing work at their own expense, own investments and liability insurance. Someone who genuinely runs risk behaves like an entrepreneur, not an employee.
This factor is often underestimated, while it can point strongly toward independence. Does your IT freelancer run commercial risk, and how do you demonstrate it?
Factor 9: do they behave as an entrepreneur?
Does the freelancer work for multiple clients, have a VAT number, register with the Chamber of Commerce, do acquisition? This kind of entrepreneurial behaviour points strongly toward a genuine assignment. One client with nearly all their revenue is, by contrast, a risk signal.
This factor looks at the broader picture of how someone behaves in the market. Does your IT freelancer behave as an entrepreneur, and why does that count?
How are these factors weighed together?
There is no formula. The Tax Authority and the courts assess all nine factors in combination to form an overall picture. You may score toward employment on some and toward entrepreneurship on others. It is about the whole, not a majority of the factors.
That makes the assessment hard to predict, but also influenceable. By deliberately defining an assignment, avoiding embedding and safeguarding independence, you steer the overall picture the right way. That is exactly the value of good setup up front. You do not have to score perfectly on every point, but the whole must hold up.
What changes with the Wet VBAR and the Self-Employment Act?
Freelance legislation is shifting, but the nine factors remain the foundation. The clarification part of the Wet VBAR was withdrawn in March 2026, because it caused too much unrest. Instead, the government is working on a new Self-Employment Act, which should give the self-employed a clearer position.
The legal presumption at low rates does go ahead, as separate legislation. At a rate below around 38 euros per hour, a freelancer will be able to claim they are actually an employee, after which the client must prove otherwise. The Self-Employment Act itself is expected in 2027 at the earliest and has not yet been adopted.
For you as a client, little changes at the core for now. The assessment still revolves around direction, embedding and working at your own expense and risk, exactly the spirit of the nine factors. The 38-euro presumption rarely touches IT hiring, because IT rates are well above it. For the current state, stick to rijksoverheid.nl and belastingdienst.nl, because the law can change.
How do you make sure your IT hiring passes?
Define the assignment by a result, avoid embedding and authority, and choose the right construction. For a short, independent project, intermediation can be enough. For long-running or riskier work, the intermediary construction offers certainty. That steers the overall picture toward genuine independence.
At Maedium, I watch these nine factors with every placement. In both constructions, the IT professional stays an independent entrepreneur, without embedding or authority. With the intermediary construction, I sit contractually in between and take on the risk, safeguarded through my model agreement and contract structure. With intermediation, I safeguard compliance in the background.
What I do not do is sell you false certainty. The Tax Authority always looks at practice, not just paper. That is why we set up the assignment together so the independence genuinely holds. Want to know more about the two constructions? Read our comparison of the intermediary construction and intermediation.
Frequently asked questions about the 9 factors
Which factor weighs heaviest?
No factor weighs heaviest in advance. The Deliveroo ruling is clear: there is no ranking. All nine factors are weighed together into an overall picture. In practice, embedding is often the trickiest factor for IT hiring, because freelancers quickly become part of a team.
Does the 38-euro presumption also apply to IT professionals?
In theory yes, in practice rarely. The presumption applies at rates below around 38 euros per hour. IT freelancers usually charge considerably more, well above that threshold. So for your IT hiring, this factor is usually not relevant, although it is good to know the threshold.
What if I score toward employment on multiple factors?
Then you run an elevated risk, but it is not automatic disqualification. It is about the overall picture of all nine factors. Score toward employment on three and toward entrepreneurship on six, and the outcome can still be independence. Have a borderline case assessed.
Who assesses this, the Tax Authority or the courts?
Both can. The Tax Authority assesses during enforcement and can impose back taxes. A court assesses when a dispute arises, for example if a freelancer claims employment. Both use the same nine factors from the Deliveroo ruling.
Is a model agreement enough to avoid risk?
No, a model agreement alone is not enough. The paper must match the practice. If you work in practice as employer and employee, no contract helps. The actual execution is decisive. A good agreement is a tool, not a guarantee.
Conclusion: know the nine factors, steer the overall picture
The nine factors together determine whether your freelancer is genuinely independent. There is no ranking and no formula: it is about the overall picture of nature, direction, embedding, replacement, contract, pay, rate, risk and entrepreneurship. Since 2025, this is fully enforced again.
For whom is this most urgent? For clients with long-running, embedded IT assignments. For whom less? For those outsourcing short, defined work to a demonstrably independent freelancer. In both cases, it helps to set up the assignment deliberately.
My advice: treat the nine factors not as a checklist, but as a design principle for your hiring. Then the independence holds, on paper and in practice.
Want to have an assignment assessed?
Unsure whether a specific IT assignment passes? Plan a no-obligation call with me. We walk through the nine factors together and look at which construction fits, with no strings attached.
Note: regulations around the Dutch DBA Act may change. For current information, consult rijksoverheid.nl or belastingdienst.nl. This article is general information, not legal advice. For complex situations, I advise consulting an employment lawyer or tax advisor.
