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What is a client self-employed hiring check? It is an assessment by the client hiring self-employed professionals, intended to determine whether that hiring poses a risk of bogus self-employment and what that means for back taxes and penalties. Unlike a standalone contract review, this check examines the client as a whole: the hiring policy, the assessment criteria, and the internal processes surrounding the hiring of independent contractors. Since the Tax and Customs Administration resumed enforcement as of January 1, 2025, the financial risk lies precisely with the client.
The short answer
- What: an assessment of the hiring of self-employed professionals from the client's perspective, focusing on the risk of bogus self-employment.
- Why: the client bears the additional payroll tax assessment, not the self-employed professional.
- Based on: the authority criterion, the holistic assessment, and the way you hire.
- Broader than a contract: it also looks at your policy and internal processes.
- Objective: to identify risks and a working method that stands the test.
What exactly is a client freelancer hiring check?
The check is based on the position of the hirer. In cases of bogus self-employment, it is the client who must remit payroll taxes retrospectively, plus potential interest. Moreover, the self-employed professional can claim an employment contract. The legal basis is Article 7:610 of the Dutch Civil Code: if work, wages, and authority coincide, there is an employment relationship, regardless of what has been agreed upon. The check determines whether your hiring remains on the right side of that boundary.
Whereas a contract review looks at a single agreement, a hiring check maps out the entire chain: how to select freelancers, how to manage them, how to document agreements, and how to prevent a freelancer from gradually becoming part of your organization. This creates a picture of the risk across your entire hiring process, not just per contract.
Why the risk lies with the client
Between 2016 and the end of 2024, the Tax and Customs Administration barely enforced against bogus self-employment due to the enforcement moratorium. This was lifted on January 1, 2025. Since then, the Tax and Customs Administration can impose correction obligations and additional payroll tax assessments on clients. For 2025, a transitional year applies, during which companies that can demonstrate steps are not subject to default or penalty fines, although additional assessments are possible.
For a client working with multiple freelancers, that risk adds up. An additional tax assessment per person can run into thousands of euros. A hiring check reveals where the vulnerable spots lie before a tax audit does.
What the check looks at
The hiring check assesses the viewpoints that the court has weighed in conjunction since the Deliveroo ruling, applied to your hiring method:
- Authority: do you manage freelancers like staff, with instructions on how and when?
- Embedding: Do hired freelancers structurally perform the same work as your permanent employees?
- Duration: do hiring relationships continue for years as if they were employment?
- Entrepreneurship: do the self-employed professionals have demonstrable multiple clients and deductibles?
- Process: Do you have a fixed procedure for assessing new hires in advance?
Practical example
An installation company hires eight self-employed technicians during the peak season who work alongside the permanent teams, wear company uniforms, and work according to the work planner's schedule. A hiring check reveals that the management and integration strongly resemble an employment relationship. The company adjusts its working method: from now on, technicians are assigned clearly defined jobs with their own performance agreements, use their own tools, and are no longer included in the fixed rosters. This reduces the risk of back taxes without the company losing flexible capacity.
Honest recommendation
You do not always need a lawyer. If you occasionally hire a single freelancer who is clearly self-employed, has multiple clients, and determines their own working methods, the risk is small and you can assess the viewpoints above yourself. For one-off, short-term assignments, an extensive check is excessive.
Do have a hiring check performed as soon as you work structurally or with multiple freelancers, or when hired independent contractors perform the same work as your staff. In that case, the risk adds up, and an independent assessment helps to get your policies and processes in order. That far outweighs a retroactive payroll tax assessment on your entire hiring.
Want to know more or have it carried out? View the freelance hiring check for clients, read how to set up such a check in setting up a freelance hiring check for clients , and the process and costs in having a freelance hiring check for clients drawn up.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is an assessment of your hiring of freelancers from the client's perspective. The check determines whether the hiring poses a risk of bogus self-employment and examines your policy, assessment criteria, and internal processes.
In cases of bogus self-employment, the client is the withholding agent. They must remit payroll taxes retroactively, plus possibly interest, and the self-employed professional can claim an employment contract with continued payment of wages and protection against dismissal.
A contract check assesses a single agreement. A hiring check takes a broader view of your entire hiring process: how you select, manage, and record freelancers, so that you see the risk across all your hires.
The enforcement moratorium has been lifted, and the Tax and Customs Administration is once again enforcing the rules against bogus self-employment. For 2025, a transitional year without penalties applies to those who can demonstrate taking steps, but additional payroll tax assessments are possible.
Based on the viewpoints of the holistic assessment: authority, embedding in the organization, duration of the relationship, and the entrepreneurship of the self-employed professional. The basis is Article 7:610 of the Dutch Civil Code, which defines the employment contract.
That varies by situation, but per freelancer it can run into thousands of euros, plus potential interest. With multiple hired freelancers, that risk adds up quickly, making a hiring check worthwhile.
Especially if you work structurally or with multiple freelancers, or when hired freelancers perform the same work as your staff. With a single, short-term assignment involving a demonstrably independent freelancer, the risk is small.
