Employment (loondienst) is an employment contract with an employer: the employer withholds tax from your salary, pays social-insurance premiums, holiday pay and sick pay. ZZP (zelfstandige zonder personeel) is your own business without staff: you register with KvK, issue your own invoices, file BTW and inkomstenbelasting returns and insure yourself against sickness and for your pension.
General rules of the Dutch system. Yearly amounts come only from the 2026 configuration of our tax calculator; check everything else on the official sites below.
| Criterion | Employment | ZZP |
|---|---|---|
| Who you work for | One employer under an employment contract; the employer decides when, where and how the work is done. | Your own clients (opdrachtgevers), possibly several at once; you decide how and when you carry out an assignment. |
| Type of contract | Arbeidsovereenkomst (employment contract), fixed-term or permanent. Employment law protects you: dismissal only on grounds set in law. | Opdrachtovereenkomst (contract for services). If in practice you work like an employee under the client’s direction, that is schijnzelfstandigheid under the Wet DBA — since 1 January 2025 the Belastingdienst checks this again and can impose back taxes on the client. |
| Registration | None: the employer puts you on the payroll; a BSN and your residence document are enough. | Registration in the KvK Handelsregister; the Belastingdienst then issues a btw-id and an omzetbelastingnummer. Ukrainians under temporary protection face restrictions — see the FAQ. |
| Income tax | Loonheffing: the employer withholds tax and national-insurance contributions from each salary and applies the tax credits. Once a year the aangifte inkomstenbelasting (1 March – 1 May), often only to settle differences. | You file the aangifte inkomstenbelasting yourself; profit is taxed in box 1. During the year you can request a voorlopige aanslag and pay in instalments. You also pay the income-related Zvw contribution yourself. |
| BTW | None: a salary is not turnover for BTW. | BTW return every quarter, due on the last day of the month after the quarter (Q1 by 30 April, Q2 by 31 July, Q3 by 31 October, Q4 by 31 January). With turnover up to €20,000 a year you can opt for the KOR: no BTW charged and no returns, but no input BTW refunded either. |
| Deductions and credits | Arbeidskorting and algemene heffingskorting, applied by the employer through loonheffing. No business deductions. | The same tax credits, plus zelfstandigenaftrek (€1,200 in 2026, if you meet the urencriterium of at least 1 225 hours on the business per year), startersaftrek in the first years, and the MKB-winstvrijstelling of 12.7% of the profit left after those deductions. |
| Social insurance | The employer pays premiums for WW (unemployment), WIA (disability) and ZW. Pension: AOW plus, in many sectors, a company or industry pension fund. | Only the national insurances (AOW, Anw, Wlz) through your tax. No WW or WIA: disability insurance (AOV) and a pension are yours to arrange and pay for. |
| Holiday pay and leave | At least 8% vakantiegeld on gross salary and paid leave of at least four times your weekly working hours per year (20 days full-time). | None: days off are days without income, which you price into your rate. |
| Sickness | The employer continues to pay at least 70% of the wage for up to two years (not below the minimum wage in the first year). | Nothing is paid unless you have an AOV or belong to a broodfonds. You can insure voluntarily with UWV if you apply within 13 weeks after your employment contract ends. |
| Minimum wage | The statutory minimum wage applies (an hourly rate, the full rate from age 21); the employer may not pay less. | Does not apply: you negotiate your rate. It has to cover tax, insurance, pension, holidays and idle periods. |
| Administration | None: the employer runs the payroll and issues a jaaropgaaf. | Mandatory bookkeeping: invoices that meet the factuureisen, records of costs and BTW, and 7-year retention of all records (10 years for real-estate data). |
| Toeslagen | Income is predictable, so the estimate used for zorgtoeslag, huurtoeslag or kinderopvangtoeslag rarely moves far. | Toeslagen are based on your estimated income for the year. ZZP profit fluctuates — if it ends up above the estimate, you repay part of the toeslag. Update the estimate on toeslagen.nl during the year. |
| Tools and help | Not needed: the employer handles everything. | You need bookkeeping or a service for invoices, costs and BTW. The ZZP cabinet on Dopomoga has invoices, expense records, a BTW report and a deadline calendar. |
Take an income equal to the top of the first box 1 bracket in 2026 — €38,883. For an employee that is the gross annual salary; for a ZZP it is the profit after costs, with the urencriterium met. All amounts come from the 2026 configuration of our tax calculator.
This is not a net gain for the ZZP. The employee does not pay for WW, WIA or the Zvw contribution — the employer does; the ZZP pays the Zvw contribution, an AOV and a pension alone and must price holidays and sick days into the rate. Use the calculator for your own numbers.
Config fields: incomeTaxBrackets[0] (€38,883, 35.75%), zelfstandigenaftrek (€1,200), mkbWinstvrijstellingPct (12.7). The tax credits (algemeneHeffingskorting, arbeidskorting) apply in both cases and are left out here.
Open the tax calculator →Yes. The employer withholds loonheffing from your salary and you declare the ZZP profit yourself in the same aangifte inkomstenbelasting; everything lands in box 1. For the zelfstandigenaftrek you need not only 1 225 hours on the business but, unless you are a starter, also more than half of your total working time spent on it. Tell your employer: side activities may be restricted only for an objective reason, but the contract may require you to report them.
You register when you act as an entrepreneur: you offer services regularly, at a market price, to several clients. A genuinely one-off job can be declared as resultaat uit overige werkzaamheden in the aangifte inkomstenbelasting without KvK. BTW has its own test: the Belastingdienst can treat you as a btw-ondernemer even without KvK. If the work repeats, register; kvk.nl has a check for whether you must.
The Wet DBA (Wet deregulering beoordeling arbeidsrelaties) sets how to judge whether the relationship between a client and a ZZP is in fact employment. If you work under the client’s direction, on their schedule, with their tools and only for them, that is schijnzelfstandigheid. Since 1 January 2025 the Belastingdienst enforces again and can impose loonheffing and premiums on the client. The assessment follows the criteria of the Supreme Court’s Deliveroo ruling: degree of direction, embedding in the organisation, entrepreneurial risk.
Yes for employment; as a ZZP only under conditions. No work permit (TWV) is needed for a job: the employer notifies UWV at least two working days before you start. You may work as self-employed only if you hold a residence permit as a zelfstandige or your client has obtained a TWV for you from UWV; without one the client risks a fine from the Arbeidsinspectie. KvK warns that TWV applications for zzp’ers in hospitality, construction, personal services and agriculture are always refused. KvK registers Ukrainians, but registration itself does not give the right to work as a ZZP. EU temporary protection has been extended to 4 March 2028 — check the current rules on rijksoverheid.nl and kvk.nl.
Toeslagen are calculated on your expected income for the year. Ukrainians under temporary protection usually receive healthcare through the RMO scheme, so zorgtoeslag does not apply, but kinderopvangtoeslag or huurtoeslag may. When ZZP profit ends above the estimate, Dienst Toeslagen reclaims the difference after the final calculation. Update the income estimate in Mijn toeslagen whenever you see the profit change.
Not by default. A sick ZZP receives nothing without an AOV (private disability insurance) or membership of a broodfonds. You can insure voluntarily with UWV (Ziektewet, WIA) if you apply within 13 weeks after your employment contract ends. Pension: AOW accrues for every resident; any extra pension a ZZP builds alone, through a lijfrente or a pension product for the self-employed. The government is preparing a mandatory basic disability insurance for the self-employed — follow rijksoverheid.nl.
The aangifte inkomstenbelasting for a year is filed between 1 March and 1 May of the next year; an extension (uitstel) must be requested before 1 May. File before 1 April and the Belastingdienst sends the assessment (aanslag) before 1 July. BTW is filed every quarter by the end of the following month. To avoid one large bill, request a voorlopige aanslag and pay monthly. The calculator gives an indicative amount.
Rules and amounts change — check the current conditions on the official sites.