Tax legislation

Freelancers have to pay turnover tax and income tax:

• Turnover tax
  Anyone who practices a profession independently is considered to be self-employed for the purposes of turnover tax. If you are not sure whether to charge BTW (Dutch turnover tax) on your products or services, contact the tax authorities.
  
  
• Income tax
  The Tax authorities use four criteria to determine whether a freelancer is self-employed: independence, sustainability, profit motive and the number of clients. Freelancers are charged income tax on their income. The three categories of income tax are:
  • Business profits
    If the tax authorities consider you to be self-employed, you can declare your freelance income as business profits. You are eligible for self-employed persons' tax allowances.
  • Salary from employment contract
    if you have an employment contract, the client (= employer) deducts income tax from the freelancer's salary and pays this to the Tax authorities.
  • Freelancing as a secondary activity
    Income from work which cannot be considered either as salary or as business profits is known as income from other activities. Contact the tax authorities for more information.