1/6/2024 0 Comments Faces online invoicing![]() ![]() ‘Susan’ (not her real name) is a freelance designer, editor, and translator who expressed similar concerns. While many freelancers only have to worry about pesky telemarketers, others have expressed fears that they’ll be harassed or stalked. Also, my address was made available online, not my phone number, but they got it too, probably through data sales by the KvK.’ ![]() I was proud to have worked out the perfect answer that my bills are being dealt with by the landlord, so they need to contact them, but it was still annoying. ‘Still I had these energy companies calling daily with ‘good deals’. ‘I am on all possible no call lists,’ said Kristóf Hajós, an Amsterdam based singer and songwriter. Complaints about unwanted sales calls are common. While the KvK claims the practice is widely misunderstood, has undergone recent policy updates to protect private information, and is even beneficial for freelancers, many beg to differ. The organisation has sold their private information to outside agencies that include direct marketing firms, a scheme that netted the KvK over €3.3 million in the six years leading up to 2020. Many freelancers have expressed their frustrations with the KvK, the Dutch Chamber of Commerce. Freelancers also have to pay the ’employer share’ of health insurance on top of their regular premiums. They may also have to pay a voorlopige aanslag, a relatively new policy that requires many freelancers to pay their annual income taxes over a year in advance based on estimates calculated by the Belastingdienst. Here in the Netherlands, they must file quarterly reports with the tax office outling the revenue they’ve accumulated from their clients for VAT (value added tax) and make a payment. ’ In the United States, for example, the average freelancer only has to file taxes once a year. From that perspective, they come in naive, maybe that would be the right word for it. ‘Most of the people who come here to set up their sole proprietorship or ZZP status assume that it’s more or less the same as the country they just left. ‘If you compare the Netherlands to other countries, we have a different setup for freelancers,’ said Jos Kraaijeveld, a partner from Cappon Tax who regularly advises self-employed people on setting up in business. However, in the Netherlands, they must keep on top of regulations that are significantly more complicated than the ones they’ve likely encountered elsewhere. They also don’t receive paid time off for holidays or if they get sick and the unpredictability of their annual income often makes saving for retirement difficult.īut this comes with the territory and freelancers all around the world face many of the same snags. If their laptop breaks, they can’t just call someone for help down in an IT department like the average office worker.Ĭlients can ‘ghost’ them at any moment and sometimes getting invoices paid can be an outright nightmare. Along with attracting clients and trying their best to keep them, they often have to serve as their own accountant and tech support, too. While many enjoy the freedom and flexibility of freelancing life, there’s no doubt that it’s difficult. Roughly 1.8 million workers are classified as self employed or zelfstandig zonder personnel in one way or another the Netherlands and that total has increased steadily since 2003. They include everyone from translators and consultants working from their home offices to hairdressers at your local salon, parcel and food delivery workers, and even builders.Ĭompanies like them because they are cheaper to employ, and little wonder then, that their numbers are also on the rise. Freelancers are a group that is far more diverse than you might assume. New requirements, fewer benefits and a raft of other regulations aim to reduce the popularity of self employment, affecting the working lives of well over one million people. Freelancing is no longer a smooth way to make your money in the Netherlands. ![]()
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