New legislation in The Netherlands
1 oktober 2018 | Door: Joost Blom
Not only tax laws change as a result of the yearly ‘Prinsjesdag’ in the Netherlands, but often civil laws also change as a result of the plans of the Dutch Government for the upcoming year. However, this year there are not so many plans that influence directly civil laws. However, indirectly there will some changes in civil law. Also due to the coalition agreement from 2017 there are some changes coming up.
The most important change will be the laws that affect the status of the independent entrepreneur. Although most international companies do not have that problem for their own status, they will perhaps work with independent entrepreneurs in the Netherlands. Up until this moment, it is not always clear when an independent entrepreneur legally is seen as independent. This is important for the contractor of the independent entrepreneur, because, in the situation that the independent entrepreneur is not really independent according to Dutch legislation, the contractor has to hold in and pay to the Dutch Government the same taxes and employee insurance premiums as the contractor is obligated to held in and pay in case the independent entrepreneur is an employee of the contractor. When a contractor fails to do so, he can be confronted with high additional assessments and fines.
Next year, there will be appointed a special commission that has to investigate in which way this problem, that already exists for years, can be solved. We hope that this time there will come clear legislation in this matter. However we are afraid that the legislation will not be ready and into force in the next year.
Besides the legislation according to the independent entrepreneurs, there are other changes to be expected, for example:
- Legislation according to the Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO) of a company. This regards the registration of the ultimate owner of a company. This legislation is a result as a commitment to European legislation and already should have been implemented last year;
- Legislation that ensures debtors that a creditor first has to offer an payment arrangement before he can go to the court;
- Legislation that will expand the possibilities of mediation and will professionalize the mediation in the Netherlands;
- New rules for franchise contracts.
How the new legislation will look like exactly is not clear at this moment. From some new legislation we know broadly in which way this legislation will develop because concept versions of the laws has been published. However, it is not smart to anticipate on these concept versions. That is because the ultimate versions of these concepts often depart a lot from these concept versions.
We naturally will keep an eye on the developments in this area and we will keep you informed.
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