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Employer of record in the Netherlands: cost, the 30% ruling and the ZZP trap
Hiring in the Netherlands on €60,000?
It's €60,000 €69,366.
That hire costs you €69,366 a year. Dutch employer premiums take 15.61% on pay up to €79,409 a year, before any employer of record fee of €99 to $699 a month.
Employee, NetherlandsYearly cost to you
- Gross salary€60,000
- Disability fundAof (small employer)6.27%€3,762
- Childcare surchargeWko0.50%€300
- Unemployment fundAwf (permanent contract)2.74%€1,644
- Health insurance levyZvw werkgeversheffing6.10%€3,660
Employer of record, your own company, or a contractor
Three ways to put one person to work in Netherlands.
Employer of record
- Fits when
- A first Dutch hire, someone you are moving over from a ZZP contract, or a candidate who needs the 30% ruling and a Dutch payroll to claim it.
- What you pay
- €69,366 a year in employment cost, and the provider's monthly fee of €99 to $699.
- Watch out for
- A company that supplies staff must be registered under the Waadi in the KVK Business Register, and from 1 January 2027 it also needs certification from the Ministry of Social Affairs. A hirer can be fined for using a supplier that is not registered correctly, so run the KVK Waadi check.
Your own B.V.
- Fits when
- A Dutch team you plan to grow, or a company that wants its own Dutch payroll, pension and workplace culture.
- What you pay
- The same €69,366 per hire, plus a civil-law notary to set up the B.V., and payroll and bookkeeping after that. Starting capital can be as low as €0.01.
- Watch out for
- An expat ruling granted while your person sat on an EOR's payroll does not move with them automatically. When you switch them to your B.V., you and the employee file a new request together.
Contractor (ZZP)
- Fits when
- A freelancer who runs their own business and decides how the work gets done.
- What you pay
- Their invoice, with no Dutch payroll taxes on your side.
- Watch out for
- Since 1 January 2025 the Belastingdienst enforces sham self-employment again, with back-assessments and, from 2026, penalty fines (vergrijpboetes). Read the section below before you renew a ZZP contract.
Keeping them as a contractor? Here's the bill if it goes wrong
A contractor costs you no employer contributions. If the role is really a job, the authorities can claim them back.
If the contractor is reclassifiedOn €60,000 a year
- Employer contributions you skippedEach year, at today's rates€9,366
- Years the authority can reach back5 yearsx 5
- Who decides 13 Nov, rijksoverheid.nl
- The Belastingdienst, which has enforced false self-employment rules again since 1 January 2025.
- On top 13 Nov, wetten.overheid.nl
- Tax interest, and fines of up to €6,709, or up to 100% of the tax if deliberate.
Employer of record providers for Netherlands, compared
19 providers can employ for you in the Netherlands; the table puts the cheapest published fee first. Check two columns before you call anyone: whether the provider says it runs its own Dutch entity, and whether it states a deposit. 10 of the 19 keep their price off the page, and none of the Dutch local firms we read publish one.
- Not statedNot stated
- Not statedNot statedNot read
- daysNot statedNot read
- $299billed yearlyNot statedNot stated
- Not statedNot stated
- From 2 daysNot stated
- Not statedNot stated
- Not statedno standard deposit; refundable reserve may be required in some cases
- From 48 hoursrefundable deposit required, amount not stated
- Price not confirmedFrom two weeksNot stated
- EmployorNetherlands firmDoes not publish a priceNot statedNot statedNot read
- ExterusNetherlands firmDoes not publish a priceNot statedNot statedNot read
- Price not confirmedNot statedNot stated
- Does not publish a priceNot statedNot stated
- ParakarRegional firmDoes not publish a priceNot statedNot statedNot read
- Does not publish a priceNot statedNot statedNot read
- Price not confirmedNot statedNot stated
- Does not publish a priceNot statedNot stated
- Does not publish a priceFrom two weeksNot stated
The rules you sign up to in Netherlands
Dutch minimums come from the Civil Code and the minimum wage act. Many sectors add a CAO on top, often with a pension scheme, so ask which CAO covers the role.
- Minimum wage13 Nov, rijksoverheid.nl
- €14.99 an hourFor employees aged 21 and over, from 2026.
- Holiday allowance13 Nov, wetten.overheid.nl
- At least 8%Of gross pay, paid once a year as a rule.
- Paid holiday13 Nov, wetten.overheid.nl
- 20 daysOn a five-day week: at least four times the weekly hours.
- Probation13 Nov, wetten.overheid.nl
- 2 monthsOn a permanent contract. Shorter or none on short fixed terms.
- Ending the contract13 Nov, wetten.overheid.nl
- 1 month's noticeRising to 4 months with 15 years of service. Dismissal also needs UWV permission or a court.
- Sick pay13 Nov, wetten.overheid.nl
- 70% for up to 2 yearsThe employer pays at least 70% of pay for 104 weeks, and at least the minimum wage in year one.
Not in the total: Whk, the return-to-work premium, set per employer (0.94% to 1.25% for business services); A sector pension, only where a collective agreement requires one. Small employer, permanent contract. The salary includes the 8% holiday allowance; if you agreed the salary plus holiday allowance, add 8%.
The 30% ruling with an employer of record
The 30% ruling, now officially the expat scheme, lets an employer pay part of a skilled hire's salary tax-free for up to five years. It is an employer's tool: the employer applies, and the Belastingdienst issues a decision (beschikking) before it can be used.
The conditions business.gov.nl lists: the person is in salaried employment with the employer, has specific expertise that is scarce in the Dutch market, earns at least the salary norm, was recruited from abroad, and lived more than 150 km from the Dutch border for more than 16 of the 24 months before their first working day. The request has to go in within 4 months of that first day.
With an EOR, the EOR is the employer, so the EOR files. Ask before you sign whether it does this, and whether it charges for it.
The numbers are moving. For people who started on the scheme from 2024, business.gov.nl says the tax-free maximum falls from 30% to 27% on 1 January 2027. Government.nl says the government plans to partly reverse that cut, with the date not yet final. Check again before you put a percentage in an offer letter.
13 Nov, business.gov.nl13 Nov, government.nl13 Nov, belastingdienst.nl
ZZP or employee: what changed in 2025
Until 1 January 2025 the Belastingdienst ran an enforcement moratorium on sham self-employment (schijnzelfstandigheid). Outside clear bad-faith cases, a client caught with a ZZP'er who was really an employee got instructions first and usually three months to fix it.
That is over. The Belastingdienst now applies the normal rules: no more instructions first. If it finds sham self-employment, it can impose correction obligations and payroll tax back-assessments straight away. It issued no fines in 2025. From 1 January 2026 it can impose penalty fines (vergrijpboetes), though it still issues no default fines (verzuimboetes) in 2026.
How far back: the Belastingdienst cannot correct anything before 1 January 2025, unless there was bad faith or you ignored an earlier instruction. Then it can go back five years.
The Belastingdienst also tells clients to recheck the relationship over time, because the way you work together can change. A freelancer who started on one project and now owns a product area is no longer in the relationship you contracted for. If your Dutch contractor has drifted into a job, moving them onto an EOR payroll is one exit that does not need a Dutch company.
The same €60,000 hire across Europe
Total yearly cost to the employer. Light is the salary, blue is what the employer adds by law. Try your own salary.
LowerHigher
Being checked
Questions founders ask about Netherlands
Is an employer of record legal in the Netherlands?
Supplying staff is a regulated activity. A company that lends staff, including a payroll company, must register under the Waadi in the KVK Business Register, and business.gov.nl says it needs certification from the Ministry of Social Affairs before 1 January 2027. You, as hirer, can be fined for using a supplier that is not registered correctly. Run the KVK Waadi check on your provider.
Can an employee hired through an EOR get the 30% ruling?
The ruling belongs to the employer: it applies and receives the decision. With an EOR, that is the EOR. Your hire still has to meet the conditions, including scarce expertise, the salary norm, recruitment from abroad and the 150 km rule, and the request has to be filed within 4 months of the first working day. Ask the provider whether it files it.
What happens to the 30% ruling if we move from an EOR to our own B.V.?
It does not transfer automatically. Business.gov.nl says that when the employer changes and the earlier decision has not expired, the new employer and the employee submit a new request together. Plan that switch with the deadline in mind, and do not promise the candidate the ruling survives the move until the Belastingdienst says so.
Contractor vs employee in the Netherlands: which do I need?
The Belastingdienst asks whether someone working for you as a ZZP'er is in reality in paid employment, and it judges that on how you actually work together. Its own guide, the Toelichting Beoordeling arbeidsrelaties, lists the facts it weighs. Since 2025 it can back-assess payroll taxes without warning you first. If the answer is employment, put them on a payroll, yours or an EOR's.
How much does an employer of record cost in the Netherlands?
At €60,000, the employment itself is €69,366 a year: Dutch employer premiums of 15.61% up to €79,409 a year, for a small employer on a permanent contract. Flex contracts pay a higher unemployment premium. The EOR fee comes on top: €99 to $699 a month from those that publish, and 10 that make you ask.
What changed
- 2026 premium rates and the €79,409 ceiling checked in the Belastingdienst tables.
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