DBA Act inspection

Even though enforcement of the Labour Relations Assessment (Deregulation) Act of the Netherlands (the “DBA Act”) has been suspended until the first of January 2020 at the earliest, the Tax and Customs Administration intends by the end of the current year to have completed fact-finding missions at over a hundred principals to discuss the latter’s modus operandi where it concerns their contractors.

The Working Relationship Surveillance Scheme (dutch) explains how the Tax and Customs Administration has been monitoring working relationships with effect from the first of July of the current year.

Any principals who as yet have not submitted their (sample) agreement to the Tax and Customs Administration meet the criteria for a visit by the tax inspector. Having said this, the Tax and Customs Administration also intends to visit selected principals who have submitted their (sample) agreement. The latter group can be subdivided into three categories, as follows:

• principals who are already using an agreement that has been vetted and approved,
• principals whose agreement has not (yet) been approved,
• principals who themselves have pulled their agreement from the vetting process.

A number of principals per category are to receive a visit each, allowances being made in their selection for the variety of lines of business and industrial sectors involved.

Suspension of enforcement or not, the Tax and Customs Administration can be relied upon to give short shrift to anyone they establish as being involved in malevolent shenanigans.

Dutch version: Inspectie van Wet DBA