Ikwordzzper.nl will keep you updated. This week:
Self-employed people are allowed to criticize the labor relations bill
Last week, outgoing Minister Van Gennip of Social Affairs and Employment put the Clarification of Assessment of Employment Relations and Legal Presumptions Act into internet consultation. The bill should make the distinction between self-employed people and employees clearer. The new law should restrict bogus self-employment and halt the growth of self-employed people. In the words of the cabinet: restoring the balance in working with and as a self-employed person(s).
The government has drawn up new criteria to determine the employment relationship. In addition to the existing touchstone of an authority relationship (is someone allowed to organize his or her own work without direction?), the criterion of organizational embedding has been added. If a self-employed person does the same work as employees within the organization, there is a good chance that they will no longer be allowed to be hired as a self-employed person from 2025 onwards. A self-employed person is only self-employed if he or she works for his or her own account and risk. In addition, bringing your own materials or tools and having specialist expertise (which is not available in the organization where the self-employed person is active) plays a role in determining entrepreneurship. Finally, the self-employed person must earn at least €32.24 per hour.
No one knows how big the problem really is. Of the approximately 1.2 million self-employed entrepreneurs in the Netherlands (CBS figures at the end of 2022), approximately 200,000 are bogus self-employed, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment estimates based on a survey. The lack of factual data is a source of stumbling for the self-employed organizations that represent the interests of the many self-employed people. They believe that this must first be thoroughly investigated and that the draft law does not take enough account of the entrepreneurship of self-employed persons. There should be a more individual approach. Whether someone has multiple clients, does acquisition, has a website and the like.
Both citizens and organizations can respond to the draft law online until November 10. The final legal text will then be discussed by the House of Representatives. This will certainly be after the November 22 elections.
Sources: Accountancy This Morning, Rijksoverheid.nl and FD
More self-employed people and micro-businesses are asking for debt help
More entrepreneurs are in financial trouble and they know better where to find help desks. This conclusion is drawn by the volunteer organization Over Rood, which since 2012 has guided and supported self-employed people and entrepreneurs with micro-businesses with payment arrears, debts and business closure for financial reasons. Over Rood has already received 26% more requests for help this year than last year. “Many files are so hopeless that we had to help the company complete the process,” says director Boris Wielinga.
Now that the Tax Authorities are sending reminders for deferred tax payments during corona times, many entrepreneurs are reporting financial problems. Wielinga has seen registrations from self-employed people and micro-businesses at Over Rood increase explosively in recent months. “Next year we expect more than two thousand requests for assistance. What we encounter is that entrepreneurs have little confidence in the government, creditors and bailiffs.”
From eighteen branches, the volunteers of debt service provider Over Rood serve 121 municipalities, with which contracts are concluded to help entrepreneurs. Wielinga: “Some pay for the entire process and some let entrepreneurs pay a small contribution of € 20 per month. If the entrepreneur cannot afford even that, we have a partnership with NN and ING.”
Wielinga is also involved in a report stating that the accumulation of debts must stop. “Debtors would like to pay their debt, but all those extra costs make it impossible for them to do so. An outstanding bill of €800 can easily be increased by hundreds of euros. Make it a tailor-made process and keep debts small.” He wants to tell the government to oblige creditors to cooperate in drawing up a good repayment plan without the need for court intervention.
Source: De Ondernemer
Pension helpdesk
Do you have questions about your pension? How can you build up your pension and what are the options? What is the best choice from a tax perspective? The pension helpdesk of Het Ondernemerscollectief is happy to help you with advice and answers to your questions.
More about the pension helpdesk
Significant growth in pension investments due to new Wtp
In the first months after the introduction of the new pension law, self-employed people and employees without pension accrual make full use of the increased annual space to build up their own pension reserve in a tax-friendly manner. Pension providers such as BrightPensioen and Brand New Day have seen the inflow increase by several tens of percent since June.
Also read the article: What are your pension options as a self-employed person?
With the entry into force of the Future Pensions Act (Wtp) on July 1 this year, both self-employed people and employed people who do not have a pension scheme with their employer now have as much room to build up a good pension as employees with a pension provision. Before the change, self-employed people and employees without a pension could set aside a maximum of 13.3% of their salary to build up a pension with a tax benefit. For employees with a pension through the employer, this percentage was 30%.
The Netherlands currently has more than 1.2 million self-employed people. In addition, approximately 900,000 employees do not accrue a pension with their employer. With the new pension law, this tax discrimination will come to an end. Both target groups immediately make use of the extra options to build up a good pension for old age.
Source: AM
Self-employed people can apply for compensation for painter’s illness
Since this week, victims of the nerve disorder painter’s disease can no longer use the old scheme for compensation for victims with CSE or Chronic Solvent-induced Encephalopathy. From now on, they can claim a new scheme that is also open to self-employed people: Substance-related Occupational Disease Allowance (TSB). Self-employed people and other workers who have become ill because they came into contact with hazardous substances during their work can apply for a one-off financial compensation of approximately € 21,000.
The new scheme is intended for workers with lung cancer caused by asbestos, allergic occupational asthma and painter’s disease. The workers must have come into contact with asbestos, allergens or volatile solvents during their work. They can submit an application for financial compensation if it is likely that their illness was caused by working with these hazardous substances.
Anyone who wants to make use of the new TSB scheme can register via the website of the ISBG, the Institute for Victims of Occupational Diseases Due to Hazardous Substances. Approximately 3,000 people die every year in the Netherlands from the aforementioned occupational diseases.
Source: ArboPortal.nl
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