Hiring out employees in the Netherlands

Are you a foreign company that provides workers to clients in the Netherlands? If so, there are numerous conditions you must meet to operate legally.

Business Register

Any company that commercially supplies workers to a Dutch client and receives compensation for this must register this activity in the Dutch Business Register. The only exception to this rule is if the workers are supplied within a group of companies. This registration must be completed before the first worker is supplied in the Netherlands.

Notification

Foreign employers established in the EEA or Switzerland are required to notify the arrival of posted workers before the start of the posting. This must be done via an online portal. Your Dutch client must verify that the notification has been correctly completed within five days after the posted employee begins working for them.

You are also required to keep the notifications up to date. This means you must file an update or a new notification in case of changes to the posting, such as a change in duration or a new contact person.

Administrative obligations

To enable the Dutch authorities to verify that you offer the correct terms and conditions of employment, you must keep certain employee documents available at the Dutch workplace. These include:

• Employment contracts
• Working hours overview
• Pay slips
• A1 certificates
• Proof of payment of wages

These documents must be available in writing or electronically and must be in Dutch, English, German, or French. The documents must remain available for five years after the end of the work, as the Dutch Labour Inspectorate may request them. If requested, the documents must be submitted to the Labour Inspectorate within four weeks.

Contact person in the Netherlands

You are required to designate a contact person in the Netherlands as a point of contact for the Dutch Labour Inspectorate. The contact person must be available during the posting to provide information about the assignment. For example, you can designate one of your posted employees. The contact person should have, or be able to quickly access, the documents relating to the transnational services and the posted employees.

Obligation to provide information

If requested by the Dutch Labour Inspectorate, you are obliged to provide the information and documents needed to verify that workers are receiving the terms and conditions of employment to which they are entitled.

Terms and conditions of employment

Employees posted to the Netherlands under the supervision and direction of a Dutch client are entitled to the mandatory terms and conditions of employment that apply to employees doing similar work for the Dutch client. This includes:

• Wages and allowances, such as travel allowances
• Rules on working hours and adequate rest periods (including overtime, night shifts, breaks, holidays, and public holidays)
• Health, safety, and hygiene at work
• Additional rules to protect young people, pregnant women, and breastfeeding women
• Equal treatment of men and women

Before the posting begins, your Dutch client is obliged to inform you of the applicable terms and conditions of employment within their organization.

If the Dutch client intends to assign your employee to a third party or a project in another country, they must inform you in advance. This is because a change in work location can impact the terms and conditions of employment and the obligation to notify.

Dutch rules regarding the termination of employment contracts and supplementary pensions do not apply to employees temporarily posted to the Netherlands. However, if the employee's normal place of work is in the Netherlands, these rules do apply. Therefore, it is important to distinguish between a temporary posting and a (semi)permanent or local position.

Payroll taxes

When hiring out workers to a client in the Netherlands, the employees work under the guidance and supervision of your client. From a tax treaty perspective, this means your client is the “economic employer” of the employees. As a result, your employees are subject to Dutch tax from the first workday in the Netherlands, necessitating the setup of a Dutch payroll and the withholding of Dutch wage tax.

If your company and your posted employees meet certain conditions, the employees can remain subject to foreign social security for up to 24 months. In such cases, an A1 certificate is required. If your employees become subject to Dutch social security, Dutch contributions must be withheld and paid along with the Dutch wage tax.

Certification and admission systems

Currently, there is a voluntary certification system in place for companies hiring out workers in the Netherlands via the Labour Standards Foundation (SNA). As of January 1, 2027, this will be replaced with a mandatory admission system.

Voluntary certification (SNA)

A company certified according to standard NEN 4400-1 or NEN 4400-2 can be registered in the Labour Standards Register of the SNA. This allows your clients to avoid fiscal liability and reduces the risk of fraud and illegality.

NEN 4400-1 is a national standard that sets requirements for temporary work businesses and contractors, including subcontractors, that have their registered office in the Netherlands, with respect to the payment of taxes and social insurance contributions and the legitimacy of employment. The aim of the standard is to limit the risk of recovery and penalties from the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration and other government agencies. NEN 4400-2 is the equivalent standard for companies with their registered office outside the Netherlands.

Many collective labor agreements already require Dutch employers to hire temporary workers only through companies registered in the Labour Standards Register.

Before a company can be registered in the Labour Standards Register, an audit by an authorized independent inspection company is required. If the audit confirms that the NEN 4400 standards are met, the company can be registered. Subsequent periodic audits will also be necessary.

New admission system

The Employment of Temporary Workers Admission Act (Wtta) will make it mandatory for all companies hiring out employees for payment (not just temp agencies) to be certified before engaging in temporary employment. The requirements are more extensive than the NEN 4400 standards, and a requirement to deposit a security deposit will be introduced. The Wtta will enter into force on January 1, 2026, and will be actively enforced starting January 1, 2027.

Due to the large number of companies hiring out workers in the Netherlands, it may be challenging to have everyone audited for the mandatory standards and have all applications approved before January 1, 2027. Therefore, transitional rules will apply.

Companies must take action before January 1, 2026, to benefit from the most favorable transitional rules. Companies that apply for admission after July 1, 2026, cannot apply the transitional rules.

How can we help?

Our cross-disciplinary teams can guide you through the registration and notification process, help determine the terms of employment, and draft employment agreements and/or assignment confirmations. We can also set up and manage the Dutch payroll and payroll tax returns for your posted employees.

Finally, we can help you prepare for the audits to obtain voluntary certification through the SNA and the future mandatory admission system. However, the audits themselves must be conducted by an authorized independent inspection company.

If you have any further questions after reading this article or need assistance with hiring out employees in the Netherlands, feel free to contact us.