NEWS - nuj-netherlands

New Dutch tax law could affect editorial freelancers

The new Dutch law on freelance working, the Clarification of Assessment of Employment Relations and Legal Presumption (VBAR) law is set to come into force.
It is not yet clear how this will affect our freelance journalist members but it is seems certain criteria will need to be met if members are not to be deemed bogus self-employees by the government and tax authorities. This may affect not just you but also the clients to whom you work for.
Here are some notes used for a discussion at NUJ Netherlands branch meeting in October.
The government wants to clarify when someone is freelance or when they are acting as employees. The former Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, KarienVan Gennip sent the bill, Verduidelijking Beoordeling Arbeidsrelaties en Rechtsvermoeden (VBAR) to the Council of State last June.
Many self-employed people consciously choose entrepreneurship and thus make an important contribution to the economy.
But there is also a downside to the rapid growth in the number of self-employed people. In some cases there is so called forced bogus self-employment. Here employers are treating freelancers as staff while not affording them staff benefits. There are also concerns for the Dutch economy. If large groups of workers who are in fact employees do not contribute to employee insurance (such as unemployment insurance), the burdens are no longer fairly distributed.
And though not likely to be on the statute book until 2026, the tax authorities will begin next year to enforce the rules based on criteria derived from case law, in particular the so-called Deliveroo 2023
Supreme Court judgment which ruled the workers were staff not self-employed and laid down criteria for assessing this.
In many cases these rules are clear. But for some of the assignments it is more difficult to say whether there is an employment contract or whether the work may be carried out by a self-employed person.
To help, the government is including in the new law a legal presumption of employment, based on an hourly rate.
Making it easier for workers at the bottom of the labour market to claim an employment contract with the employer and, if necessary, with the court. If a worker (or a representative, for example a trade union) invokes the legal presumption, he must prove that he is paid less than the applicable hourly rate €33. It is then up to the employer to demonstrate that there is no employment contract.
The law will also clarify ‘criteria that indicate employment’. By contrast, there are also, counter, criteria that point to ‘independence’. The law look at whether there indications of ’employeeship’, such as management by a manager or employed colleagues who do the same work?
Alternatively are there indications of ‘independence’ within the assignment, for example, does someone work for ‘own account and risk’. Does anyone have multiple clients per year? Does anyone make investments in their own company?
2025 will apparently be a transition year in which these companies will not yet be fined provided they can prove that they are taking steps to combat bogus self-employment. The government wants to achieve a ‘soft landing’ for self-employed people and companies.
However, the NVJ magazine, Villa Media in August, explains that from January 1, 2025, the Tax Authorities will begin explicitly to enforce the proposed law on bogus self-employment. It now appears that this will cause difficulties for freelance editorial services in the future.
They describe it as “a difficult message for self-employed people who would like to continue their current freelance editorial services”.
Companies that hire self-employed persons for “non-independent work” may risk fines and additional assessments if they do not correctly qualify the employment relationship. I’m thinking here of the various English-language news agencies and platforms. How will they be effected?
However, freelance journalism remains possible within the proposed framework regulations.
The NVJ’s freelance officer Milen van Boldrik, offers in this article guidelines to assess your work structure and situation.
These include: What should you pay attention to in order to continue working as a freelance journalist? In other words, when are you a real entrepreneur and do you deviate from employment?
Certain guidelines can be drawn from the Deliveroo ruling. You are an independent entrepreneur if
you:

are hired for your specific expertise;
are hired for an assignment with a beginning, end point and end result;
have the freedom to decide for yourself how you carry out the assignment. The client may not dictate how exactly you should carry out the assignment;
have the freedom to determine your own working hours and workplace;
have multiple clients;
behave as an entrepreneur: you have your own website, spend time finding new clients, invest in materials or knowledge, have a Chamber of Commerce registration, etc.;
determine rates yourself or at least in equal consultation – the amount is also important. You really have to be able to support yourself as an independent entrepreneur;
use your own materials, such as laptop/camera or editing programs; do not do exactly the same work as employees; you do not work side-by-side with employees who perform similar work
in a workplace;
are free to also work for competitors – non-competition clauses are not allowed
for self-employed entrepreneurs.

For more information, in English and Dutch, see.
https://www.crowe-peak.nl/en/
https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/actueel/nieuws/2024/06/21/meer-duidelijkheid-
over-werken-met-en-als-zelfstandige-wetsvoorstel-naar-raad-van-state.
https://www.nvj.nl/nieuws/waar-moet-ik-voldoen-ik-wil-blijven-freelancen
https://www.pzo.nl/nieuws/pzo-stuurt-brief-aan-raad-van-state-over-vbar/
https://efkbelastingadviseurs.nl/aanpassingen-in-de-vbar-voorafgaan-aan-de-beoordeling-door-de-raad-van

2023 “one of the worst years” for killing of journalists says IFJ

70% of journalists’ deaths in 2023 occurred in war in Gaza

Last year was among the deadliest for journalists since the International Federation of Journalists started its Killing List over three decades ago.

The IFJ’s 33rd annual report on the deaths of journalists and media staff confirmed the deaths of 129 media professionals, including 14 women.

One of the 129 died in an accident and the rest of them were killed and the report notes that the death toll soared from 7 October, with 70% of deaths in 2023 occurring in the war in Gaza.

The IFJ also reported that the Middle East and the Arab world is by far the deadliest region in the world with 93 killings registered.

Of these, 83 were in Palestine, four in Israel and three in Lebanon, following the 7 October start of the war in Gaza. Three further deaths were recorded in Syria.

In addition to the terrible mortality rate among journalists in the Gaza war, media professionals continue to be murdered elsewhere in the world.

In 2023, 12 journalists were killed in Asia-Pacific, 11 in the Americas and eight in Africa – plus one accidental killing in Rwanda – and four deaths in Europe.

The IFJ released an initial list of journalists killed ahead of UN Human Rights day on 8 December and a final list on 31 December.

Today’s publication reveals that the further increase in the total is the result of investigations into the deaths of journalists in Gaza. At the beginning of 2024, the federation was able to verify eight more cases of local journalists killed in the enclave at the end of 2023 and add them to the annual report.

The IFJ report also recorded there were 427 journalists and media workers held behind bars in 2023. China (80) is the world’s leading jailer of journalists, followed by Myanmar (51), Turkey (41), the Russian Federation (40) and Belarus (35).

IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: “While we always remind journalists that no story is worth their life, there are too many situations where they are deliberately targeted to cover up stories and restrict the public’s right to know.

“It is a democratic right of citizens to be duly informed; it is governments’ responsibility to ensure journalists are protected to report independently. The deadly figures from this year illustrate how badly we need an international binding instrument forcing states to adopt key mechanisms to protect journalists’ safety and independence”