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A side job is work you do next to your main job, for example designing websites in the evenings. Freelancing means working for yourself: you find your own clients and send them a bill, instead of getting a salary. Many expats think their residence permit only lets them work for one employer. That's only half true. A highly skilled migrant may freelance next to their job, and a partner with a family permit can work for anyone. But a second job as an employee is a different story. On top of the permit rules, there's your employer's rule about side work, registering your business, Value added tax, in Dutch btw. A tax added to the price of most goods and services. As a business, you add it to your bills and pay it to the tax office., and income tax. And money from a side job is often taxed at close to 50%. This guide explains, from the start, what your permit allows, how to set things up properly, and what you will really keep.
The idea in simple words
Before you start a side job, check three things. 1. Does your residence permit allow it? 2. Does your employer allow it? 3. Do you need to register a business and pay VAT?
With a work permit, working for yourself on the side is usually fine. Taking a second job as an employee is usually hard.
The money you earn on the side is added to your salary and taxed at your highest rate. Put about half of it aside for tax.
The most important facts
- A residence permit for skilled workers hired by a Dutch employer approved by the IND. In Dutch: kennismigrant. or An EU-wide residence and work permit for highly qualified workers.: freelancing next to your job is allowed. A second job as an employee needs a work permit (Tewerkstellingsvergunning: a work permit an employer must get from the UWV to hire someone from outside the EU.), until you've worked here 5 years.
- Partner of a highly skilled migrant, orientation year, permanent residence, EU citizens: free to work, as an employee or for yourself.
- Your employer can only forbid side work with a real, objective reason. But they may ask you to tell them about it.
- Kamer van Koophandel: the Dutch office where every business must be registered.: registering a one-person business costs €85.15, once. VAT is 21%, unless you join the small business scheme (KOR) for income up to €20,000 a year.
- Tax: side income is added to your salary. Between €45,592 and €78,426, each extra euro of profit costs you around 50% in tax and lost tax discounts. Above €78,426 it's around 56%, until about €132,900.
What your residence permit allows
The text on the back of your residence card is what counts. These are the main situations:
| Your status | Freelance / working for yourself | Second job as an employee |
|---|---|---|
| Citizen of the EU, EEA or Switzerland | Yes | Yes |
| Highly skilled migrant (kennismigrant) | Yes, next to your sponsored job | Only if the other employer gets a work permit (TWV) for you. After 5 years of working here: yes, with a residence document that says "free to work". |
| EU Blue Card | Yes, as long as you keep meeting the Blue Card rules | Only if the other employer gets a TWV |
| Partner or child of a highly skilled migrant or Blue Card holder | Yes | Yes, no TWV needed |
| Orientation year | Yes | Yes |
| Student | Allowed next to your studies, if you keep making progress in your studies | Up to 16 hours a week, or full-time in June, July and August, with a TWV |
| Permanent residence | Yes | Yes |
Getting a TWV is the second employer's job, through the The Dutch government office for work and benefits. It also decides on work permits.. It's rarely given for a part-time side job, because the UWV first checks whether someone from the Netherlands or the EU could do the work. So in practice, for most highly skilled migrants, freelancing is the realistic way, not a second job on a payroll.
Your permit still depends on your main job
Money from freelancing doesn't count towards the minimum salary for the highly skilled migrant permit, and it can't keep your permit going. If you lose your sponsored job, your search period starts as normal. To continue only as a freelancer, you need a separate permit for working for yourself. The Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst: the Dutch immigration office. only gives it if your business is important for the Dutch economy. Also, don't let side work eat into your main job: if your hours or salary with your sponsor drop below the rules, your permit is at risk.
Your employer's rule about side work
Since 1 August 2022, your employer can't forbid side work without a real, objective reason (see our guide to your Dutch work contract). Good reasons include:
- Protecting secret information or trade secrets.
- A conflict of interest, such as working for a client or a competitor.
- Health and safety, including the legal limits on working hours across both jobs together.
- Harm to the employer's reputation.
A rule that you must tell your employer about side work, or ask permission first, is still allowed. Follow it: secretly working on the side is a classic reason to be fired, even if the work itself did no harm. Also check the part of your contract about Ownership of things you create, such as designs, code, texts or inventions.. Many contracts give the employer the rights to things you create, sometimes even outside working hours, if it's related to their business.
Freelancer or employee? Watch out for the Wet DBA
Since 1 January 2025, the tax office checks again for false self-employment: people who are called freelancers but really work like employees. If you work for one client, for fixed hours, doing what they tell you, as if you were staff, the tax office may treat it as a job. Then the client may owe taxes on it. So clients have become careful, and some only hire freelancers who have several clients. Working for several clients, on your own terms, with your own tools and at your own risk, makes it clearer that you really are a freelancer. The law behind this is called the Wet Deregulering Beoordeling Arbeidsrelaties: the Dutch law about when someone counts as a freelancer and when as an employee..
Registering with the KVK
If you offer services or products regularly, on your own, and to make a profit, you are running a business. Then you must register with the Chamber of Commerce (KVK). Most freelancers register as a one-person business (a A business owned by one person, where the business and the owner are legally the same. The most common choice for freelancers., eenmanszaak):
- Cost: €85.15, once. You can count it as a business cost.
- How: fill in the online form, then make an appointment at a KVK office with your ID or residence document. You need a BSN (personal Dutch ID number) and a Dutch address.
- Your business address is public. If you work from home, that's your home address. Also check your rental contract: some landlords don't allow a business to be registered at the home.
- What you get: a KVK number, and the tax office sends you a VAT number. Watch out for scam letters and emails after you register that ask you to pay for "registration" in a business list.
A one-time job now and then, such as translating one document for a friend's company, usually isn't a business. You report it on your tax return as income from other work (see below), without registering.
VAT and the small business scheme (KOR)
As a business, you normally add VAT (btw) to your bills: 21% on most services, 9% on some products and services. Every three months you send a VAT form to the tax office, and you can get back the VAT you paid on your business costs. For services to business clients in other EU countries, the client usually handles the VAT instead (this is called "reverse charge").
If you earn only a little, the small business scheme (kleineondernemersregeling, Kleineondernemersregeling: a scheme for very small businesses. If you earn little, you don't add VAT to your bills and don't send VAT forms.) saves you the paperwork:
- What you bill in the Netherlands must stay at or below €20,000 a year, this year and last year.
- You don't add VAT to your bills and don't send VAT forms every three months. But you can't get back the VAT on your costs either.
- Apply in The business part of the Dutch tax office website, where you log in for your business taxes. at least 4 weeks before the start of a three-month period. If you go over €20,000, the KOR ends straight away, from the bill that crosses the limit.
The KOR suits freelancers whose clients are private people, or who have few costs. If you buy expensive equipment, or your clients are businesses that can get the VAT back anyway, normal VAT may work out better.
How side income is taxed
Your side income goes into The Dutch tax office splits income into three boxes. Box 1 is income from work, business and your own home., on top of your salary, and is taxed at your highest rate. The tax office puts it in one of two groups:
| Business profit (winst uit onderneming) | Income from other work (resultaat uit overige werkzaamheden) | |
|---|---|---|
| Normal example | Several clients, your own brand, real business risk, regular work | A job now and then, one client, small amounts |
| Can you take off costs? | Yes | Yes |
| Small business profit discount | Yes: 12.70% of your profit is tax-free, with no rule about hours | No |
| Self-employed discount (€1,200 in 2026) | Only if you spend at least 1,225 hours a year on the business, and more time than on your job (new business owners don't have to meet this last rule) | No |
1,225 hours is around 24 hours a week. So next to a full-time job, you'll rarely get the self-employed discount. The small business profit discount (MKB-winstvrijstelling) is the one that matters for most side businesses.
Why the real rate is close to 50%: between €45,592 and €78,426 of income, every extra euro also makes two In Dutch: heffingskortingen. Discounts on your tax that most people get. They get smaller as your income goes up. smaller. The general tax credit goes down by 6.398%, and the work tax credit by 6.51%. Add the income tax rate of 37.56%, and around half of each extra euro goes to the tax office. On top of that, you pay a healthcare contribution based on income (Zvw) of 4.85% on your profit, but only until your salary and profit together reach €79,409.
The 30% ruling (a tax benefit for some expats) only counts for the salary from the employer who uses it. Freelance profit is taxed in full, as our 30% ruling guide explains. Freelancing next to your job doesn't end your 30% ruling.
Example: a design side business
Lucas earns €65,000 a year as a software engineer. In the evenings, he designs websites for small businesses. In 2026 he bills €8,000 under the KOR and has €1,000 in costs. So his profit is €7,000.
- Small business profit discount: 12.70% of €7,000 = €889. So €6,111 is taxed.
- Income tax and lost credits: €6,111 × (37.56% + 6.398% + 6.51%) = about €3,084.
- Zvw contribution: €6,111 × 4.85% = about €296.
Lucas keeps about €3,620 of his €7,000 profit. If the tax office saw his work as income from other work instead, without the small business profit discount, he would keep about €3,130. Ask the tax office for a provisional tax bill (voorlopige aanslag) for the profit you expect. Then you pay a bit during the year, instead of getting one big bill after your tax return.
Selling things online
Selling your own used things, on Marktplaats or Vinted for example, isn't taxed as income. But buying things to sell them again, or regularly making and selling products, is a business. Under EU rules (called DAC7), websites tell the tax office about sellers once they reach 30 sales or €2,000 in a year. That doesn't mean you owe tax. It means the tax office can see your sales and may ask questions. So keep records.
Insurance and social security
- No safety net for the side business: freelance income doesn't build up unemployment money (WW) or disability money (WIA). Your employee insurance through your job stays the same.
- Responsibility: as a one-person business, you are personally responsible for business debts and claims. Insurance for mistakes in your work (Insurance that pays if a client claims money because of a mistake in your work or advice.) is worth thinking about for advice, IT and design work.
- Health insurance: your Dutch basic health insurance already covers you. Nothing changes.
Your side business checklist
- Read the back of your residence card: does it allow working for yourself?
- Check your work contract for a rule about side work and a rule about intellectual property, and tell your employer if you must.
- Decide if you are running a business. If so, register with the KVK before you send your first bill.
- Choose between normal VAT and the KOR. Apply for the KOR at least 4 weeks before the three-month period you want it to start.
- Keep bills, receipts and records of your hours for 7 years.
- Ask for a provisional tax bill, and put aside about half of your profit for tax.
- Report everything on your income tax return.
Official sources and useful links
- IND: highly skilled migrant permit, including working for yourself
- IND: EU Blue Card
- IND: studying in the Netherlands
- Business.gov.nl: starting a business next to your job
- Business.gov.nl: the small business scheme (KOR)
- KVK: registration fee (Dutch)
- KVK: the 1,225-hour rule (Dutch)
- Tax office: DAC7 for online sellers
This is general information based on the rules in October 2026. Tax numbers are for 2026 and change every year. The text on your residence document decides what work you may do: if it's unclear, ask the IND before you start. For tax questions about your own business, think about asking a tax adviser or bookkeeper.
