Interim manager: self-employed or an employee after all?

An interim manager is not automatically self-employed. It depends on how the work is actually done. If you replace a manager on the payroll, lead their team and the organisation gives you instructions, then according to the government there is an employment contract for the duration of the assignment.

This affects both the interim manager and the organisation that hires them. Since 2026 the Belastingdienst has again been imposing fines for intent or gross negligence, and from 2027 checks will be back to normal. Your own private limited company, a high rate or an agency in between does not change the test either.

In this article

1. Is an interim manager self-employed or an employee?
2. Why is the organisational consultant self-employed and the interim manager not?
3. What do the courts and the Belastingdienst look at?
4. Do your own company, a high rate or an agency protect you?
5. What changes on 31 December 2026?
6. What happens if it turns out to be employment after all?
7. How do you set up an interim assignment that holds up?

Is an interim manager self-employed or an employee?

That depends on practice, not on the contract or the job title. Someone is an employee if they work under the authority of another person and receive pay for it. Authority means that the other person may decide what you do and how you do it. Whether the parties intended an employment contract does not matter (Supreme Court, Deliveroo, 24 March 2023, para. 3.2.4).

For interim management this is difficult. A manager by definition works inside the organisation: they lead people, follow the company's rules and report to a director. Those are exactly the points that suggest employment.

You can read more about the DBA Act in general, and what to watch for when you hire freelancers, in The DBA Act and false self-employment. This article is about the interim manager and the consultant.

Why is the organisational consultant self-employed and the interim manager not?

Because the consultant delivers a result and the interim manager fills a position. On 16 January 2026 the government published short examples per sector, including two from consultancy work (Government of the Netherlands, Examples per sector).

The organisational consultant maps out reorganisations, draws up a plan of action and sometimes helps carry it out. They find their own clients. The plan comes with an obligation of result: they are held accountable if the result is not achieved. They are free in their approach and the content, and their pay depends on success. They do have an email address at the client and keep to the working hours. Even so, the verdict is: no employment contract.

The interim manager replaces a sick manager on the payroll and is responsible for about 25 FTE. They work fairly independently, but the company can give them instructions and they keep within the organisation's framework. The work is structural and is also done by managers on the payroll. The risks lie with the client. The verdict: an employment contract with the company for the duration of the assignment.

Note what is not decisive in the examples. Working hours and an email address at the client do not make the consultant an employee. And the short duration of the interim assignment does not make the interim manager self-employed.

What do the courts and the Belastingdienst look at?

At all circumstances together. In the Deliveroo ruling the Supreme Court listed a range of factors, such as the nature and duration of the work, who decides the working hours, how embedded the work is in the organisation, whether you must do the work personally, the pay and whether you bear commercial risk (Supreme Court, Deliveroo, para. 3.2.5).

It also counts whether you behave as an entrepreneur: your own reputation, acquisition, the number of clients and how long you usually commit to one client. In 2025 the Supreme Court said there is no ranking between the factors, and that entrepreneurship weighs neither more nor less than the rest (Supreme Court, Uber, 21 February 2025, para. 3.3).

A contract clause only counts to the extent that it has meaning in practice (Supreme Court, Deliveroo). So a clause saying you may send a substitute helps little if the client wants you in particular and substitution never happens.

Research shows why interim management drifts. Inkson, Heising and Rousseau interviewed 50 interim managers. They start with a businesslike, short-term arrangement with the organisation, but there are forces that can change that relationship over time (Inkson et al., Human Relations, 2001). An assignment that keeps being extended therefore looks more and more like a job.

Do your own company, a high rate or an agency protect you?

No. The government writes that false self-employment can exist even with a high hourly rate: "A high hourly rate alone is therefore not enough." A company does not prevent it either: the legal form in itself does not prevent false self-employment (Government of the Netherlands, FAQ on false self-employment). False self-employment means that someone works as a self-employed person while in practice it is employment.

The same rules apply via an agency. The client may also be liable for payroll taxes or VAT that the intermediary does not pay (Government of the Netherlands, FAQ). The Belastingdienst sees that clients want to shift the risk via an agency, and therefore wants insight into the whole chain and triangle (Belastingdienst, Enforcement plan on working relationships 2026).

There is an approved model agreement from Bovib for hiring through an agency. You may use existing model agreements until 31 December 2029. They only give certainty if you actually work as described in them (Belastingdienst, Model agreement for independent professionals (Bovib)). For an interim manager filling a permanent management position, that is difficult.

International research points to the same risk. Boeri and colleagues found in data from the United Kingdom, the United States and Italy that solo self-employment is sometimes used to hide what is in fact a dependent job (Boeri et al., Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2020). That is not a Dutch figure, but it explains why the government looks at practice.

What changes on 31 December 2026?

From 31 December 2026 a presumption of employment applies to a low hourly rate. Anyone who works for a business at an hourly rate below the threshold is presumed to be an employee (Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 2026, 158, article 7:610aa Civil Code and Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 2026, 207). If the worker relies on it, the client must prove that there is no employment contract (Ondernemersplein).

On the amount: the law states at most € 36 an hour, the government states € 38. The amount as at 31 December 2026 has yet to be confirmed. The presumption only works in civil law. The Belastingdienst, UWV and the Labour Inspectorate do not test against it themselves (Parliamentary paper 36 783, D).

For most interim managers and consultants nothing changes as a result, because their rate is well above that threshold. The existing test therefore remains the only one for them: the factors from the Deliveroo ruling. The plan to put "working within the organisation" into the law (the VBAR bill) was dropped on 10 March 2026 (Parliamentary paper 36 783, no. 13).

What happens if it turns out to be employment after all?

Then the client must pay payroll taxes as an employer, and the Belastingdienst can claim them retrospectively. No fines were imposed over 2025. In 2026 the Belastingdienst does not impose fines for administrative failures, but does impose fines for intent or gross negligence (Belastingdienst, Working relationships and enforcement).

From 1 January 2027 the rest of the soft landing also ends and checks must be part of normal enforcement again (Parliamentary paper 36 783, D). Retrospective claims never go back further than 1 January 2025, unless there is bad faith or an earlier instruction was not followed (Belastingdienst). Only in 2030 can the Belastingdienst again go back up to five years (Enforcement plan 2026).

It also has consequences in civil law. If there is an employment contract, the interim manager has the rights of an employee, such as continued payment of 70% of wages during illness, for up to 104 weeks (article 7:629 Civil Code). For the interim manager personally, their status as an entrepreneur for income tax may be questioned.

How do you set up an interim assignment that holds up?

Make it an assignment with a result, not the replacement of a position. That is the difference between the two government examples. The closer the assignment is to a permanent job, the greater the risk.

• Describe the result: a reorganisation, a plan, a handover to a new manager. Agree on what you will be held accountable for.
• Decide yourself how you work. The client says what needs to happen, not how. Record that you receive no instructions on how to carry it out, and make sure that is how it goes.
• Bear business risk: a fixed price or a part that depends on the result, and no continued pay during illness or holidays.
• Show that you are an entrepreneur: several clients over the years, your own acquisition, your own website and reputation. Tell the client this when needed.
• Limit the duration and be critical of extensions. An assignment that keeps being extended looks more like a job.

Is it nevertheless about replacing a sick or departed manager, with staff responsibility and within the organisation's framework? Then a temporary employment contract or hiring through a temporary employment or secondment agency is often the safer route for the client.

Sources

• Government of the Netherlands, Examples per sector (self-employed: yes or no, in Dutch), published 16 January 2026, examples Consultancy and Interim manager. rijksoverheid.nl
• Government of the Netherlands, FAQ on false self-employment (in Dutch), accessed 31 October 2026. rijksoverheid.nl
• Supreme Court of the Netherlands 24 March 2023, ECLI:NL:HR:2023:443 (Deliveroo), paras. 3.2.4 and 3.2.5. uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl
• Supreme Court of the Netherlands 21 February 2025, ECLI:NL:HR:2025:319 (Uber), para. 3.3. uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl
• Belastingdienst, Working relationships and enforcement (in Dutch), accessed 31 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, Enforcement plan on working relationships 2026 (in Dutch), version 2.0, 31 December 2025. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, Model agreement for independent professionals (Bovib, in Dutch), 91321.69656.1, valid until 31 December 2029. belastingdienst.nl
• Act of 18 June 2026 on a presumption of an employment contract based on an hourly rate, Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 2026, 158, article 7:610aa Civil Code. officielebekendmakingen.nl
• Commencement decree, Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 2026, 207 (in force on 31 December 2026). officielebekendmakingen.nl
• Parliamentary paper 36 783, D, Memorandum in response to the report (Senate), 5 June 2026. officielebekendmakingen.nl
• Minister of Work and Participation, letter on the presumption bill, Parliamentary paper 36 783, no. 13, 16 April 2026 (in Dutch). officielebekendmakingen.nl
• Government of the Netherlands, Self-Employed Persons Act offers more clarity and recognition for freelancers, news item 1 October 2026 (in Dutch). rijksoverheid.nl
• Ondernemersplein, Low hourly rate of a freelancer can lead to an employment contract (in Dutch), accessed 31 October 2026. ondernemersplein.overheid.nl
• Dutch Civil Code Book 7, article 7:629. wetten.overheid.nl
• Inkson, K., Heising, A. & Rousseau, D.M. (2001). The interim manager: prototype of the 21st-century worker? Human Relations, 54(3), 259-284. doi.org
• Boeri, T., Giupponi, G., Krueger, A.B. & Machin, S. (2020). Solo self-employment and alternative work arrangements: a cross-country perspective on the changing composition of jobs. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 34(1), 170-195. doi.org