Do you need a G-account as a self-employed plasterer if the contractor asks for one?

No. If you work as a self-employed plasterer without staff, you will not get a G-account. The tax authority does not cooperate, even if your client demands it. You do not pay any payroll taxes, so there is nothing to deposit into that account.

What you do instead: you request a statement of payment behaviour and show the refusal letter to the contractor. If you work for a finishing company, since 1 September 2026 that company also asks for your VCA or Afbouw safety certificate and your liability insurance. That does not come from the tax rules, but from the Afbouw collective agreement.

In this article

1. Can you get a G-account as a self-employed plasterer without staff?
2. So why does a contractor still ask for a G-account?
3. How do you show the contractor that you cannot get a G-account?
4. What can the contractor do to limit the risk?
5. Do you work through your own private limited company: is it different then?
6. Which papers has a finishing company asked for since 1 September 2026?
7. What must you arrange if you bring in a colleague yourself?
8. Do you charge VAT on your invoice to the contractor?

Can you get a G-account as a self-employed plasterer without staff?

No. A G-account is a blocked bank account that a subcontractor can only use to pay payroll taxes and VAT to the tax authority. If you are self-employed without staff, the tax authority does not cooperate in opening one, because you do not withhold payroll taxes (Belastingdienst, G-account).

That does not change if your client insists. If the client wants or demands that you have a G-account, the tax authority still does not cooperate. And it makes no difference whether you sometimes hire in staff yourself (Belastingdienst, brochure on liability for payroll taxes in subcontracting, 7.7).

For a G-account you must meet two conditions at once: carry out subcontracted work and be a withholding agent for payroll taxes. Being a withholding agent means that you withhold wage tax and contributions from employees' wages (Belastingdienst, brochure, 7.6). A plasterer who works alone does not meet the second condition.

So why does a contractor still ask for a G-account?

Out of habit and out of fear of chain liability. Chain liability means that a contractor must pay if a subcontractor does not pay the payroll taxes. The law makes the contractor jointly and severally liable for the wage tax of the subcontractor and of every next link (Recovery of State Taxes Act 1990, article 35).

It concerns payroll taxes: wage tax, national insurance contributions, employee insurance contributions and the income-related Zvw contribution (Belastingdienst, chain liability). If the contractor deposits part of the invoice into the subcontractor's G-account, that amount is deducted from what the contractor may have to pay (Recovery of State Taxes Act 1990, article 35(5)).

With a self-employed person without staff the contractor in principle does not run that risk. You have no staff and pay no payroll taxes, so the contractor cannot become liable for them (Belastingdienst, brochure, 5.1). Incidentally, there is no fixed percentage for the G-account. The contractor and the subcontractor agree on it together (brochure, 7.2).

How do you show the contractor that you cannot get a G-account?

With the tax authority's refusal letter. You request a statement of payment behaviour for chain liability. Because you do not pay payroll taxes, you are informed in writing that you will not get a statement. You can show that written refusal to your contractor (Belastingdienst, statement of payment behaviour for chain liability).

You can fill in the form online or download it and send it. The tax authority aims to decide within 1 week, but because of the many requests it currently takes about 2 weeks (Belastingdienst, statement of payment behaviour for chain liability). So request it before you start a new project, and keep the letter with your order papers.

If the contractor wants to know whether you pay your taxes, there is a different statement. With the statement of payment behaviour for compliance with tax obligations you show that you meet your filing and payment obligations. You can request it with your citizen service number (Belastingdienst, statement of payment behaviour for compliance with tax obligations).

What can the contractor do to limit the risk?

The tax authority names three things: asking the subcontractor for a recent statement of payment behaviour, keeping good records and depositing into a G-account. Excluding every risk is not possible (Belastingdienst, brochure, chapter 6). With a self-employed person without staff the G-account drops out, and the statement becomes the refusal letter.

Paying money directly to the tax authority, as a kind of deposit, is not a solution. The tax authority writes that this is not possible as protection against this liability. Only a deposit into a G-account gives indemnity, and only for the amount deposited (Belastingdienst, brochure, 6 and 7).

The real risk lies in passing work on. If you pass the work on to someone else who uses staff for it, you and your client are liable (Belastingdienst, brochure, 5.1). So a contractor mainly wants to know that you do the work yourself, or that you consult beforehand on who does it on your behalf.

What the contractor keeps is mainly your basic details: your name and address, your Chamber of Commerce number and your VAT number. Those are also the subcontractor details the tax authority mentions for good records (Belastingdienst, brochure, 6.2). On top of that come the refusal letter and the papers the Afbouw collective agreement asks for.

Do you work through your own private limited company: is it different then?

Yes, if your company pays you a salary. A director and major shareholder (dga) is someone who owns a large part of the shares in their own company and works there. The contractor can be held liable for the payroll taxes on the salary of a subcontractor's dga (Belastingdienst, brochure, 5.2).

If your company is a withholding agent and works as a subcontractor, it meets the conditions for a G-account (Belastingdienst, brochure, 7.6). A contractor who then asks for a G-account is asking for something the company can arrange. You apply with the form Aanvraag g-rekening, after you have a payroll tax number (Belastingdienst, G-account).

Which papers has a finishing company asked for since 1 September 2026?

Your VCA or the Afbouw safety certificate, and a copy of your liability insurance with cover of at least € 2,500,000 per event. That is in article 6 of the Afbouw collective agreement. The minister has declared that article generally binding, so it also applies to finishing companies that are not members of the employers' organisation. Paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 apply from 1 September 2026 (Government Gazette 2026, 22163).

VCA is a certificate showing that you passed a course in safe working. An AVB is a business liability insurance: it pays if you cause damage to others during the work. The finishing company must also make sure that you comply with the health and safety rules, provide your own protective equipment and have the diploma the work requires (Government Gazette 2026, 22163, article 6(4)).

If you hold the Afbouw safety certificate, the finishing company has in any case met that check (Government Gazette 2026, 22163, article 6(5)). The company must also work in substance according to the Afbouw model agreement. That is a sample contract from employers and unions that the tax authority has assessed. It can be used until 31 December 2029 (Belastingdienst, Afbouw model agreement).

Why the emphasis on a safety course? A review of 22 studies on training in safe and healthy work found strong evidence that training improves workers' behaviour. For fewer symptoms, injuries and illness the evidence was insufficient (Robson et al., 2012). So a course helps with safe working, but is no guarantee against accidents.

What must you arrange if you bring in a colleague yourself?

Then you include the finishing company's requirements in your own agreement with that colleague. The collective agreement says that a self-employed person who in turn brings in another self-employed person or subcontractor for the job must include the requirements in that agreement (Government Gazette 2026, 22163, article 6(1)). The Afbouw model agreement must then also apply to that arrangement (Belastingdienst, Afbouw model agreement, article 3.3).

If that colleague has staff, the chain liability becomes real. You are then that colleague's contractor and can become liable for the payroll taxes of their employees, just like your own client (Belastingdienst, brochure, 5.1). Then ask that colleague for a statement of payment behaviour yourself, and consider depositing into their G-account.

Do you charge VAT on your invoice to the contractor?

No, you reverse charge the VAT. The reverse charge scheme applies to physical work on immovable property, such as building, maintaining and repairing, unless you do more than 50% of the work in your own workshop (Belastingdienst, reverse charge for subcontracting). The contractor then declares the VAT on your work.

The rate does stay on the invoice. Plastering work as a subcontractor keeps the reduced rate of 9%, both between main contractor and client and between main contractor and subcontractor (Decree on table I, Government Gazette 2025, 39463, item B 8, part 9). That applies to homes older than two years. Installing a plasterboard partition or laying a floor remains 21%, so you show that separately.

Sources

• Belastingdienst, G-account (G-rekening), accessed 28 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, Liability for payroll taxes in subcontracting (Aansprakelijkheid voor loonheffingen bij onderaanneming), brochure AL 529 - 1Z*26FD, accessed 28 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Recovery of State Taxes Act 1990 (Invorderingswet 1990), article 35, in force from 1 October 2026. wetten.overheid.nl
• Belastingdienst, Chain liability (Ketenaansprakelijkheid), accessed 28 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, Statement of payment behaviour for chain liability (subcontractor), accessed 28 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, Statement of payment behaviour for compliance with tax obligations, accessed 28 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, Declaration of amended provisions of the Afbouw collective agreement as generally binding, 15 July 2026, Government Gazette 2026, 22163, article 6. officielebekendmakingen.nl
• Belastingdienst, Afbouw model agreement (NOA, FNV and CNV Vakmensen), no. 908202110378410, assessed 29 September 2022, accessed 28 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Belastingdienst, Reverse charge for subcontracting and hiring out staff, accessed 28 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• State Secretary for Finance, Decree on VAT explaining table I (Besluit omzetbelasting toelichting tabel I), 22 December 2025, no. 2025-30110, Government Gazette 2025, 39463, item B 8. officielebekendmakingen.nl
• Robson, L.S., Stephenson, C.M., Schulte, P.A. et al. (2012). A systematic review of the effectiveness of occupational health and safety training. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 38(3), 193-208. doi.org