Major changes to reporting international employees working in the Netherlands

From 1 March 2020 all foreign employers, who are located in the EU and Switzerland, will have to report in advance that their staff will work physically in the Netherlands.

The Dutch client of these foreign employers is mandatory obliged to verify if the mandatary notification has been submitted. We understand that this verification has to be done within five days. This notification obligation has a significant impact on both the foreign employer and Dutch companies. Both need to take measures to be compliant as of 1 March 2020. Be aware that the Dutch authorities will impose substantial penalties in case your company does not comply with the notification obligation.

What does this specifically mean to your company?

Is your company a foreign employer?

Foreign employers who; will work in the Netherlands with their own employees; post employees to their own branch or entity in the Netherlands; are staff agencies, posting their temporary workers at clients in the Netherlands; or are self-employed persons working in one of the designated sectors, will need to notify in advance their activities in the Netherlands. This obligation applies only on new activities in the Netherlands as of 1 March 2020. This notification can be submitted via an online portal - meldloket.postedworkers.nl.

According to earlier publication this portal should be operational as of 1 February 2020, so that it can already be viewed and used without being a legal duty.

Please note that at the moment of writing this message, the portal is not yet accessible. However, it is already clear that, among other things, the following information needs to be reported during this notification:

• the identity of the reporter
• the company details
• the contact
• the identity of the Dutch client
• the sector in which the activities are carried out in the Netherlands
• the address of the workplace
• the expected duration of the work
• the identity of the person responsible for paying the wage
• the identity of employees who come to work in the Netherlands
• the presence of an A1 statement or other proof that demonstrates where the social premiums are paid for the employee (s), due to the contribution to the applicable social security scheme.

The majority of the transport sector is excluded from the notification obligation. Exceptions also have been made to the notification obligation for some categories of work. This includes the following activities:

• employees who perform activities in the Netherlands for initial assembly or installation activities (not construction sector) related to delivered products during a period of no more than eight days
• employees who carry out urgent maintenance, repairs or perform software installations during a maximum period of 12 consecutive weeks within a period of 36 weeks
• business meetings during a period of no more than 13 consecutive weeks in 52 weeks
• various other activities such as attending scientific conferences and various types of employees such as researchers, international athletes, artists. These categories need to take different conditions for this exemption into account.

Other rules are applicable for employers that hire no more than nine employees. They are entitled to an annual notification, provided they have performed:

• at least three times activities in the Netherlands in the previous calendar year
• are located at a maximum of 100 km from the Dutch border
• perform work in a recurring pattern.

However, this applies not on all foreign employers. For example, employers in the construction and staffing industry cannot make use of this annual notification possibility.

The Government prepared checklists for both the foreign employers and self-employed person. However, these are only available in Dutch and it is not clear whether translation will be published as well. Nevertheless, we have attached these checklists.

Does your company contract foreign employers?

In this case you need to verify whether the foreign employer has this notification obligation. If this is the case your company has the mandatory obligation to verify whether this notification has been timely, completely and correctly submitted. We recommend discussing this as soon as possible with your foreign clients to inform them about this new obligation and make arrangement so that your company is able to verify the notifications.

Further questions

Please contact your local Grant Thornton member firm or speak to:

Niels Dekker
Partner Global Mobility Services
Grant Thornton Expatriate Services B.V.
E niels.dekker@nl.gt.com

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