Netherlands ZZP / Freelancer Calculator

€1,200 for 2026, provided you clear the 1,225-hour urencriterium. This has been shrinking sharply for several years by legislative design, part of a multi-year phase-down intended to narrow the tax gap between employees and the self-employed. It was €2,470 in 2025 and well over €7,000 earlier in the decade, so if you're using an older article or spreadsheet, it's almost certainly out of date.

An extra €2,123 on top of the zelfstandigenaftrek, available for at most 3 of your first 5 years as a self-employed entrepreneur, provided you also clear the urencriterium. It's worth noting the startersaftrek itself is scheduled for abolition from 1 January 2027 with no transitional arrangement, so 2026 is the last full year new and existing starters can claim it.

The urencriterium requires at least 1,225 hours a year working in your business (roughly 24 hours a week averaged across the year), and that has to be the majority of your total working time if you also do other paid work. Miss it, and you lose both the zelfstandigenaftrek and startersaftrek entirely, no partial credit. The MKB-winstvrijstelling still applies regardless, since it doesn't require the hours test.

It's a flat 12.70% reduction applied to your profit after the zelfstandigenaftrek and startersaftrek have already been subtracted, not to your raw revenue or gross profit. Every qualifying entrepreneur gets it automatically via the tax return, regardless of whether they clear the urencriterium. The remaining amount after this exemption is what's actually taxed as Box 1 income.

The Box 1 income tax bands are identical (35.75% up to €38,883, 37.56% up to €78,426, 49.50% above), but the path to taxable income is completely different. Employees are taxed on gross salary directly; ZZP'ers first deduct business costs, then the zelfstandigenaftrek/startersaftrek, then the MKB-winstvrijstelling, and only the remainder is taxed. On modest profit levels those deductions can meaningfully lower your effective tax rate compared to an employee earning the same gross figure.

No. Self-employed people pay Zvw (Zorgverzekeringswet) contributions as a percentage of profit up to a cap, settled via the tax return rather than withheld automatically, and the exact rate/cap changes year to year. Most freelancers budget for it separately alongside their private zorgverzekering premium, so it's flagged here rather than estimated, to avoid giving a false sense of precision.

It uses the confirmed 2026 zelfstandigenaftrek (€1,200), startersaftrek (€2,123), MKB-winstvrijstelling (12.70%), and Box 1 tax bands. It doesn't model Zvw contributions, the general tax credit, VAT/BTW, KVK registration costs, or the oudedagsreserve (retirement reserve). For your exact filing figures, use your boekhouder or the Belastingdienst's own tools.