Freelancers are fast and flexible — and since Dutch DBA enforcement resumed in 2025, they carry compliance risk that most companies quietly underprice.
A good freelancer can be excellent. The structural problems are around the person, not in them: reclassification risk under the Wet DBA (enforcement resumed 1 January 2025 after an eight-year pause), zero continuity guarantee, self-reported skill claims, and rates that spike with every market wave. A placement model absorbs those risks: Probegin employs and payrolls the specialist, vets on real exercises, replaces on misfit, and gives you one Dutch counterparty.
| Direct freelancer (zzp) | Probegin placement | |
|---|---|---|
| DBA / classification risk | Yours — fines and back-payroll on reclassification | Ours — employed and payrolled by Probegin |
| Vetting | Portfolio + interview you run | Role-specific exercise battery, documented |
| Continuity | Notice period, then gone | Replacement from a 400K+ network |
| Trial protection | None | 60-day trial period |
| Rate transparency | Per negotiation | All-in rate, one invoice |
Since January 2025 the Dutch tax authority again enforces against schijnzelfstandigheid — freelancers who function as employees. Long-running, embedded, single-client engagements (exactly how companies use senior freelance developers) are the risk profile. The safe structures are genuine employment or proper secondment; that legal reality is quietly repricing the freelance market and is one reason placement models are growing. This is general information, not legal advice — have your counsel review your specific constructions.
Short, genuinely independent, multi-client work — a two-week audit, a one-off design sprint. For anything embedded and lasting, the placement math wins on risk alone, before the vetting and continuity are even counted. See how our rates and engagement models work.
Headline rates are comparable once you count a freelancer's true cost (rate + your compliance risk + replacement gaps). Probegin quotes one all-in rate — no hidden employer burdens land on you.
Probegin. The specialist is contracted and payrolled by us; you buy capacity from a Dutch company with standard B2B terms.
Frequently done — we can onboard a specialist you've found into our structure, giving you the compliance safety and them a stable arrangement.
Bring the role or the question — we'll tell you honestly what fits, with rates on the table.
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