Dutch Budget Day 2026: what the 2027 Tax Plan means for freelancers and business owners

On Tuesday 15 September 2026 (Prinsjesdag, the Dutch Budget Day) the government sent the 2027 Tax Plan package to the House of Representatives. The package consists of four bills: the 2027 Tax Plan itself (Belastingplan 2027), Other Tax Measures 2027, the Start-ups and Scale-ups Tax Incentive Act and a technical bill on the global minimum tax. The common thread for business owners: the burden on labour and profit goes up slightly, the last special deductions for the sole proprietorship (eenmanszaak) are phased out further, and nothing has been decided on box 3. This article sets out what changes for freelancers (zzp'ers), in box 1, box 2 and box 3, for cars and for employers.

Box 1: rates up, top-rate threshold frozen

The bill sets the first-bracket rate for 2027 at 36.23% (2026: 35.75%) and the second-bracket rate at 38.16% (2026: 37.56%). The top rate stays at 49.50%. The documents say the government lowers the rates of the first two brackets by 0.06 percentage points; that is a reduction compared with what had already been legislated, not compared with 2026. On balance, everyone with income from work or business profit pays a higher rate in 2027 than this year. In addition, the bracket thresholds are adjusted for only 48% of inflation, and in 2028 for 12.2%. The first-bracket threshold moves to EUR 39,247; the threshold above which the top rate applies stays at EUR 78,426. Anyone just below it who earns more next year reaches the top rate sooner.

The higher rates are offset in part by a higher employed person's tax credit: the bill raises the amounts in the arbeidskorting table by EUR 173, on top of indexation. The maximum comes to EUR 5,929. The benefit is greatest for middle incomes; at higher profits the credit is phased out and mostly the higher rate remains. The elderly person's tax credit goes down by EUR 100. There is one more quiet change for business owners: the income cap for tax-favoured pension and annuity (lijfrente) contributions (EUR 137,800) will not be indexed from 2027 to 2032. Anyone earning above that cap can set aside relatively less in a tax-favoured way year after year.

Freelancers: the last special deductions disappear

The self-employed deduction (zelfstandigenaftrek) falls to EUR 900 in 2027 (2026: EUR 1,200). That is not Budget Day news: it is already law and is the final step of the phase-out. What is new is what happens to the other parts of the entrepreneur's allowance. The starter's allowance (startersaftrek) goes from EUR 2,123 to EUR 10 in 2027 and lapses entirely on 1 January 2028. Along with it, accelerated depreciation for starters disappears in 2028. The starter's allowance for the occupationally disabled lapses in 2029. The discontinuation allowance (stakingsaftrek) goes from EUR 3,630 to EUR 908 in 2027 and the assisting-partner allowance (meewerkaftrek) is cut by three quarters; both are expected to disappear in 2030. The 2027 Tax Plan does not change the SME profit exemption (mkb-winstvrijstelling, 12.7%).

What that does in practice: a starter who meets the hours criterion still deducts EUR 3,323 in 2026 (EUR 1,200 plus EUR 2,123) and EUR 910 in 2027. That is EUR 2,413 less in deductions. After the SME profit exemption and at the first-bracket rate, that costs roughly EUR 760 in income tax per year, apart from the effect on the health insurance contribution (Zvw) and on benefits (toeslagen). Anyone starting in 2026 or 2027 and planning to invest would do well to check whether accelerated depreciation still makes sense while it lasts. Anyone considering winding up the business will see the discontinuation allowance largely disappear from 2027; the timing of the wind-up can make a few thousand euros of profit taxed or untaxed.

Self-Employed Act: clarity on false self-employment moves to 2028

In the King's Speech the government announced a new Self-Employed Act (zelfstandigenwet), meant to give freelancers room to do business while tackling false self-employment. The act works with two tests: whether someone behaves as an entrepreneur, and a test of the working relationship with the client. The intended effective date is 1 January 2028 and the precise criteria are still to follow. Until then the current rules and the current enforcement by the Belastingdienst continue to apply. So nothing changes for freelancers on this point in 2027, but it remains sensible to record for each assignment why it qualifies as genuine self-employment. Update 3 October 2026: since 1 October the draft bill with the criteria has been open for public consultation. A full explanation is in the article on the Self-Employment Act 2028 on this site.

Box 2 and the BV: rates unchanged, wider innovation box

The box 2 rates remain 24.5% and 31%. Through indexation the threshold between the two brackets moves from EUR 68,843 to EUR 69,607 per person; tax partners can each use the lower bracket. The package also contains two technical repairs in box 2: for an inherited substantial interest, double taxation in combination with the excessive-borrowing rule is prevented, and when a company moves its seat to the Netherlands, fair market value counts as the acquisition price. Corporate income tax stays at 19% up to EUR 200,000 of profit and 25.8% above that. For smaller innovative BVs, the maximum of the flat-rate scheme in the innovation box rises from EUR 25,000 to EUR 100,000 per year. For start-ups and scale-ups there will be a separate scheme under which 65% of the benefit from employee share options is taxed, and only when the shares are sold.

Box 3: no measure, but four scenarios

The 2027 Tax Plan contains no box 3 measure. The government writes that it has not yet managed to reach a proposal that can count on broad support in parliament. For 2027 the current system therefore continues: a deemed return per asset category, with the option of demonstrating the actual return if it is lower, a rate of 36% and a tax-free allowance that moves through indexation from EUR 59,357 to EUR 60,098 per person. The Actual Return Box 3 Act was passed by the House of Representatives on 12 February 2026 with an intended effective date of 1 January 2028. A day after Budget Day, on 16 September, the government sent four scenarios to parliament, ranging from improvements to the existing bill to a capital gains tax, and asked the Senate to put its handling of the bill on hold for now. Whether 2028 will be met is therefore uncertain. Anyone with box 3 assets would do well to keep documenting the actual return each year.

Cars and travel: 25 cents per kilometre and a softer youngtimer rule

The tax-free mileage allowance goes from EUR 0.23 to EUR 0.25, with retroactive effect to 1 January 2026. That amount also applies to the business owner who drives business kilometres in a private car and charges those costs against profit. The youngtimer rule is treated less harshly than the law provided: instead of a jump from 16 to 25 years, the age threshold moves to 17 years on 1 January 2027 and to 20 years on 1 January 2028. For cars that were already in use by the same person before 2026 and turn 17 in 2027, the rule may be applied for the whole of 2027. Already law is the extra employer levy on petrol, diesel and hybrid cars that employees also use privately: from 1 January 2027, 12% of the catalogue value per year, payable through payroll taxes and not recoverable from the employee. The transitional rule for cars already made available before 2027 is extended to 31 December 2030. The excise duty discount on petrol and diesel continues until 2028.

Employers: slightly more free space, staff discount no longer exempt

The free space in the work-related costs scheme (werkkostenregeling) goes from 2% to 2.16% in 2027 over the first EUR 400,000 of the wage bill; above that it remains 1.18%. That increase was already law. What is new is that the specific exemption for discounts on the company's own products (20% discount, at most EUR 500 per employee per year) lapses in 2027; after that such a discount can only be placed in the free space. The premium for the Disability Fund (Arbeidsongeschiktheidsfonds) goes up because the government collects the contribution to higher defence spending that way; the premium percentages for 2027 are not yet known. The minimum youth wage also goes up in 2027.

Investment, VAT and other measures

The energy investment allowance goes from 40% to 45.5% of the investment amount in 2027. The reduced VAT rate on ornamental horticulture (flowers and plants) and on hot-air balloon flights lapses on 1 January 2028; 21% will apply from then. Transfer tax on homes that do not become the buyer's main residence, such as investment properties, falls from 8% to 7% in 2027; the 2% rate for owner-occupied homes and the first-time buyer exemption stay the same. The deduction for specific healthcare costs is abolished in 2028, without transitional rules; the government is working on a targeted scheme for the chronically ill. The tax on tap water goes up by 10 cents per cubic metre in 2027.

The calculators on this site use the final 2026 figures. The 2027 figures only become a regular tax year in them once the Belastingdienst has published the tables; until then 2027 remains a forecast. Want to know what these plans mean for your situation, for example for your provisional assessment, a planned investment or the choice between a sole proprietorship and a BV? Dutch Tax House works it out. Feel free to get in touch or request a callback.