Prinsjesdag Update 2026 – IB entrepreneur & ZZP
The Jetten cabinet's first tax announcement for the year 2027 contains many provisions that affect sole proprietors and self-employed professionals. A limited number of measures work to the advantage of sole proprietors, but unfortunately, most work to their disadvantage.
To ensure you are well prepared, we are sharing with you the most important changes shared with us by NOAB. Please note that these are only matters that are particularly important for entrepreneurs in the income tax sphere, such as yourself. Apart from these measures, many more tax changes have been announced. In addition, measures were already announced last year that will take effect as of 2027 (or even later).
Something important to be mindful off. This note is written based on the content of the 2027 Tax Plan, as published on September 15, 2026. It is possible that the final decisions of the plans in the final legislation will differ. This is even more likely, as the new House of Representatives will also have an opinion on the matter. This year, the Jetten cabinet is a minority cabinet and concessions will have to be made to either the left-wing or the right-wing parties in order to successfully steer the plans through parliament.
Contents of this article
Box 1 income tax rate
The income tax rate in Box 1, in which your business profits are taxed, is being slightly increased.
The rates for 2027 will be as follows:
Box 1-income | IB/PH | |
From | To | |
- | €39.247 | 36,23% |
€39.247 | €78.426 | 38,16% |
€78.426 | - | 49,50% |
The percentage of 38.16% is also the percentage at which deductions in the profit range, such as the self-employment deduction and mortgage interest, are deducted. If we take into account the 12.7% SME profit exemption, the effective Box 1 rates on your business profit are as follows:
Box 1-income | IB/PH | |
From | To | |
- | €39.247 | 31,629% |
€39.247 | €78.426 | 33,314% |
€78.426 | - | 44,654% |
However, these are the ‘basic’ income tax rates. For example, the labour tax credit (AK), general tax credit (AHK), and income-dependent contribution under the Health Insurance Act (ZVW) have not yet been taken into account. The general tax credit, a tax exemption enjoyed by everyone, is being slightly increased for everyone. While it amounts to a maximum of €3,0115 for 2026, it will reach a maximum of €3,154 in 2027.
The labour tax credit, to which you as self-employed individuals are also entitled, is also being increased from a maximum of €5,712 by an additional €173 to a maximum of €5,929, alongside the inflation adjustment. However, these are provisional figures. This will be adjusted in mid-November, when the statutory minimum wage for 2027 is determined.
You are also liable for the income-dependent ZVW contribution on your profit. For you as an entrepreneur in 2027, this amounts to 5.02%, with a maximum contribution income of €82,547. These are also provisional figures. The maximum premium will then amount to €4,143.
Self-employed deduction
The self-employed deduction (ZA) is a tax deduction for entrepreneurs who meet the hours criterion, meaning that, as a general rule, they work at least 1,225 hours per year in their business.
It had previously been announced that the self-employed deduction would be phased out more rapidly. This year (2026), the self-employed deduction is still €1,200; according to plan, it will be reduced to just €900 next year. The start-up deduction will remain at this level for the coming years.
In a table overview:
Year | Deduction |
2025 | 2.470 |
2026 | 1.200 |
2027 | 900 |
What does that mean specifically for your situation? Due to the reduction in the self-employment deduction, your taxable profit will increase in the coming years. And due to the increase in taxable profit, you will owe more Box 1 tax.
Start-up deduction
The start-up deduction, as part of the self-employment deduction, is a tax deduction for new entrepreneurs intended to stimulate entrepreneurship in the Netherlands. The deduction amounts to €2,123 per year and can be used for a maximum of three years.
The start-up deduction will be reduced to €10 in 2027 (because, from a legislative perspective, it cannot be abolished all at once in 2027) and will be abolished entirely in 2028.
Based on a deduction rate of 38.16%, this means that start-ups are being deprived of a tax subsidy of €810 for three years, or a total of €2,430.
Arbitrary write off for start-up entrepreneurs (WASO)
The WASO offers start-ups the opportunity to accelerate the depreciation of business assets in which they invest. Due to this WASO, a start-up pays slightly less income tax in the first few years because of the depreciation costs brought forward, but slightly more in later years.
The WASO will be abolished in 2028.
Cessation deduction
The cessation deduction is a tax deduction of up to €3,630 granted to an entrepreneur if they cease their business entirely. This allows (part of) the cessation profit to remain outside the scope of taxation through, for example, hidden reserves, the dissolution of the fiscal old-age reserve, or a disinvestment surcharge.
The Cabinet is also phasing out the cessation deduction. The deduction will be reduced by 75% effective January 1, 2027, and will be abolished entirely effective 2030.
In a table overview:
Year | Deduction |
2025 to 2026 | 3.630 |
2027 to 2029 | 908 |
from 2030 | 0 |
This means that the cessation deduction can still be fully utilized in 2026. As a result, it can sometimes be more attractive to strike in 2026 instead of 2027.
Energy Investment Allowance (EIA)
The deduction percentage for the Energy Investment Allowance (EIA) will be increased from 40% to 45.5% effective 2027.
However, please be aware if you choose to wait until 2027 to invest due to the increase in the percentage. Certain EIA investments may still appear in the 2026 Energy List, but no longer in the 2027 Energy List. This list will not be published until around Christmas. If you wish to carry out those investments, it is better to do so this year rather than next year to make sure the investment will be accepted.
Incidentally, the cabinet previously announced a merger of the EIA, the Environmental Investment Allowance (MIA), and accelerated depreciation for environmental investments (VAMIL), but we find no mention of this in the 2027 Tax announcement.
Abolishment of exemption for industry-specific products
The exemption for industry-specific products under the Work-related Costs Scheme (WKR) will be abolished in 2027.
This concerns the tax-free discount that employers can give their employees of up to €500 per year for their own products, with a maximum discount of 20%. Examples include staff discounts on groceries, clothing, electronics, family subscriptions, flight tickets, mortgage advice, or insurance premiums.
Pseudo levy for passenger cars
An important legislative change has been announced for employers who make a company car available to their employees. This is a new measure that takes effect on January 1, 2027. This measure applies not only to private limited companies (BVs), but also to entrepreneurs subject to income tax (IB) with employees. Income tax entrepreneurs without staff are not affected by this measure.
In short, the regulation works as follows: the employer must personally pay an additional amount of payroll tax in the form of a final levy, equal to 12% of the car's list price. Only if the car is older than 30 years is the 12% tax calculated on the fair market value instead of the list price. Suppose you have an employee with a company car valued at €50,000. This will cost you 12% x €50,000 = €6,000 in final levy per year. Please note that this is a tax you must pay yourself; you may not pass it on to your employee.
The final levy is calculated per calendar month, but as an employer, you only have to pay it in the second month following the end of the relevant calendar year. This applies for the first time regarding 2027, so the payment must be made for the first time in February 2028.
When does this pseudo-levy apply:
if an employer makes a passenger car available to an employee, which the employee is also permitted to use privately. Private use also includes commuting. If an employee does not use the car privately, not even for commuting, the pseudo-levy does not apply;
it applies only to cars with CO2 emissions. It does not apply to a completely emission-free car. However, it does apply to hybrid cars;
it applies to all types of cars that are not completely emission-free, including, for example, campervans, passenger vans for healthcare transport (with a maximum of 9 seats), and even hearses. It does not apply to, for example, delivery vans, motorcycles, and tractors.
This tax is entirely separate from the tax the employee already pays as a taxable benefit for private use. It is an additional tax for the employer.
Fortunately, a transitional arrangement does apply. It comes down to this:
the final levy applies only to cars that are made available for the first time on or after January 1, 2027;
if an employee is already provided with a car before January 1, 2027, the employer does not yet have to pay a final levy on this;
but the latter only applies until January 1, 2031. If, for example, you make a new petrol or diesel car with a 5-year lease contract available to your employee on December 1, 2026, a remittance obligation still applies to that car from January 1, 2031.
Box 3
Since 2021, there has been turmoil regarding Box 3, the tax levied on savings and investments. And this chaos has only worsened in recent months, even after Prinsjesdag 2026.
The latest development is that a new law has been enacted: the Box 3 Act on Actual Returns. It was originally scheduled to take effect in 2028. The House of Representatives has already accepted the bill, but the Senate has not yet.
In short, the Box 3 Act on Actual Returns comes down to this:
You will pay tax on your actual return in Box 3. Consequently, the system of the notional return is completely abolished;
You will receive a tax-free income of €1,800 per person. For tax partners, this amounts to €3,600 combined;
If you incur losses in a year, for example due to a stock market crash, you may offset that loss against subsequent years;
Expenses become deductible. This is particularly important for owners of real estate in Box 3: paid property tax, insurance premiums, maintenance costs, water board charges, etc., become deductible;
Interest expenses are also deductible, including for consumer loans;
Not only regular income (interest, dividends, rent, etc.) is taxed, but also the capital appreciation of an asset. A distinction is made between two types of assets in this regard:
a. real estate and shares in start-ups: in these cases, the increase in value is taxed upon realization, usually upon the sale of those assets. This is known as the capital gains tax system;
b. other assets (bank balances, securities, crypto, receivables, etc.): the increase in value is taxed in the year in which they occur. This is known as the capital appreciation tax system.
A number of political parties are determined that capital gains tax also applies to shares, crypto, and the like. In other words, to all assets. A number of others are not in favor of this.
Applying capital gains tax to all assets costs the state a great deal of tax revenue.
The current state of affairs is that the Cabinet will present concrete proposals to resolve this impasse in the Spring Memorandum 2027, which will be published around May 2027.
Other measures
In addition to the measures mentioned above, a number of other tax matters will change that may be important for you as an entrepreneur.
A brief (certainly not exhaustive) list of these is as follows:
the maximum tax-free travel allowance has been increased by €0.02 to €0.25 (retroactive to January 1, 2026);
abolition of the reduced VAT rate for hot air balloon flights (2028);
abolition of the excise duty reduction for small brewers (2028);
abolition of the low VAT rate for ornamental horticulture (2028).
Other important matters in the future
The cabinet has already fired a warning shot regarding a number of other matters they intend to address. A few of these may also be of importance to you.
There is increasing talk of abolishing mortgage interest in the long term. That will not happen during this cabinet term, but it is very likely that it will be changed in the future.
A mandatory labour disability insurance (AOV) for entrepreneurs has been announced. Its outlines are as follows: - it will apply to all sole proprietors and their contributing partners, so not only to self-employed professionals;
- entrepreneurs who already have a suitable AOV will not be affected by this;
- the waiting period is not one year, as originally intended, but two years;
- the annual premium will likely be 5.4% of the profit with a maximum of € 171 per month (which is € 2,052 per year);
- the benefit will be 70% of the final profit, with a maximum of 143% of the statutory minimum wage, so that the benefit amounts to a maximum of 100% of the statutory minimum wage.
The issues surrounding self-employed professionals also remain in flux:
- on January 1, 2027, legislation will come into effect stipulating that if a self-employed professional receives an hourly wage of €38 (2026 standard) or less, they are deemed to be an employee of the client. The employer can then still prove the contrary, that the self-employed professional is genuinely self-employed and not an employee, but the burden of proof for this lies with the employer;
- he Self-Employed Persons Act will likely come into effect on January 1, 2028. However, that law is still under construction.
To conclude, regarding Prinsjesdag 2026 for sole proprietors & self-employed professionals
This note outlines the key changes announced on Prinsjesdag 2026 for sole proprietors & self-employed professionals. To understand the concrete implications of these new developments, we would be happy to review your situation with you to optimize your tax situation.
Comments