How do client numbers and revenue concentration affect freelance status?

There is no universal three-client minimum under the current Dutch employment-classification test. Having one client does not automatically establish employment, and having several does not prevent it. 

In Deliveroo, the Supreme Court identified the nature and duration of the work, commercial risk and entrepreneurship as relevant circumstances. Its examples of entrepreneurship include client acquisition, the number of clients and the periods for which the person typically commits to a client. 

Keep employment classification separate from tax entrepreneurship. The Tax Administration’s income-tax guidance considers the business as a whole, including independence, profit expectations, client acquisition and business risk. Multiple clients can reduce dependence and continuity risks. 

VAT entrepreneurship has its own assessment. A KVK registration, VAT number or income-tax position does not settle whether a particular working relationship is employment. 

Current Dutch employment law contains no general rule that a freelancer may receive at most 70% of revenue from one client. A client’s internal procurement limit is not a statutory classification threshold. 

Revenue concentration nevertheless matters as evidence of commercial dependence. Relevant questions include whether the business could withstand losing its largest client, whether other work is realistically available and whether exclusivity or the assignment’s demands restrict access to it. 

Measure the concentration consistently. For an internal portfolio analysis, identify a period and a common revenue basis, normally excluding VAT and accounting for credit notes. Do not mix amounts invoiced with amounts received without explaining the difference. 

For example, if one client accounts for €80,000 of €100,000 revenue on the same basis and over the same period, the share is 80%. That is a factual description, not an employment verdict. 

There is no general maximum assignment duration after which every freelance engagement automatically becomes employment. Duration is expressly relevant under Deliveroo and should not be dismissed as weak evidence in every case. 

There is also an existing rebuttable presumption in Article 7:610a BW. It concerns paid work for another person over three consecutive months, performed weekly or for at least twenty hours per month. This is an evidential rule, not an automatic conversion after three months. 

The Supreme Court’s Uber judgment of 21 February 2025 confirmed that the relevant circumstances have no fixed hierarchy. 

In the Uber appeal of 27 January 2026, the court found that the six drivers participating alongside Uber were independent entrepreneurs. It rejected FNV’s broader claims in that procedure while recognising that other individual drivers could have employment contracts. The result illustrates why individual circumstances matter; it does not establish independence for every driver. 

As of 3 November 2026, the Zelfstandigenwet remains a proposal. It seeks to provide a route to certainty through a self-employment test and a work-relationship test. The government’s intended commencement is January 2028, subject to legislation. 

The October 2026 explanatory memorandum, section 4.2.1, explains a minimum of three distinct clients across the previous calendar year and the current year up to assessment. This is not simply a rolling twenty-four-month period. It rejects token assignments created merely to reach the count. 

For intermediary arrangements, the memorandum distinguishes work contracted with one intermediary for its customers from introductions resulting in contracts with the freelancer’s own clients. The former counts as one client; the latter can involve several. Multiple branches do not automatically create multiple clients: legal independence matters. 

Client identity and structure. Record the contracting person or entity, any relevant group relationship, intermediary, end customer and payment administrator. Distinguish separate clients from repeat projects or locations. 

Assignment history. Retain start and end dates, scope, extensions and relevant changes. Explain the commercial purpose of a long assignment and review how the work actually develops. 

Revenue analysis. Record the period, accounting basis, relevant totals and each client’s share. Note temporary concentration, a business start or other material circumstances without treating those explanations as exemptions. 

Business activity. Retain relevant proposals, acquisition efforts, negotiations and evidence of actual commercial responsibilities. Unsuccessful acquisition can explain business activity but is not the same as having performed work for a client. 

Supporting evidence and verification. Contracts, invoices, credit notes and payment records can support different facts. Several invoices to one entity do not prove several clients. A prospective opportunity is not completed client work. 

Use of Zooly or another FMS. Where the configured system supports it, a personal vault or portfolio record can organise this information. Broker checks should state what was verified, the date and any gaps. A checkmark or compliance index should distinguish a factual client count from a legal assessment. 

Confidentiality. Share only the information needed. A client may need a proportionate verified summary rather than access to the freelancer’s entire customer list or detailed commercial records.