When do a freelancer’s tools and subscriptions support independent status?

A freelancer may invest in specialist equipment, software licences, professional databases, hosting or other resources needed to supply their services. Purchasing is not the only relevant arrangement: leasing, renting and subscriptions can also involve independent commercial commitments. 

Useful questions include who selects the resource, contracts with the provider, pays the charges and bears maintenance, renewal or cancellation costs. Can the resource support the freelancer’s business across assignments? Does the freelancer decide how to use it? 

The significance depends on the activity. Specialist diagnostic equipment may reveal more about a particular business than an ordinary phone used privately as well. Conversely, a professional service can require little capital without ceasing to be a business. 

There is no universal minimum investment or required number of subscriptions under the current employment-classification test.

Deliveroo: personal equipment did not prevent employment. The Supreme Court upheld employment status in 2023, although couriers supplied equipment including their own transport and smartphones. The earlier proceedings considered the limited significance of ordinary everyday items. This was not a rule that every personally owned resource proves entrepreneurship. 

Carpenters: investment mattered together with other business characteristics. In ECLI:NL:GHSHE:2024:2002, the court found that the tax inspector had not established employment authority. The official explanation for withdrawing cassation identifies own investments, working separately from the client’s personnel and correcting complaints at the carpenters’ own expense and risk as relevant circumstances. 

Uber: no fixed hierarchy means context matters. The 21 February 2025 judgment confirmed that entrepreneurship, including circumstances outside the specific relationship, is not subordinate to the other classification circumstances. It did not establish that owning a car automatically makes a driver independent. 

The following practical categories can help explain a requirement. They are not automatic legal exemptions. 

Information security and confidentiality. A client may require a managed laptop, secure remote environment or restricted account to protect sensitive information. Record the actual security risk, the relevant policy and why alternative access arrangements are unsuitable. 

Technical access and interoperability. Work may require access to the client’s code repository, ERP system, production environment or proprietary machinery. Explain why the system is part of the assignment and which choices about performing the service remain with the freelancer. 

Safety and regulated work. Site equipment, protective measures or validated systems may be necessary. Identify the applicable requirement and responsibilities. Do not assume that every client preference is legally mandatory. 

Quality and compatibility. Particular formats, calibrated instruments or compatible software may be needed for an agreed output. Record the specification and whether an equivalent resource could be accepted. 

Direction and performance monitoring. A tool may also allocate tasks, prescribe methods, monitor activity or support disciplinary decisions. Those functions require substantive assessment; describing the tool as “necessary” does not remove their significance.

As of 3 November 2026, the Zelfstandigenwet remains a proposal. It seeks to clarify when independent work is possible through a self-employment test and a work-relationship test. 

The October 2026 explanatory memorandum, section 5.3.2.3.6, expressly treats freedom to use one’s own materials as an indication of working freedom, not a statutory condition. Its significance varies by sector. It recognises reasons for restrictions, including safety, technical requirements and specific systems or equipment. 

The memorandum’s discussion of quality requirements also shows that a legitimate reason for a rule does not automatically resolve the question of authority. Continuing powers to direct or supervise performance can still matter.

For a workflow using Zooly or another freelance management system, the following approach can organise evidence. Confirm which functions the configured environment actually supports. 

Record the arrangement. Identify the resource, its business purpose and whether it is owned, leased, rented, subscribed to or supplied by the client. Include the relevant period and who bears the costs. 

Retain proportionate evidence. In a personal document vault, retain relevant invoices, lease or subscription agreements, renewal information and, where necessary, payment evidence. An invoice alone does not prove payment, current entitlement or actual use. Avoid collecting unrelated transactions, credentials or licence keys. 

Define broker verification. Record what the reviewer checked, when, against which evidence and with what limitations. Checking an invoice is different from confirming an active licence or assessing employment status. 

Make client indicators precise. A checkmark might mean “subscription document reviewed on [date]” or “lease agreement valid until [date]”. It should not mean “genuine freelancer certified”. Distinguish verified facts, self-declarations, missing evidence and expired documents. 

Explain client-supplied resources. Attach the relevant technical, safety or security rationale and the agreed limits of the requirement. Review the record when the assignment or system use changes. 

Control access. Share only the information needed for the purpose. A client may need a limited verification summary rather than full invoices or bank records. Define access, retention and correction arrangements.