Artist scheme (artiestenregeling)

In the case of artists, it is always necessary to first consider whether there is a normal employment contract. That is mostly the case, for example, if you work several days per week and at least three consecutive months for a particular orchestra or performing arts company.

If you do not have an employment contract as an artist, the artist scheme applies and you must have the fees that you receive paid as a salary for a performance. That is the general rule. ‘Paying a salary’ in this case means that wage tax and national insurance and employee insurance schemes contributions  are deducted from the fee. You will receive a tax assessment for the healthcare insurance contribution. You arrange your pay by filling in a total fee statement form (gageverklaring) after each performance. It doesn’t matter in that case what type of client pays the fees: a café, a theatre, a community centre, an institution, a company, etc. It also doesn’t matter how high the fee is.

Withholding agent certificate
If you are hired via an intermediary with a withholding agent certificate (inhoudingsplichtigenverklaring), the obligation to withhold is shifted too this intermediary. A band or ensemble member can also apply for a withholding agent certificate. Find out more about this on the ‘Withholding agent certificate’ page.

Exception to the artist scheme
If you are do a gig for a private individual, this person may pay you gross. Because no tax has been paid, you are obliged to declare the fee yourself in your annual income tax return. This extra income falls under 'income from other activities' (because you are not employed, not an entrepreneur and it does not fall under the artist scheme).

Every time you perform and are paid via the artist scheme, you have to fill in a total fee statement form (gageverklaring). A solo artist only has to fill in the front of the form. If a group of artists perform, the details of each artist have to be filled in on the back of the form. Moreover, every artist has to sign the back of the form. You can also specify on the back of the form how the fee has to be distributed among the members of the group.

If you made use of the small allowance scheme (kleinevergoedingsregeling) or the individual expense deduction ruling (kostenvergoedingbeschikking), the amount of the untaxed expense allowance (kostenvergoeding) also has to be specified on the total fee statement form. The completed and signed total fee statement form needs to be in the possession of the client before the fee can be paid. The form is available at the website of the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration.

Every artist may be paid a maximum amount of €163 without contributions or wage tax being withheld from this. (However, accounts must always be kept.) This applies regardless of the amount of the actual costs. You must specify on the total fee statement form that you want to make use of this. If the total fee agreed is more than €163, the rest must be payrolled.

That is not to say that you are allowed to deduct a fixed amount of €163 as costs for each performance in your income tax return. The expense allowances received must be declared as income, after which the actual costs incurred can be entered. If the actual costs are lower than the untaxed allowance received on the basis of the small allowance scheme, you must pay tax on the difference. It is not therefore a silver bullet for ensuring you don’t have to pay tax on as much of the fees as possible.

Keep in mind that by using the small allowance scheme, you will receive no or reduced unemployment benefit or sickness benefit. That is because no contributions will be paid on your fee.

If you incur more costs than the small allowance scheme, the individual expense deduction ruling (kostenbeschikking) is an option. The artist or the leader of a group, or the withholding agent/client must apply for such an individual expense deduction ruling from the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration before the performance or before a series of performances. In practice, it will mean that artists who regularly perform in particular will apply for this ruling for the entire year before the beginning of a new calendar year.

When applying for this, you must make it clear the amount of costs you normally have and you must divide that amount over the estimated number of performances. The tax inspector will specify the amount of general expenses allowed per performance in the individual expense deduction ruling. A copy of the ruling must be appended to the total fee statement form, so that the client or the payroll bureau knows that they have to take that amount of general expenses into account.
Without an individual expense deduction ruling (or small allowance scheme), no amount of general expenses may be entered on the total fee statement form. You can get forms for the individual expense deduction ruling application from the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration. The small allowance scheme and the individual expense deduction ruling may not be used at the same time.

Reimbursements (or benefits in kind if the client pays these costs directly) of travel and accommodation expenses remain untaxed at the request of the artist. One exception is the reimbursement of the costs of private transport, such as the costs of travelling with one’s own car. This reimbursement is taxed, but you can include that in the small allowance scheme or the individual expense deduction ruling. The untaxed reimbursements or benefits in kind do not have to be specified on the total fee statement form.

If it is abundantly clear that there is no employment contract, the artist and client can agree in writing that the artist scheme is not applicable. State the following on the invoice:

‘The artist or the group have chosen not to make use of the artist scheme, thus not to have any wage tax and national insurance contributions deducted and not to be insured for the employee insurance schemes. As a result of this choice, the client may pay the fee for the performance gross (as performance fee).’

You can also work with a model agreement approved by the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration (‘Opting-out uit de artiestenregeling’). Both parties sign the model agreement, you send an invoice and no fee has to be payrolled.

If you work as a self-employed professional, it may be cheaper to send an invoice, as with more clients you may be viewed sooner as a ‘self employed professional’ by the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration and meet the hours criterion – which provides tax benefits. Bear in mind that as a result of this you will not pay any contributions for employee insurance schemes and therefore can not make any use of that either. In addition, you are required to keep your own business records and you will receive an assessment notice under the Dutch Health Insurance Act after submitting your return. Look on the Tax on assignment/commissions page to compare the various ways of working.