ViDA, VAT in the digital age, to be launched in 2025
The ViDA package is intended to simplify VAT collection throughout the EU, buat also to make it more fraud-proof.
2025
With the adoption of the package, improvements will be made to the Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) system in 2025 to make it more robust. This will be done by improving the checks of the EU member states.
Furthermore, from 2025, EU member states will have the option of making electronic invoicing mandatory in their own country under certain conditions. This may mean that companies trading internationally must already be able to receive electronic invoices via Peppol (the international standard in the field of e-invoicing and e-ordering).
As of 1 January 2027
From 1 January 2027, a number of minor legal clarifications will be made that will affect users of the One-Stop Shop (OSS) and the IOSS schemes.
As of 1 July 2028
Platforms that facilitate the short-term rental of accommodation and passenger transport services (such as AirBnB and Uber, but also smaller platforms) will be obliged to charge VAT to the customer of the service from 1 July 2028. This is only necessary if the landlord of the accommodation or the carrier does not charge VAT themselves.
From 1 July 2028, the OSS will also apply to installation supplies and intra-Community transfers of own goods.
EU member states have the option of postponing these measures until 1 January 2030.
From 1 July 2030
From 1 July 2030, digital reporting obligations will be introduced and electronic invoicing will be mandatory for cross-border transactions between companies (B2B) within the EU member states. The electronic invoice must comply with the EU standard (usually Peppol). From that date, the deadline for issuing the electronic invoice for certain transactions (including ICL) is a maximum of 10 days after the transaction (or earlier advance payment). The supplier must submit a digital report to the local tax authorities immediately after issuing the electronic invoice. The buyer must also submit a digital report within five days of receiving the invoice. The digital report replaces the current statement of intra-Community transactions.
Please note! We have only provided a brief summary of a number of important components of the ViDA. The ViDA could have significant consequences for you, particularly if you trade across borders. Please contact us if you would like more information about the impact on your company.
1. Increase legal minimum hourly wage
The statutory minimum wage is indexed twice a year, on January 1 and July 1. The statutory gross minimum hourly wage for employees aged 21 or older was increased to €14.06 on January 1, 2025.
2. Enforcement of false self-employment as of 2025
As of January 1, 2025, the enforcement moratorium on employment relationships has been completely lifted. The Tax Authorities can therefore once again fully enforce an incorrect qualification of an employment relationship and impose correction obligations and additional tax assessments.
Please note! The Tax Authorities can only go back to January 1, 2025, unless there is malicious intent.
In principle, the Tax and Customs Administration will start in 2025 with a company visit during which a discussion is held with the client about the hiring of self-employed persons and external personnel. Where necessary, the client will be alerted to attention for the qualification of the employment relationships and possible risks of false self-employment. In this way the client is warned. The Tax Authorities can also opt for an audit, for example if it is estimated that there are major risks or if the client works or continues to work with pseudo self-employed persons.
Tip! For the calendar year 2025, employers and employees will not yet be charged default and penalty fines if they can prove that they are taking steps against false self-employment.
The Tax Office will no longer approve new model agreements as of September 6, 2024. However, all current approved model agreements have been automatically extended until the end of 2029. However, the Tax Office can revoke a model agreement if it no longer complies with laws, regulations and case law or if it turns out that the conditions of the model agreement are not or cannot be met.
Tip! If you want the Tax Authorities to assess an employment relationship, use the form Request for pre-consultation assessment employment relationship. The Checklist for prior consultation to assess the working relationship contains the minimum information you must include in your request.
3. The work-related expenses scheme and standard amounts increased
The work-related expenses scheme allows you, as an employer, to offer or provide various tax-free reimbursements to your staff. If the allowances remain within the fixed budget, then the employer does not have to pay tax on this either. In 2025 the fixed budget will be slightly increased to 2% (in 2024 still 1.92%) of the wage bill, up to an amount of € 400,000. Insofar as the wage bill is higher, the fixed budget on the excess remains 1.18%, as in 2024.
For the additional costs associated with working from home, you can – subject to conditions – give an untaxed allowance to your employee. This untaxed reimbursement will be €2.40 per day in 2025. The standard compensation for the value of meals in company canteens (or similar areas) or during staff parties at the company location will be € 3.95 per meal in 2025. The standard compensation for accommodation at the workplace will increase to € 6.80 per day in 2025.
4. Customary salary and volunteer allowance 2025 same as 2024
The standard amount for the customary salary in 2025 is equal to the standard amount in 2024 and amounts to € 56,000 per year. After years of increasing the standard amount (in 2023, for example, it was € 51,000 and in 2022 it was € 48,000), you therefore do not have to take a higher standard amount into account in 2025. Nevertheless, the customary salary may still be higher in 2025 than in 2024, depending on the salaries from the most comparable employment and the salaries of the highest-earning employee of your company or related companies.
The maximum untaxed volunteer compensation in 2025 will also remain the same as in 2024, namely a maximum of €2,100 per year and €210 per month. The untaxed volunteer compensation must remain within the maximum amounts and the volunteer must not perform the work as a profession for designated, non-commercial organizations. The Tax Office assumes that the work is not performed by way of profession if the maximum hourly compensation in 2025 is €5.60. For volunteers under 21 years of age, this maximum hourly compensation in 2025 is €3.30.
5. Additional taxable benefit for new car without CO2 emissions and final levy for used delivery van up
The additional tax rate for new cars without CO2 emissions (including fully electric cars) will increase in 2025 to 17% up to a list price of € 30,000 and to 22% above that. The year 2025 is the last year in which a discount applies to such new cars. The additional tax rate for new cars with CO2 emissions of more than 0 grams per kilometer will not change in 2025. It will remain, as in previous years, at 22%.
An employer can buy off the addition for the private use of a van used alternately by several employees by applying a final levy. The amount of this final levy will no longer be €300 per year in 2025, but has been increased to €438 per year (€36.50 per month).
Please note! The untaxed travel compensation for business travel expenses with own transport, including commuting, is the same in 2025 as in 2024 and amounts to € 0.23/km.
6. Expanded WBSO
Through the Wet Bevordering Speur- en Ontwikkelingswerk (WBSO), employers receive a compensation for the costs of innovative work. The employer deducts the compensation granted from the payroll tax to be paid. Various percentages of the WBSO have been increased effective January 1, 2025. As of 2025, a percentage of 36% applies for costs up to €380,000 and 16% for the excess. For startups, a percentage of 50% applies for costs up to € 380,000 as of 2025.
7. Changes to the Salary Domain Allowances Act
The Wet tegemoetkomingen loondomein (Wtl) contributes to encourage employers to hire and retain people with a vulnerable position. As of 2025, the Wtl includes only the wage cost benefit (LKV). The low-income benefit (LIV) has been abolished as of January 1, 2025. Payment of the 2024 LIV will still take place in July/August 2025.
Another change is the phasing out of the LKV for older workers. For employment relationships that began before January 1, 2024, the LKV for older employees of €3.05 per hour worked with a maximum of €6,000 per calendar year will remain in place until the end of the maximum three-year term. However, for employment relationships that began on or after January 1, 2024, the LKV has been reduced as of January 1, 2025 to € 1.35 per hour worked with a maximum of € 2,600 per calendar year.
Please note! As of January 1, 2026, you are no longer entitled to recieve LKV for these employment relationships. However, the LKV 2025 will still be paid for these employment relationships in 2026.
Furthermore, as of 2025, the criteria of the LKV reemployed employee with disabilities have been expanded. For an employee who during the waiting period of the WIA fully or partially resumes his own work or fully or partially starts working for you in another position, you will also be entitled to this LKV from 2025.
8. Slower revision of low Awf contribution to high Awf contribution as of 2025
The differentiated premium for the General Unemployment Fund (Awf) consists of a high and low Awf contribution. As an employer, you may apply a low Awf contribution if a number of conditions are met. If you do not meet these conditions, you will pay a high Awf contribution. The low contribution in 2025 is 2.74%, the high contribution is 7.74%.
In certain situations, you must retroactively revise a low Awf contribution to a high Awf contribution. This is the case, for example, if the paid hours of an employee for whom you applied the low Awf contribution are more than 30% higher than the contract hours in a year. For the year 2024, you will then only still have to apply the high Awf contribution for employees with an employment contract of less than 35 hours per week on average. Check in early 2025 whether you need to apply such a revision for the year 2024. For the year 2025, you are less likely to need to apply such a revision. You then only need to do so for employees with employment contracts averaging 30 hours or less per week.
Please note! The low Awf contribution must also be revised to the high Awf contribution if a new employee resigns or is laid off within two months of starting employment. This revision does not depend on the number of contract hours and thus applies to all contracts.
9. Changes to the 30% scheme
The 30% scheme is a tax regulation whereby, under strict conditions, up to 30% of the salary may be paid tax-free to personnel recruited from abroad. This regulation was to be made more flexible, but a large part of the reduction has been reversed with effect from 2025. This means that if the strict conditions are met, in 2025 and 2026 the percentage of up to 30% may still be applied as usual. From 2027 this percentage will be reduced to 27%, unless you already applied the 30% scheme for the employee before 2024. In that case, you may apply the 30% rate for the entire 60-month period.
In 2025, the 30% scheme may be applied over a salary up to a maximum of €246,000 (in 2024 this was still €233,000). Incidentally, this maximum does not apply in 2025 if you already applied the 30% scheme for the employee prior to 2023.
In 2025, the salary standard applied in the 30% scheme is €46,660. For incoming employees who are younger than 30 and have obtained their master’s degree, the salary standard in 2025 is €35,468. Both amounts will be increased to €50,436 and €38,338, respectively, starting in 2027. These are the amounts based on those in effect in 2024, and they will still be indexed as of 2027. Incidentally, this increased salary from 2027 does not apply to those who already applied the 30% scheme before 2024.
Please note! Employees using the 30% scheme did not have to pay taxes in box 2 and box 3 on foreign capital income until 2024. This is also known as the partial foreign tax liability. This facility expired as of 2025. This does not apply to situations in which the 30% ruling was already applied before 2024. In these situations, the facility remains in effect through 2026. For employees for whom the foreign partial tax liability expires as of 2025, you will no longer be able to use the facility as of 2025 to reconcile the wage tax/ national insurance contributions you must withhold with the income tax and any national insurance contributions your employee must pay.
10. Mandatory reporting of business and commuting employees no later than June 30, 2025
Employers with 100 or more employees are required to report the business and commuting traffic of their employees as of July 1, 2024. This obligation is part of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management’s Environment Act and is known as the “Work-related Passenger Mobility Reporting Obligation,” or WPM for short.
For example, these employers must report the total number of kilometers traveled by employees for business and commuting purposes, as well as the annual total of kilometers, broken down by type of vehicle and fuel type. Data for 2024 can be submitted starting Jan. 15, 2025, and must be submitted by June 30, 2025. In 2026, reporting for the entire year 2025 is mandatory.
Oorspronkelijke versobering
De 30%-regeling kan maximaal 60 maanden worden toegepast. Sinds 2024 is door het vorige kabinet de 30%-regeling in omvang beperkt. De 30%-regeling is nog de eerste 20 maanden van toepassing, de daarop volgende 20 maanden mag in plaats van 30% nog maar 20% van het loon netto worden uitbetaald en de daarop volgende 20 maanden nog maar 10%.
Versobering herzien
In een nog op te nemen wijziging in het Belastingplan 2025 zal de versobering grotendeels worden teruggedraaid. De afbouw van 30 naar 20 tot 10% verdwijnt dan en voorgesteld wordt om vanaf 2027 in plaats van 30 nog maar 27% van het loon netto te kunnen uitbetalen. In 2025 en 2026 blijft voor iedereen een percentage van 30 van kracht en vindt dus nog geen afbouw plaats.
Let op! Voor werknemers die vóór 2024 de 30%-regeling al toepasten, blijft over de gehele periode van 60 maanden een percentage van 30 gelden.
Verhoging salarisnormen
Om de 30%-regeling toe te kunnen passen moet een werknemer minstens een bepaald salaris verdienen. Voor dit jaar is dit € 46.107, voor werknemers jonger dan 30 jaar met een mastertitel is dit € 35.048. Voorgesteld is om beide bedragen vanaf 2027 te verhogen naar € 50.436 respectievelijk € 38.338i. Dit zijn de bedragen op basis van 2024 en deze worden dus nog per 2027 geïndexeerd.
Let op! Dit verhoogde salaris geldt niet voor degenen die de 30%-regeling al vóór 2024 toepasten.
30%-regeling tot maximaal de balkenendenorm
Met ingang van 1 januari 2024 is de 30%-regeling ook beperkt tot de zogenaamde balkenendenorm. Dit houdt in dat in 2024 maximaal € 69.900 (30% van € 233.000) onder de 30%-regeling netto vergoed mag worden. Het kabinet heeft geen voorstellen gedaan om deze beperking terug te draaien.
Let op! De balkenendenorm bedraagt voor het jaar 2025 € 246.000. In 2025 mag daarom maximaal € 73.800 (30% van € 246.000) onder de 30%-regeling netto vergoed worden. Voor werknemers die al vóór 2023 de 30%-regeling toepasten, geldt de beperking overigens in 2024 en 2025 nog niet. Zij krijgen hier pas vanaf 1 januari 2026 mee te maken.
Werkelijke kosten of 30%-regeling?
De 30%-regeling is optioneel. Werkgevers kunnen er namelijk ook voor kiezen de werkelijke kosten onbelast te vergoeden, voor zover dit fiscaal mogelijk is. Deze mogelijkheid blijft bestaan.
Let op! De werkgever moet uiterlijk in het eerste loontijdvak van een kalenderjaar kiezen of hij de 30%-regeling toepast of de werkelijke extraterritoriale kosten vergoed. Die keuze geldt dan meteen voor het hele jaar.
Buitenlands partiële belastingplicht
Buitenlandse werknemers die de 30%-regeling toepassen hebben in 2024 ook nog de mogelijkheid om buitenlandse kapitaalinkomsten buiten de Nederlandse belastingheffing in box 2 en box 3 te houden. De werknemer wordt dan voor box 2 en box 3 gezien als buitenlands belastingplichtige, ondanks dat hij in Nederland woont. Vorig jaar is al door het vorige kabinet besloten om deze faciliteit te laten vervallen per 2025. Het huidige kabinet heeft geen voorstellen gedaan om dit te wijzigen.
Let op! Werknemers die al vóór 2024 de 30%-regeling toepasten, kunnen deze faciliteit nog wel tot en met 2026 blijven gebruiken.
Let op! De door het kabinet voorgestelde aanpassingen in de 30%-regeling moeten nog in het Belastingplan 2025 worden opgenomen en daarna door de Tweede en Eerste Kamer worden goedgekeurd. De aanpassingen zijn dus nog niet definitief.
Technische problemen
Omdat het nieuwe systeem met technische problemen kampt die op dit moment nog niet zijn opgelost, is besloten langere tijd geen betaalverzuimboetes op te leggen. Het geactualiseerde Besluit Tijdelijke maatregel betalingsverzuimboete EU BTW e-commerce – dat in werking is getreden op 30 juli 2024 – heeft terugwerkende kracht tot 1 juni 2024.
Btw e-commerce
De vrijwillige regeling EU btw e-commerce is ontwikkeld om internationale afstandsverkopen binnen de EU makkelijker te laten verlopen. Sinds 1 juli 2021 moet de btw namelijk betaald worden in de lidstaat van de consument. Dit kan rechtstreeks aan de betreffende lidstaat, maar met behulp van de regeling kunnen btw-aangiften en bijbehorende betalingen ook via de eigen Belastingdienst plaatsvinden.
Let op! Als opzettelijk geen of te weinig btw is afgedragen, kan wel een vergrijpboete worden opgelegd.
