Anyone who listened to the Speech from the Throne live will undoubtedly have noticed King Willem-Alexander's length and tone. For example, he summarized the cabinet plans for 2025 as "strict, austere and fast. The labor market was also mentioned: the cabinet wants to make efforts to solve the shortage in various ways. Wage employment must become more attractive and everyone must have the opportunity for lifelong development through retraining and further education. But what about the self-employed? We list the most important plans and changes.

Taxes for the self-employed

Self-employed people will pay slightly more tax on average in 2025 if their profits remain the same. This is due to a number of changes in taxes. For example, the self-employment deduction will be further reduced to €2,470 per year in 2025. In 2024, this was the self-employment deduction was still €3,750. Reducing the self-employment deduction is intended to ensure a fiscally level playing field between the self-employed and employees.

Furthermore, as an entrepreneur in the income tax, you are entitled to the SME profit exemption. This exempts part of your profits from income tax. The plan was to reduce the exemption from 2025 to 12.07% (previously this percentage was 13.31). Nevertheless, the percentage in 2025 drops slightly less, to 12.7%.

These adjustments ensure that entrepreneurs have to pay taxes on a larger portion of their profits. At the same time, the cabinet is trying to support low incomes by, for example, increasing the rent allowance and the child-related budget.

Box 1: Income from employment, benefits and home ownership

The classification of Box 1 will be changed to three brackets instead of two. The distribution of the brackets and percentages is as follows:

• On income up to €38,441, you will pay 35.82% tax, which is lower than in 2024.
• On income between €38,441 and €76,817 you will pay 37.48%, a slight increase from 2024.
• For income above €76,817, the rate remains 49.5%.

Lower incomes benefit from the lower rate in the first bracket, while higher incomes pay more tax due to the higher rate in the second bracket.

Box 2: Income from stock ownership

Are you operating in a private limited company? If so, the bv must pay corporate income tax each year. Do you have more than 5 percent of the shares and also work in this bv? Then you are a director-large shareholder (DGA). As a DGA, you face taxation in box 2 of the income tax. In 2025, the following changes will be made:

• On dividends up to €67,804, you pay 24.5%, equal to 2024.
• On dividends above €67,804, the rate drops from 33% to 31%.

If the rate in Box 2 goes down in 2025, it may be more attractive for entrepreneurs to wait to pay dividends.

Box 3: Income from savings and investments

Do you have savings or investments? Then you will pay no tax on your assets up to €57,684 in 2025. Do you have more assets? Then, just like this year, you will pay 36 percent tax on the return the tax authorities expect you to make in 2025. We call this a notional return.

No deductibility of donations in corporate taxes

As of Jan. 1, 2025, donations to charities are no longer deductible from corporate income tax (vpb). This applies to donations to non-profit organizations (ANBIs) or support foundations SBBI. Gifts by a company to an ANBI at the request of a shareholder with a substantial interest are considered a profit distribution, on which income tax (box 2) and dividend tax must be paid.

Emission-free cars: discount on road tax

The government is encouraging the switch to emission-free cars with rebates on motor vehicle tax (mrb) until 2029. The scheme is as follows:

• From 2026 to 2029, a 25% discount applies;
• Starting in 2030, this discount will expire.

Evaluation of tax entrepreneurial schemes

Over the past six months, an evaluation of several tax entrepreneurship schemes, such as the self-employment deduction and SME profit exemption, has been conducted. Research firms SEO and Dialogic, commissioned by the Ministries of Finance and Economic Affairs, concluded that these schemes have limited effectiveness in stimulating entrepreneurship and social benefits. While no firm conclusions on effectiveness could be drawn, they found that the cost of the schemes is relatively high relative to their effectiveness. This raises questions about possible reforms of these schemes.

Status of legislative proposals

The above cabinet plans are part of the 2025 Tax Plan. The measures are contained in several bills. The Lower and Upper Houses must still approve the bills before the plans can take effect. They will vote on the Tax Plan 2025 in November and December.