Minister Van Gennep states in a Chamber letter that it has signed the European Multilateral Framework Agreement on social security. Working from home is referred to as ‘teleworking’ in EU terms.
In our article Working from home across the border We have already announced this framework agreement. Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Liechtenstein have now also signed the document. Belgium, along with 12 other countries, has also indicated that it will proceed with signing. The United Kingdom will not be joining the framework agreement.
Request/A1 declaration
With effect from 1 July 2023, Dutch nationals working across the border who regularly work from home for more than 25% but less than 50% of their working hours may submit a request to the Social Insurance Bank (SVB) to remain covered by social insurance in their country of employment. Additional conditions are:
- the work carried out in the country of residence consists solely of remote working;
- the employee does not carry out regular work in a third Member State
The SVB will set out its decision in an A1 certificate to be issued to the cross-border worker (for the time being, the SVB must issue these certificates on the basis of an emergency scenario, which means that some applicants are likely to have to wait a long time for a decision).
PLEASE NOTE: For employees who do not submit a request, the standard rules continue to apply: if they work from home for more than 25%, they become liable for social security contributions in their country of residence. Applications may be submitted up to and including 1 July 2024, with retroactive effect from 1 July 2023 (provided that contributions have only been paid in the employer’s Member State). From 1 July 2024, the maximum retroactive period will be 3 months (subject to the same condition).
The rules on secondment continue to apply to temporary arrangements for remote working. In such cases, the secondment may last for a maximum of 24 months and the employee must be insured in the sending Member State. In this situation, a standard A1 certificate may be applied for.
Tax
The framework agreement covers social security matters. Taxation is more complicated because it cannot be regulated at EU level. The Government is seeking to include the following in tax treaties:
- a working-from-home arrangement: for example, a threshold scheme under which employees can work from home for up to a certain number of days without the tax liability changing;
- to provide greater certainty as to whether or not a permanent establishment exists in the employee’s country of residence, given that the employee works (partly) from home.
The Netherlands must negotiate this with each treaty partner on a case-by-case basis under individual tax treaties. The intention is to settle this first with neighbouring countries (Germany and Belgium), but so far, despite several rounds of discussions, this has not been achieved. Consequently, some uncertainty remains for employers on these points for the time being.