What must I arrange to start as a self-employed care provider?
What would you like help with?
Detailed explanation, checklist and sources
First identify the care, its funding rules and whether you genuinely work independently. BIG registration, Wtza notification, licensing and annual accountability are separate duties with different exceptions; not every care freelancer needs all of them.
On this page
- Assess the working relationship
- Check profession and registrations
- Make the right notification and licence check
- Arrange quality, complaints and privacy
- Choose the proper pgb agreement
- Organise records and risks
- Assess annual accountability
- Does registration or notification certify quality?
- Documents to prepare
- Sources
1. Assess the working relationship
Record with the client who determines tasks, hours and working methods. Doing the same work under the same authority as employees may indicate employment; a KVK number or invoice does not prevent false self-employment. Describe clients, assignments and actual independence. For pgb care distinguish employee, entrepreneur, institution and family/partner; do not simply choose the most tax-favourable label.
2. Check profession and registrations
BIG is mandatory for the relevant protected professions, not every domestic-support worker or care provider. Check your profession, diploma, any foreign recognition, validity and authority for particular procedures. Register the business correctly with KVK and appropriate activities/SBI. Ask whether billing requires an AGB code or professional registration; the code does not guarantee reimbursement.
3. Make the right notification and licence check
New professional Wkkgz care providers and youth-care providers must, subject to exceptions, notify before care starts, within the preceding three months. Use the official CIBG check and questionnaire; usually eHerkenning2+, with DigiD also possible. Wmo-only support is outside this Wtza notification duty. A genuine sole practitioner operating an eenmanszaak needs no Wtza licence or internal supervisor. A bv is not the same exception; growth, staff or another legal form requires a fresh licensing check. Keep notification and answers.
4. Arrange quality, complaints and privacy
For Wkkgz care arrange sound care, safe incident reporting, information to patients, a free complaints officer and membership of a recognised dispute body. Wmo support and youth care have different quality systems. Protect health data and restrict access; do not use insecure private channels for records. Check VOG, safeguarding reporting codes and any involuntary-care rules for your work. A quality label does not replace these duties.
5. Choose the proper pgb agreement
For pgb use the appropriate official care agreement to record start, care type, hours and rate and follow funding/approval requirements. Use PGB Portaal when the budget holder uses it; otherwise follow the appropriate SVB route. Relatives may provide care but should not automatically use the entrepreneur form: SVB usually recommends a family/partner agreement and sometimes employment where authority exists. Informal care at an informal rate is different from professional care for Wtza purposes.
6. Organise records and risks
Keep agreements, invoices and financial records and file applicable tax returns; VAT exemption depends on the service, not merely the word care. Rijk’s source mentions7–10years for financial administration: identify the period for each record and do not confuse it with medical records. Check rate caps, professional liability and any mandatory professional pension scheme. For a home practice check municipal, lease/mortgage and privacy requirements before receiving clients.
7. Assess annual accountability
The general Rijk statement about annual reporting does not apply without exception to every freelancer. A sole practitioner in an eenmanszaak delivering all care personally without care staff, hired providers or a locum is exempt. Even a temporary locum may change this. Wmo-only care and other categories also have exceptions. Check legal form, funding and actual staffing annually using CIBG; if reporting is required,31May is the ordinary DigiMV deadline, with any applicable extension checked separately.
Does registration or notification certify quality?
No. KVK, BIG, CIBG notification and pgb agreements have different purposes. Notification is not blanket permission for all care, a tax ruling on independence or a guarantee of payment.
Documents to prepare
Prepare your next stepFill in and save · Word
Tick what you have checked or collected. Note what is missing and take your overview to a meeting.
Unless saved in My overview: Your entries stay only on this screen. Download before leaving; closing or reloading clears them. Do not enter identity numbers, passwords or unnecessary personal details.
What do you still need for your next step?
Item 1 / 6 · Where do you stand with this item?
Care type and funding law
This overview follows your own answers. It does not assess your rights or guarantee that your file is complete.
Your choices stay here. Use the buttons below if you want to save or download.
View all details, notes and timeline
Your timeline and evidence
List events and contacts. Note where you keep the evidence; no upload is needed.
What goes in my timeline?
Record what happened, when, the response and where to find the letter, message or photo. Mark uncertain dates.
Is my evidence sent?
No. You only note where it is kept. No files are uploaded or sent automatically.
How do I save my timeline?
Your entries are not saved automatically. Choose Save and continue later to store this preparation, including your timeline, in My overview. Wait for confirmation and save new changes again. You can also download a Word file without an account.
Up to 20 events. Choose a different position for an event to change the order.
0 / 6 · Checked or collected
For each event, note the date, what happened and where the evidence is kept. Example: 3 October — letter received — correspondence folder.
Describe the solution you would like, such as an explanation of a deduction and repayment of the outstanding amount.
For example: which document is missing, who can provide it and what should I do first?
Record the date and its source. If unknown, note this and check promptly. This tool does not calculate or monitor deadlines.
After your conversation
These are your own notes. Confirm agreements with the other person; these notes do not prove their agreement.
This is your preparation, not a submitted request, objection or legally reviewed document. A tick records only your own progress. Check the procedure and deadline in the original letter.
Save and continue later
Clear entries
Download anything you want to keep first. Clearing cannot be undone.
- Care type and funding law
- Working relationship and actual independence
- Diploma/BIG/KVK and billing conditions
- CIBG checks, notification and any licence
- Quality, complaints, privacy and contract
- Records, other carers and annual duty
Contact with a lawyer
You can use the chat and information without a phone number. A contact request requires a phone number, a verified email address and your wish for telephone contact. Our team assesses which partner fits your question. Data is shared only under the stated consent procedure. A partner or engagement is not guaranteed.
View the current application processSources
Need personal assistance? Request a lawyer through our chat. We explain the next step; submitting a request does not engage a lawyer. The links below support the legal information.
Rijksoverheid — pgb-zorg zelfstandig ↗Rijksoverheid — zzp zorg en welzijn ↗BIG-register — beschermde beroepen ↗CIBG — meldplicht ↗CIBG — vergunningplicht ↗CIBG — zzp ↗CIBG — pgb ↗CIBG — jaarverantwoording eenmanszaak ↗CIBG — uitzonderingen jaarverantwoording ↗Rijksoverheid — Wkkgz ↗Ondernemersplein — start zzp zorg ↗SVB — zorgovereenkomst kiezen ↗Sources may be in Dutch. General information about Dutch law, not individual legal advice.