DBA law in theater and event technology
The cultural sector runs on the flexibility, expertise and creativity of independent professionals. From lighting and sound technicians to stagehands and AV specialists, they ensure that productions run smoothly. But with increasing regulations, due to the DBA Act, surrounding self-employed professionals, new challenges arise. What does this mean for theaters, venues and production houses? And how do you work with your client as a self-employed person without risk?
Source: Idomeneo – National Opera | Hugo Thomassen
The impact of stricter rules?
The government is placing increasingly stringent requirements on cooperation between principals and self-employed workers. Misinterpretation can lead to additional taxes or fines for clients, creating uncertainty in a sector that actually benefits from flexibility. More and more self-employed people feel pressured by the DBA Act to consider salaried employment, while they prefer to remain self-employed within their field to do what they are good at; building beautiful shows. And the client simply cannot do without using a flexible shell to handle peaks around a production.
Lack of clarity about legislation
Clients and self-employed workers often do not know what is and is not allowed and how to avoid false self-employment
Financial risks
Financial consequences such as penalties for the client and unexpected premium payments complicate cooperation between clients and self-employed workers.
Flexibility under pressure
Freedom and entrepreneurship come under pressure and arranging everything yourself according to changing DBA guidelines takes time and carries risks
Photo Source: Martin Kohlstedt – The Concert Hall | J. Konrad-Schmidt
Legislative developments
Art Support closely monitors legal developments, discussions between the various stakeholders and court cases and translates these into practical measures. For example, we follow the Tax and Customs Administration's model contract for freelancers to the letter, only employ freelancers who can provide a recent Chamber of Commerce registration and ensure the deployment of our employees at different clients; all regulations to avoid false self-employment within the Wet DBA as much as possible.
Financial risks
Because Art Support takes care of the mediation and administration, the financial risk of clients is minimized. And if required in the future, we can switch from the mediation of freelancers to the deployment of technicians as a temporary employment agency since we have all the necessary certificates and can always offer the appropriate solution so you can continue to focus on production.
Hiring flexibility
Art Support is always ready to help fill technical positions quickly and efficiently. Whether it's filling in due to illness or downtime of in-house staff to continuously filling the technical shell ... we are ready.
