ZEZ benefit conditions: are you entitled?

Who the scheme applies to

The ZEZ scheme is for self-employed people with business profit, but the group is broader than just sole traders.

• Freelancers and sole traders with business profit
• Partners in a general or professional partnership
• Director-shareholders of their own private limited company
• Contributing partners in their partner's business

What is not a condition

This is where most misunderstandings sit. Three things people often assume, which are not true.

• You do not need to be insured. Disability insurance is not required and does not affect your entitlement.
• You do not need to have paid a premium. ZEZ is a statutory right under the Work and Care Act, for which you pay no contribution yourself.
• You do not need to meet the hours criterion to receive anything. It only determines the amount; see calculating the ZEZ benefit.

What does have to be right

The hard requirements are limited: you are pregnant, you are self-employed at the time your leave starts, and you apply on time. In practice, that last point is where things go wrong.

You must submit the application no later than two weeks before the start date, with a pregnancy declaration from your midwife or doctor. The step-by-step guide with deadlines is in a separate article.

Special situations

A few cases that deviate from the standard situation and that entrepreneurs often ask about.

• Multiple pregnancy: your leave is twenty weeks instead of sixteen.
• Ill due to your pregnancy or the birth: as a self-employed person you only receive sickness benefit for that if you took out voluntary insurance with UWV, which you then claim separately.
• Just started in business: you are still entitled. If you have not yet reached 1,225 hours, UWV looks at your income from the previous calendar year.

How to prepare your application

If you meet the conditions, have these items ready before you submit the application. Filling it in is then a matter of minutes instead of a scavenger hunt.

• Your DigiD, because the application runs through the UWV portal.
• The pregnancy declaration from your midwife or doctor, stating the due date.
• Your hours log for the calendar year before your benefit starts. It shows you meet the 1,225 hours of the hours criterion, which directly sets the amount of your benefit.
• If you fall short of those hours: your profit figures for the previous calendar year, because UWV then calculates with those.

What the benefit means for your bookkeeping

The ZEZ benefit is not revenue: you send no invoice for it and it carries no VAT. So do not book the payments as business income, but as income alongside your profit. For income tax the benefit is taxable; UWV usually withholds wage tax on it already.

Also bear in mind that the benefit counts towards your aggregate income, and can therefore feed into your benefits. Update your estimated income for the year of your leave in time and you avoid a clawback afterwards.

Conditions and deadlines at a glance

The Dutch maternity benefit for the self-employed surprises many because there are fewer conditions than expected. This is what does and does not count.

Frequently asked questions