Hey! Are you also considering working as a freelancer in healthcare?

If you start your own business, you must register with the Chamber of Commerce's Trade Register. After you have registered with the Trade Register, the Chamber of Commerce will pass on your details to the Tax and Customs Administration. You do not need to register your business separately with the Tax and Customs Administration. Once the Tax and Customs Administration has registered you as a VAT entrepreneur, you will receive your sales tax number and your VAT identification number (VAT ID).

• Ensure you have a 'privacy administration'. Where is clients' personal information stored, has permission been given for this, and how do you handle that information? Ensure you have an overview of what you store and where. And show that you are aware of your role as protector of sensitive data.
• Organize a Privacy Statement for clients, customers, and family members so that they know how you handle information. How they can view this information and how they can ask you to delete or transfer this data should also be included.
• Secure sensitive data. Do not check the box for "remember password." Use a separate program for your passwords. Do not surf the internet via unsecured WiFi hotspots on the same computer that stores sensitive data.
• Report data breaches. Lost your phone containing sensitive client data? Left a file behind at the supermarket? Didn't wipe your computer's hard drive before selling it on Marktplaats? Reporting data breaches was already mandatory and is now included in the GDPR.

Nurses, caregivers, and nursing specialists are subject to a wide range of legislation. We have listed the relevant laws and regulations. The most important law governing the profession is the BIG Act (Individual Healthcare Professions Act), which ensures that quality is and remains high. The WGBO (Medical Treatment Agreement Act) sets out the rights and obligations of clients/patients receiving care. Nurses, caregivers, and nurse practitioners work in healthcare under various laws: Zvw (Health Insurance Act), Wlz (Long-Term Care Act), Wmo (Social Support Act), and the Youth Act. When dealing with patients and applying measures that restrict freedom in healthcare, healthcare providers encounter the following laws: Wzd (Care and Compulsion Act) and the WvGGZ (Compulsory Mental Health Care Act).

Simply put, bogus self-employment means that you appear to be self-employed (freelancer), but are not considered as such by the tax authorities.

In the case of entrepreneurship, the client does not have to pay payroll tax and social security contributions, and the entrepreneur is entitled to various business tax deductions, the largest of which is the self-employed person's allowance. If someone wrongfully pays income tax as an entrepreneur, the tax authorities lose a lot of tax revenue due to the advantages that the entrepreneur has (he pays sales tax, but less income tax), but also because the client does not pay payroll tax and employee insurance contributions.

Because bogus self-employment results in less tax revenue for the government, attempts have been made for some time to eliminate bogus self-employment.

Submit a fully completed application form to the Civil Affairs/Public Affairs department of the municipality where you are registered. Attach a document showing that the interested organization is requesting a VOG from you. This can be a copy of an email or a relevant internet page. This document serves as a replacement for the signature on the application form. Don't forget to bring valid proof of identity with you when you submit the application. You will always receive the VOG by mail at the residential address you provide in the application.

If you accidentally cause damage to a person or someone else's property, this is called professional liability. 

This insurance covers your liability as a self-employed healthcare professional and protects your business against the financial consequences of damage claims. 

Standard coverage:

• Damage to items you have on loan is covered as standard.
• specific coverage for your risks:
• you damaged your client's belongings
• Your client suffers personal injury as a result of treatment.
• as a nurse, you give incorrect medical advice (financial loss)

As an entrepreneur, you can decide for yourself how to insure yourself against incapacity for work. You can set aside money yourself, take out insurance, or participate in a bread fund. 

As a self-employed person, you can secure a replacement income by:

• reserve money yourself
• take out private disability insurance (AOV)
• take out 'individual disability insurance under collective terms and conditions'. This is possible through various industry and professional organizations. Interest groups for self-employed persons also offer this option to their members.
• take out voluntary Sickness Benefits Act or WIA insurance with the UWV. You can take out this insurance if you become self-employed as an employee or while receiving benefits.
• participate in a bread fund for the first two years of your incapacity for work. A bread fund consists of entrepreneurs who set aside money each month. If one of them is ill for a long period of time, he receives monthly donations from the others in his bread fund to help him make ends meet.

The BIG register (Professions in Individual Healthcare) is a legal, online, and public register. A BIG registration clarifies what you can and are allowed to do as a healthcare provider. For example, performing a certain surgical procedure or giving injections. The purpose of the BIG Act is to protect patients from unqualified healthcare providers. As a BIG-registered nurse, you must re-register every 5 years. You can re-register as a nurse if you meet the work experience requirement (also known as the hour standard). To do so, you must have worked 2,080 hours as a nurse in 5 years. This is approximately 8 hours per week.

A business account is not mandatory for entrepreneurs, but it can be useful. A business account gives your company a professional image. The tax authorities want to inspect your records. It does not matter whether you use a business account or a private account, as long as the flow of money is clear and transparent. This means showing where the money comes from, which accounts you transfer money to, and what is business and what is private. One option is to open a second private checking account for your business finances so that you can separate your business and private income and expenses.

There are various ways to work as a self-employed person for a healthcare institution. This can lead to confusion about whether or not you are liable for VAT as a self-employed person. In most cases, you are not liable for VAT as an independent healthcare provider. It mainly depends on how you perform that work: through an agency or directly for the healthcare provider. At Vince People, you work directly for the healthcare provider. 

You need a personal General Data Management code (AGB code) to claim reimbursement for healthcare provided. This is a national code that identifies a healthcare provider. You can only apply for an AGB code if you have a valid BIG registration and/or a registration with a professional organization or quality register. To apply for an AGB code for your company, you always need to be registered in the Chamber of Commerce Trade Register. 

GDPR General Data Protection Regulation.

The healthcare sector deals with sensitive personal information on a daily basis. This means you have an extensive 'accountability obligation', in which you must specify what information you record and for what reason. You must do this in a lawful manner. In other words, sensitive data must be processed logically, transparently, and correctly.

What other special requirements of the GDPR apply to healthcare? As a self-employed person, you are also required to keep a record of processing activities. This is because, as a self-employed person, you regularly deal with special (medical) personal data. In healthcare, therefore, even greater attention than average is paid to how you handle sensitive information.