Start with sex work

With window prostitution, specific window operators will allow you to rent a window (at a specific location) and a workspace for a certain time period. Most window-prostitutes are independent: You recruit your customers yourself and set your own prices and services you provide.

A window prostitute rents through their own KvK, as a self-employed person without employees. You can choose when you want to operate and which operator you would prefer to rent from. The window operator must have an operating license for a prostitution business. Window operators must disclose clear rental conditions, which must include what their arrangements are for cancellation, vacation and illness.

Before you officially own your own business, you need to do a few things. You must register with the Chamber of Commerce (KvK) and register as an entrepreneur with the tax authorities.

You must also keep track of your income and expenditure, file a tax return with the tax authorities and pay tax.

Benefits of window sex work

• You are independent and choose your own working hours. No one has authority over you..
• You have direct contact with your customers. You decide for yourself if you consent or refuse the customer.
• It’s pretty safe. Many designated window areas have street cameras and many rooms have alarm buttons.

Disadvantages of window sex work

• You are visible to everyone, including family, friends and acquaintances.
• Sometimes the window areas can be very busy. Many tourists come just to watch. You have to be able to handle that.
• You must file income tax yourself.

The Netherlands has several clubs with a permit. In a club, customers are received at the bar. Sometimes the customer just wants a chat, and other times, you might accompany him to a booked room.

In the clubs, operators can choose to employ a sex worker or have them work via opting-in. The operator must have an operating license for a prostitution business or escort business. Club operators often opt for the opt-in scheme. This is a ‘fiscal employment’ which makes it easier for operators and sex workers. The Tax and Customs Administration allows this. You work for the operator as a self-employed person, but the operator arranges the tax payment.

Benefits of working in a club

• In a club, a customer pays for the time with you in the room, and often extra for sexual services. The longer your customer stays in the room, the more you earn.
• The GGD Amsterdam regularly visits to see if your workplace is clean and safe.
• A club can provide you with a safe environment because you work with colleagues and the chances are slim that you encounter friends, family or acquaintances.
• The operator files income tax on your behalf, which means you do not have to allocate part of your earnings yourself.

Disadvantages of working in a club

• Alcohol is normally sold in a club. While you receive a percentage of the alcohol sale, keep in mind that many customers will ask you to share a drink with them. You need to be aware of your own limits and be able to handle alcohol and the inebriated client.
• Some customers may want to have long conversations with you and you need to be prepared for this.

The Netherlands has several privehuis with a permit. A privehuis is a kind of club normally in a discreet location that looks like a home. In the living room, there are a small number of sex workers waiting for customers. Customers do not lounge in the living room, so while waiting you are free to do what you wish. When a customer arrives, the sex workers present themselves one by one. The customer makes a choice and goes to a room with one of the sex workers.

In the privehuis, proprietors can choose to employ a sex worker or have them work via opting-in. The operator must have an operating license for a prostitution business or escort business. Operators of privehuizen often opt for the opt-in scheme. This is a ‘fiscal employment’ that makes it easier for operators and sex workers. The Tax and Customs Administration allows this. You work for the operator as a self-employed person, but the operator arranges the tax payment.

Benefits of working in a privehuis

• You do not have to entertain the customer before moving to a private room (unlike at a club).
• You do not have to drink alcohol with your customer.

Disadvantages of working in a privehuis

• The prices are slightly lower than at a club.

As an escort you do not work at a fixed location. You can work as an escort in three ways:

1. You can work independently as an escort. You will need a permit for this, but it allows you to work almost anywhere in the Netherlands. Make sure you check this with your municipality, otherwise you can get into run into operating issues.
2. You can work through an escort agency.
3. You can work in a club that also has an escort license.

Please note: An independent escort is also a self-employed person. As an independent escort, it is your responsibility to arrange the following:

• advertising,
• contacts,
• appointments,
• transportation to go and return from the customer’s home or hotel room (the customer must have booked the room himself),
• your own finances.

If you do all the above by yourself, you do not need an operating license for an escort company or prostitution company. However, if someone else helps you with these things, it counts as an escort agency and a permit is required.

Tax must be paid on your income.

Benefits of working as an escort

• It’s varied.
• Locations are different every day.
• Customers’ wishes can vary in terms of time: ranging from an hour to days.

Disadvantages of working as an escort

• You are expected to be pleasant company for your client at all times.
• You alone are responsibility for your own safety. There are no colleagues nearby.

With this form of sex work you seek out the customer on the street. In the Netherlands, working on the street is prohibited, unless you do so in special streetwalking zones, set specifically by the municipality. Usually, it is a very defined area where customers drive through in cars. The norm is that your work is performed in the customer’s car. There are some streetwalking zones in Nijmegen and Arnhem.

You have to pay tax on your income from streetwalking.

Benefits of streetwalking

• You decide your own working hours.
• Working on the street doesn’t cost any money; for example, rent.
• At a streetwalking zone, there is surveillance and a living room.

Disadvantages of working as an escort

• Your earnings are often lower than at other workplaces.
• As a streetwalker, you will need to have a permit. Sometimes there is a waiting period for this.
• You have to take care of your own tax affairs.