Terms of Service (Helpers)

• Earnings from sessions are treated as miscellaneous income and are taxable at 33% (+ municipal surcharges) in Belgium. Consult a tax advisor for your personal situation;
• VAT exemption applies as long as you do not exceed the statutory threshold;
• The Consumer Rights Directive does not apply to your relationship with help seekers, but you remain fully bound by these Terms;
• Recommended: personal liability insurance (BA privéleven / family liability) that may cover damages arising from your help activities.

⚠ Tax classification of your earnings is your own responsibility. VDGT Consultancy BV cannot provide tax advice.

• Valid company registration number (CBE or equivalent) required;
• Compliance with VAT obligations in your country of establishment;
• Mandatory consumer protection applies in full to your relationship with help seekers;
• Pre-contractual information obligation towards consumers (Art. VI.45 CDE);
• Mandatory professional liability insurance (BA Beroep / professional indemnity) covering all services delivered via the platform; proof to be provided upon request.

• At least 18 years old;
• Valid identity verified through Stripe Connect onboarding;
• Accurate profile content — no misleading qualifications.

• Company number, VAT number (if applicable), company name and address.

Every Helper acts fully independently of VDGT Consultancy BV. No employment, agency or hierarchical relationship exists between VDGT Consultancy BV and the Helper. The Helper determines their own working methods, hours and location, and is free to offer similar services via other channels or platforms. Every Helper bears their own fiscal, social and legal obligations.

By placing profile content (profile photo, bio, catchphrase, category descriptions, examples) on the Platform, you grant VDGT Consultancy BV a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free right to host, display, reproduce, adapt for technical or presentation formats, and use such content in communications and marketing material of the Platform. This licence lasts for as long as the content remains on the Platform and ends on its removal, except for reasonable use in historical communications or already-distributed marketing material.

VDGT Consultancy BV deducts a commission from each completed session. The rate is visible in the helper dashboard and may be adjusted with 30 days' prior notice.

Payouts are made via Stripe Connect. Identity verification and IBAN management are handled by Stripe.

Every helper is solely responsible for their tax declaration in accordance with the laws of their country of residence.

VDGT Consultancy BV may suspend or terminate the account of an individual helper without prior notice for serious breaches, fraudulent behaviour, payment fraud or a sustained pattern of low ratings or quality complaints, assessed after internal review.

For business helpers, EU Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 (P2B) applies. VDGT Consultancy BV will observe a notice period of at least 30 days with written reasons upon termination. The notice period does not apply in cases of:

• Serious breaches of legal obligations;
• Fraudulent behaviour or identity misuse;
• Serious danger to the safety of users.

Appeals via support@helping-hands.world.

You may close your helper account at any time via the in-app settings or by email to support@helping-hands.world. Closure does not release you from obligations in respect of sessions already booked, in progress or due for payout at the time of closure. Confidentiality obligations regarding session content survive termination.

We endeavour to keep the Platform available 24/7 but provide it on a best-efforts basis. We may temporarily suspend access for maintenance, updates or security reasons, preferably with advance notice. We are not liable for unavailability, interruptions, bugs, data loss or corruption, except in cases of intent or gross negligence on our part.

We do not guarantee any minimum volume of help requests, session bookings, earnings or visibility. Help seekers choose helpers freely, and the Platform may adjust its matching, ranking and surfacing logic over time. For business helpers, material changes to the main parameters determining ranking will be communicated in accordance with the P2B Regulation.

Every Session is a direct contractual relationship between the helper and the help seeker (the Service Agreement), with VDGT Consultancy BV acting solely as a technical intermediary. The helper and the help seeker act as independent parties; nothing in the Agreement creates an employment, agency, partnership or joint venture relationship between them.

VDGT Consultancy BV may assign or transfer its rights and obligations under the Agreement, in whole or in part, to an affiliate or a successor (including in the context of a merger, reorganisation or sale of assets). You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations without our prior written consent.

If any provision of these Terms is held invalid, void or unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force and effect. The invalid provision shall be replaced by a valid provision that reflects as closely as possible the original intent.

Our failure to enforce any provision of the Agreement on a given occasion does not constitute a waiver of that provision or of our right to enforce it later.

The Agreement (as defined in section 2) constitutes the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Platform and supersedes any prior understandings or representations on the same subject matter.