Frequently asked questions
Answers to the most common questions about the Dutch salary calculation, the wage tax and the tax credits. Content is still being added to.
- What is the difference between gross and net pay?
- Gross (bruto) is your salary before deductions; net (netto) is what actually reaches your account. The difference is the wage tax (loonheffing) your employer withholds — the combined income tax and national-insurance contributions, reduced by the tax credits.
- What are the tax credits (heffingskortingen)?
- They are reductions subtracted from your calculated wage tax. The general tax credit (algemene heffingskorting) is worth up to € 3.115 and phases out at higher incomes; the employment tax credit (arbeidskorting) rewards working income and peaks at € 5.685. Both are income-dependent curves, not flat amounts, and both lift your net pay.
- Why does my net pay rise more slowly as I earn more?
- Two things. The combined tariff climbs in brackets (35,75% / 37,56% / 49,50%), so the part of income above each threshold is taxed more heavily. And the tax credits phase out as you earn more, quietly raising your effective rate. Together they mean you keep less net from each extra euro than from the last.
- Are the national-insurance contributions deducted separately?
- No. The contributions (AOW, Anw, Wlz — 27,65% together) sit inside the first tax bracket of 35,75%, levied only up to € 38.883. They are not withheld from your pay a second time, so the single loonheffing figure is the whole employee-side deduction.
- What about the employer levies I have heard about?
- The employer levies (werkgeversheffingen — such as Zvw, AWf, Aof) are paid by your employer on top of your gross, up to a base of € 79.409 a year. They are the employer’s cost, never taken out of your net pay, so the calculator shows them as a separate row. See the contributions page.
- How is holiday allowance (vakantiegeld) handled?
- Holiday allowance is a statutory 8,00% of gross pay, accrued over the year and usually paid as a lump in May or June. It is taxable, normally at your marginal rate through the special-payments table, so it lands as a smaller net amount. The calculator lets you include or exclude it, folding it into the annual base — a simplification, not the exact special-table treatment.
- What is the minimum wage in 2026?
- The statutory minimum hourly wage for ages 21 and over is € 14,71 an hour from 1 January 2026 and € 14,99 an hour from 1 July 2026. Since 2024 it is a single national hourly figure; there is no statutory monthly amount, so a monthly minimum depends on your contracted hours.
- Who does this calculator cover?
- The standard case: employment income (box 1) for someone below the state-pension (AOW) age, with one employer applying the payroll tax credit. It does not cover the AOW-age brackets, the self-employed, or the 30% ruling — those are stated as out of scope.
- Why might this differ from the figure on my payslip?
- A few reasons. This version does not deduct a pension-scheme premium (pensioenpremie) from your taxable base, which most payslips do, so it can show a slightly higher net. It treats holiday allowance in a simplified way, and it applies the standard credits only. It is a good order-of-magnitude estimate, not a payslip replacement.
- Are the figures in the calculator correct?
- The rates used are those in force for 2026, from the primary sources cited on each page. If a rule changed recently it may not be reflected here yet, and nobody has signed the figures off. The result is an estimate either way: the calculator cannot know your own circumstances. For official amounts, check the cited source, your employer or the Belastingdienst.