Rates and brackets
The exact Box 1, Box 2 and Box 3 rates for 2026, with a worked example.
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Three boxes, one filing window, and a page for every situation. Start here to understand the essentials, then find the exact guide you need next. This page covers the income tax you pay as a person, not the corporate tax a company pays.
Dutch tax system
The Dutch tax system sorts your income into three boxes, and each box has its own rate and its own rules. The Belastingdienst (the Dutch tax authority) puts your income in a box based on where it comes from.
Box 1 covers your work and your home. The rates are progressive and rise to 49.50% on income above €78,426 in 2026. The full bracket table lists each one. Rates and thresholds shown here are the 2026 figures published by the Belastingdienst, consulted on 28 August 2026.
Box 2 covers a substantial shareholding of 5% or more in a company. In 2026 you pay 24.50% up to €68,843, and 31% above that.
Box 3 covers your savings and investments. You pay 36% on a deemed return, a set percentage. In 2026 the first €59,357 per person is tax-free, or €118,714 for fiscal partners combined. Fiscal partnership is a status with its own conditions, and the fiscal partners page tells you whether you meet them. Fiscal partners are usually married or registered partners. The 2026 deemed-return percentages are still provisional and become final early in 2027.
Three things catch people out. Your main home sits in Box 1, not Box 3. A loss in one box cannot be set against income in another. Box 3 starts from a deemed return, but you can report a lower real one.
Your final bill depends on more than the rate. Deductions lower your taxable income. Tax credits lower the tax itself, starting with the general tax credit. Working parents of a young child may also get the income-related combination tax credit. Allowances work differently. They are money paid to you, not a cut in your tax.
Not everyone has to file, but most people who live here or earn Dutch income do. You file once a year, between 1 March and 1 May, for the year before. Every rate, threshold and exception has its own page below. Find your situation below.
The boxes
The boxes decide your rate. These pages go deep on each one, from the 2026 brackets to the reform that is coming. Rent out a property? The rental income page shows how tax works on the rent and the property. Gifts are not income, so gift tax sits outside the boxes with its own exemptions.
Filing
One filing window, a few different forms. These pages help you find the right form, meet the deadline, and file without surprises. Run a business? You usually file VAT (btw) returns too, separate from your income tax.
More topics
Deductions, your situation, and cross-border tax, in one place. Filter by topic or search a term, then open the page from the section it belongs to above.
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Where to start
Six ways people meet the Dutch tax system. Don't see yours? Walk us through your situation and we point you the right way.
Your first Dutch return is the M-form, for your arrival year. We handle the split between before and after your move.
See your first returnEmployedYour salary sits in Box 1. A Dutch employer withholds the tax from your pay. A foreign employer usually does not. See how income, benefits and payslips fit together.
The exact Box 1, Box 2 and Box 3 rates for 2026, with a worked example.
How Box 3 works on your savings and investments, using a deemed return.
Savings, investments, crypto and a second home, and the debts you can subtract.
What changes as the Netherlands moves toward taxing your real return.
Our service for your annual Dutch income-tax return, done together with you.
Which tax form fits your year and what each one is for.
The return for the year you arrived in or left the Netherlands.
The return for non-residents who earn income in the Netherlands.
Frequently asked
The questions we hear most about how tax works here. Yours not here? Ask your advisor
Leaving the Netherlands or running a business? In the year you leave, you file for the part of the year you lived here. Same M-form route as arrival. Talk it through with an advisor
Get a refund early, or spread a bill across the year, month by month.
How the Netherlands looks at the income and assets you hold abroad.
How is this page fact-checked?
We check every page for accuracy, timeliness and relevance. Each one is written and reviewed by our qualified advisors, so the information stays clear, complete and correct.
Updated 28 August 2026
“Most people do not need to understand the whole system. They need to know which part applies to them. That is the first thing we sort out, in plain English.”
Menno van der Made
Tax advisor
Your advisor
The Dutch tax system has a lot of doors. Tell us your situation to find yours.
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