Alimony in the Netherlands: Tax Rules for 2026

How is alimony taxed in the Netherlands?

Partner alimony is deductible for whoever pays it and taxed for whoever receives it. Child support is neither.

Alimony is the maintenance one ex-partner pays the other after a separation. Dutch tax law splits it in two. Partner alimony supports your former partner. Child support supports your children. The two follow opposite tax rules, so it helps to know which is which.

This guide covers the tax treatment: what you deduct, what you declare and how much it is worth in 2026. It does not set the amount or the duration of your alimony. Those follow from family law and the court order, not from the tax rules.

We wrote it for internationals who divorce in the Netherlands, including couples where one partner pays or receives alimony across a border.

Take Sara and Tom, who separate in Amsterdam. Tom pays Sara €1,500 a month in partner alimony and €400 a month in child support for their daughter. Tom is also weighing up a job abroad. We follow their return through this guide.

The essentials are below, then each situation in turn.

Who deducts alimony and who pays tax on it?

The payer of partner alimony deducts it, and the receiver pays income tax on it. Child support stays outside the return for both sides.¹

Partner alimony is a personal deduction, the so-called persoonsgebonden aftrek. You subtract it from your income before the Belastingdienst works out your tax. You can deduct it when you pay under a legal or a pressing moral duty to support your former partner. That covers unmarried partners who lived together and then split, not only ex-spouses.

On the other side, the receiver adds partner alimony to their taxable income in Box 1. Child support works differently. It never appears on either return, whoever pays and whoever receives.

The table below sets out each type side by side.

What are the 2026 alimony tax figures?

In 2026 a 37.56% cap limits the partner-alimony deduction above €78,426. Most alimony amounts also rise by 4.6% on 1 January.¹

The cap is a high-income rule. Below €78,426 your deduction follows your normal tax rate. Above it, the Belastingdienst caps the deduction at 37.56%, even when your top rate is higher.¹ That maximum fell sharply between 2020 and 2023, and has risen slightly since.

The indexation is separate. For 2026 the government set the yearly increase at 4.6%.² It applies to both partner and child alimony, unless your court order excludes indexation.

Here is how the maximum deduction rate has moved.

Paying partner alimony: how the deduction works

For a high income, the 37.56% cap sets the value of the deduction, not your top tax rate.

Tom pays €1,500 a month, so €18,000 a year in partner alimony. Because his income passes the threshold, he deducts that €18,000 at 37.56%. His €400 a month in child support gives him nothing back, since child support is never deductible.

Here is Tom's deduction in full.

So Tom's partner alimony saves him about €6,761 in tax, while his child support changes nothing on his return. It holds your deduction below your top rate.

It is worth checking the effect against your own return before you file.

If you still co-own the home your ex lives in, part of the eigenwoningforfait counts as partner alimony.¹

The eigenwoningforfait is a fixed percentage of a home's value that a homeowner adds to their income. The share you own counts as partner alimony you pay, and your ex declares the same share as alimony received. The timing matters, because the box it sits in changes after two years.

Receiving partner alimony: what you declare

You declare partner alimony as income in Box 1, and you can deduct the costs you made to obtain or keep it.¹

Because it counts as income, partner alimony can also trigger a Zvw contribution, the income-dependent healthcare charge. You may deduct the costs of getting or securing your alimony or a lump sum. Think of lawyer, telephone, postage, travel and collection costs. Some costs stay out: interest on a loan for the alimony, child-support costs and estate-division costs.

Child support you receive is not income, so it never appears here.

Child support: why it is tax-neutral

Child support is invisible on both tax returns. The payer claims no deduction and the receiver reports no income.¹

The Belastingdienst treats it as money spent on your children, not as income or a deduction. So Tom's €400 a month never touches his return. Sara never lists it as income either. The one thing that still moves each year is the amount itself, through the 4.6% indexation. For Sara and Tom, that means the money for their daughter reaches her without a tax detour.

Do you still deduct alimony if you live outside the Netherlands?

You keep the deduction only if 90% or more of your income is Dutch. Living in one of a few named countries also keeps it.¹

Leaving the Netherlands does not automatically end your right to deduct partner alimony. It survives under set conditions. These are the cases that keep the deduction alive.

What this means for your tax return

Work out which alimony you pay or receive, apply the right treatment and check the 2026 figures for your income.

If you pay partner alimony, claim the deduction and watch the 37.56% cap above €78,426. If you receive it, declare it in Box 1 and deduct the costs of getting it. Child support stays out on both sides. If either of you lives abroad, confirm the deduction still applies before you rely on it.

Partner alimony is one of several personal deductions. Our page about tax deductions in the Netherlands shows what else you can claim. For the wider money side of a divorce, read our page about divorce and tax.

What this guide does not decide is the amount of your alimony or its duration. Partner alimony is often said to run for a set number of years. But the length and the amount are family-law questions, not tax ones. For those, speak to a family-law specialist. We handle the tax side with you.

It is the cross-border point our advisors see missed most. Tom keeps his deduction, and Sara declares her alimony as planned.