Your first Dutch payslip explained

What is loonheffing on your Dutch payslip?

Loonheffing is the tax and premiums your employer withholds from your gross salary. It is the biggest deduction on your payslip. That is why your net pay looks so much lower. It has two parts. Loonbelasting is the income-tax portion. Premies volksverzekeringen are your national-insurance premiums.

Loonheffing is not a separate tax. It is an advance payment on the income tax you owe for the year. Your employer pays it to the Belastingdienst each month, so you pay as you earn. At the end of the year the Belastingdienst offsets it against your final assessment. If too much was withheld, you get money back.

Take Aarav. He just started his first job in Amsterdam on a €3,000 gross monthly salary. His first payslip shows a net figure far below that. Loonheffing is by far the largest deduction. We follow Aarav through this guide to show what each line means and what he should check.

This page covers your payslip and loonheffing. Our guide to work and income in the Netherlands explains the full income-tax picture. You find the complete rate table in Dutch tax brackets and rates. This page assumes you have no 30% ruling. That ruling pays part of your salary untaxed and lowers loonheffing. If your employer does not have your BSN, it must withhold at the higher anonymous rate. Check your employer has your BSN on file to avoid this rate. The Belastingdienst is the Dutch Tax Administration, and a BSN is your citizen service number.

What do the numbers on your Dutch payslip mean?

Your payslip goes from gross to net through a fixed set of lines. Once you know the order, the decrease makes sense. Here is the path most first payslips follow.

Your gross salary comes first. Some employers also add tax-free reimbursements, such as a travel or home-working allowance. Then the deductions start.

Loonheffing is the big one. In the first bracket for 2026 it is 35.75% of your salary: 8.10% loonbelasting plus 27.65% premies volksverzekeringen.¹ That first bracket runs up to €38,883. Your employer then subtracts your loonheffingskorting, which lifts your net pay back up. After a small pension contribution, what remains is your netto. That is the amount in your account.

For Aarav this is the whole story. On his €3,000 gross, loonheffing takes the largest share. That is roughly a third of his pay. His loonheffingskorting brings a chunk of that back. That single korting is why his net is higher than a colleague who forgot to switch it on. Loonheffing on his €3,000 gross is about €1,073 at 35.75%. His korting then lowers that amount before his net is paid. His exact net comes from the wage tax tables, so his advisor works it out with him. So after korting, less than €1,073 is withheld and his net before pension is above €1,927.

Is your loonheffingskorting set to yes?

The loonheffingskorting applies at one income source only. It lowers the loonheffing your employer withholds, so your monthly net is higher. You request it once, when you start a job, on the Belastingdienst form Opgaaf gegevens voor de loonheffingen. Your payslip then shows loonheffingskorting as ja or nee.

Set it to yes at two jobs at once and both employers apply it. You then receive the credit twice. The Belastingdienst reclaims the difference at your assessment. So switch it on at your main job only. If you take a second job later, read our guide to tax on a second job.

Aarav has one job, so he sets it to yes there. His payslip reads loonheffingskorting: ja. That is correct, and it is the single line doing the most for his net pay.

What are the korting lines on your payslip?

Your loonheffingskorting is made up of two tax credits: the algemene heffingskorting and the arbeidskorting. Together they are why your loonheffing is lower than the headline rate.

The algemene heffingskorting is a general credit for everyone with taxable income, up to €3,115 for 2026. The arbeidskorting is an extra credit because you work, worth up to €5,685 this year. We name them here so you recognise the lines. We explain how each one builds up and tapers in our guides to the general tax credit and the labour tax credit. Both amounts come from the Belastingdienst tax credit rates for 2026.³

What is the jaaropgaaf?

Your jaaropgaaf is the annual summary of your payslips. Your employer sends it early in the new year. It shows your total wage, the total loonheffing withheld and whether loonheffingskorting was applied.

Save this document. It is the basis for your tax return and confirms what your employer already reported to the Belastingdienst.

Do you need to file a tax return in your first year?

You must file in three cases. Those are an invitation, income other than Dutch wages or a part year here. Even without an invitation, filing often pays off in your first year.

Your loonheffing was an advance. Your return settles it against what you actually owe, so overpaid months come back to you. In the year you arrive you file an M-form instead of the standard P-form. The M-form is the return for your migration year. If you lived here the whole year, you file the standard P-form instead. Read more about the M-form and your first return.

Aarav arrived in June, so he lived here for part of the year. His employer withheld loonheffing as if he earned all year, which is usually too much. He files an M-form for his first year and gets part of his loonheffing back. That refund is the outcome of reading his payslip correctly.