General tax credit in the Netherlands

What is the general tax credit in the Netherlands?

The general tax credit lowers the income tax and national insurance premiums you owe. It comes off the tax itself, not off your income.¹

The Dutch call it the algemene heffingskorting. Almost everyone who pays income tax here receives it. You do not have to apply for it. The Belastingdienst, the Dutch Tax Administration, applies it automatically when you file. A Dutch employer applies it in your monthly salary. With a foreign employer you receive it through your return.

National insurance premiums (volksverzekeringen) fund schemes like the state pension. The credit also lowers those premiums, on top of your income tax.

It is not the same as the credit for working. The labour tax credit rewards income from a job. We explain that one on our page about the labour tax credit (arbeidskorting). You can see how it fits the wider set of Dutch tax credits on our tax credits hub.

Take Elif. She moved to the Netherlands a few years ago. She now files as a full-year resident. Her salary is her main income, and she wonders why her credit is not the full amount. We follow her figures through this page.

What income is the credit based on?

Your credit is based on your verzamelinkomen, not your salary alone. That is your combined income from Box 1, Box 2 and Box 3, minus your deductible items.

So your wage belongs to that, but so does income from a substantial shareholding in Box 2. So does the return the Belastingdienst counts on your savings and investments in Box 3.

For Elif this matters. Her salary is €41,000 and the Box 3 income from her savings adds €4,000. Together they make a verzamelinkomen of €45,000, well into the range where the credit shrinks. Do you have the 30% ruling or income covered by a tax treaty? Then we check what counts in your verzamelinkomen before you file.

How much is the general tax credit in 2026?

The maximum is €3,115 below the AOW pension age, and €1,556 once you reach it.² The AOW pension age is the Dutch state pension age.

You keep the full amount up to a verzamelinkomen of €29,736. Above that, the credit falls by 6.398% of every euro over the threshold. It hits zero once your income passes €78,426.

At the AOW pension age you pay lower national insurance premiums. Your maximum credit is lower too, and it falls more slowly, by 3.195% over the same range.

The credit applies after the Belastingdienst works out your income tax across all three boxes. If you want the rates behind that step, you will find them in our guide to the Dutch tax brackets and tariffs.

How is the general tax credit calculated?

You start from the maximum and subtract the phase-out on the income above €29,736. The result is your credit for the year.

Elif is below the AOW pension age. Her verzamelinkomen for the year is €45,000. That is €15,264 above the threshold.

The phase-out takes 6.398% of that €15,264, which is €977. Her credit is €3,115 minus €977, so €2,138. The table below follows each step.

What if you arrive, leave, or work across the border?

Your credit splits into two parts, and each part follows a different rule. The tax part follows your residency status. The premium part follows whether you are insured for Dutch national insurance.

The tax part (belastingdeel) depends on whether you were a resident all year, part of the year, or a qualifying non-resident. A qualifying non-resident lives outside the Netherlands but earns nearly all income here. The premium part (premiedeel) depends on whether you paid into the Dutch schemes that year. The two can point in different directions for the same person.

This is where a general page stops and your own situation begins. Arriving partway through a year, leaving, or working across the border all change what you actually receive. A partner living or working abroad can change it again.

Elif's arrival year works differently. Because she was a resident for only part of that year, the tax part of her credit followed her residency status.

We do not put a number on that here, because the answer depends on your exact facts. We work it out with you when we file your return.

What does this mean for you?

You now know the maximum, the phase-out and the income it is based on. The next step is your own situation. Elif checks her €45,000 verzamelinkomen with Box 3 included. That shows why her credit is €2,138. Her arrival year is a separate check.

Check your verzamelinkomen, not just your salary. Watch your Box 3 income, since it counts toward the same total. Did your situation cross a border this year? Then treat the tax part as an open question worth confirming.

We calculate your general tax credit on your full income and check the parts that depend on your situation. You can see how we handle a full return in our guide to the Dutch tax return.