Income-related combination tax credit in the Netherlands

What is the income-related combination tax credit?

The income-related combination tax credit rewards the lower-earning working parent of a young child. It is a heffingskorting, a credit against the income tax and national insurance premiums you owe. It is not a deduction from your income.¹

The Dutch call it the inkomensafhankelijke combinatiekorting (IACK). National insurance premiums (volksverzekeringen) fund state schemes like the state pension. So the credit lowers your whole tax bill, not only your income tax.

Two things decide it. Your child must be under 12. The credit then goes to the lower-earning partner or to you alone without one. Your child must also live with you for six months. Your income from work must also pass €6,239. It builds up on your income from work, the so-called arbeidsinkomen. We explain that base on our page about the labour tax credit (arbeidskorting). You can see how it fits the wider set on our tax credits hub. It is not the general credit almost everyone receives, the general tax credit (algemene heffingskorting).

One change matters up front. The credit ended for children born in 2025 or later. If your child was born before 2025, you keep it under a transitional scheme while you meet the conditions.

Take Maya. She and her partner both work. Their daughter is three. Maya earns less than her partner, so the credit is hers. She wants to know how much it is and whether it still applies. We follow her figures through this page.

Who gets the credit and who counts as your child?

The lower-earning partner gets it, for a child under 12 in your household. Your child must be under 12 on 1 January. They must live with you for at least six months.

With no fiscal partner, you receive it yourself. The same applies if someone was your fiscal partner for less than six months. A fiscal partner is the person you share a tax household with, usually a spouse or registered partner. With a fiscal partner for more than six months, the credit goes to whoever earns less from work. If you earn exactly the same amount, the older partner receives it.

Your child counts if it is your own, adopted, a stepchild or your partner's child. A foster child counts only if you raise and maintain it as your own. Separated parents can both qualify. You are co-parents if the child belongs to each household for at least 156 days in the year.¹

Maya has a fiscal partner and earns less, so the credit is hers. Their daughter has lived with them all year, so the six-month test is met. Living here for part of the year can lower the credit you receive.

How much is the credit in 2026?

The maximum is €3,032 below the AOW pension age, and €1,513 once you reach it.² The AOW pension age is the Dutch state pension age.

The credit builds up on your income from work. You build nothing on the first €6,239. Above that, you add 11.45% of every euro, until you reach the maximum at an income of €32,711. So a higher income from work means a higher credit, up to the cap.

You need to earn more than €6,239 from work to receive anything at all. At the AOW pension age the maximum is lower. It builds up more slowly, at 5.72% over the same range. The published maxima are rounded, so your own sum can differ by a euro.

The table below sets out the 2026 figures.

How is the credit calculated?

You take 11.45% of your income from work above €6,239, up to €3,032. That rate and cap apply below the AOW pension age. Below the cap, that build-up is what you receive.

Maya has not yet reached the AOW pension age. She earns €20,000 from work. That is €13,761 above the €6,239 floor.

The build-up takes 11.45% of that €13,761, which comes to €1,576. Because it is under the €3,032 cap, that is her credit. The table below follows each step.

To reach the maximum, Maya would need an income from work of €32,711 or more. Her partner's higher income does not change her figure, because the credit is based on the lower earner's income.

Is the combination tax credit being abolished?

Yes for a child born from 2025. A child born before then keeps you in the scheme. The scheme runs while you keep meeting the conditions.

So a child born in 2025 or later gives no entitlement.¹ A child born in 2024 or earlier keeps that right. From 2027 the maximum falls in steps, so the credit slowly shrinks over the coming years.

The exact end year and the size of each step are still being confirmed. So we hold off on a precise schedule here.

For Maya this is good news. Her daughter was born before 2025, so she stays in the scheme.

What if you or your partner live or work abroad?

You can still receive it from the EU, EEA, Switzerland or the BES islands. This works if you or your partner live there and meet the conditions. You need to qualify as a qualifying non-resident taxpayer. That normally requires at least 90% of your worldwide income taxed in the Netherlands. Only the lower-earning partner receives it.

The BES islands are Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba. The Belastingdienst applies the fiscal-partner test as if you both lived in the Netherlands. So if your partner earns more and lives abroad, the credit is still yours, not theirs. If your partner earns less and also qualifies, the credit can go to them instead.

A page can take you this far. The outcome depends on where each of you lives, works and pays insurance. We work it out with you when we file your return, rather than put a number on it here.

What does this mean for you?

You now know the amount, who claims it and whether it still applies. The next step is your own situation.

Check your child's birth year first, because a child born from 2025 gives no credit. Check who earns less from work, since that partner receives it. Then check the six-month household test and treat a cross-border situation as an open question.

We work out your income-related combination tax credit on the lower earner's income. Then we check the details that could change your figure. The Belastingdienst applies the credit automatically when you file. You can also receive it monthly in advance through a provisional assessment (voorlopige aanslag). You can see how we handle a full return on our page about the Dutch tax return. Maya keeps her €1,576 credit for 2026, now that her daughter's birth year is confirmed.