Work out your Dutch take-home pay for 2026

Follow the four steps below to turn a gross Dutch salary into an indication of your take-home pay. You need one figure to start: your gross monthly salary, from your offer or your contract.

This page works from the payroll side, so it shows what your employer withholds. Your yearly income tax bill is what the tax calculator works out. For each line on your payslip, read your first Dutch payslip explained. The steps assume you are employed, live in the Netherlands and are under state pension age. Self-employed income works differently.

The worked example below follows one person, Kwame, through all four steps. The steps also assume you do not have the 30% ruling.

What is your yearly gross salary?

Your yearly gross is your monthly salary times twelve, plus your holiday allowance. The Dutch rates and credits are set per year. So you work on a yearly figure and divide at the end.

Step 1: Work out your yearly gross.

1. Multiply your gross monthly salary by twelve. Use the amount in your contract before anything is taken off.
2. Add your holiday allowance. The legal minimum is 8% of your gross yearly salary.⁴ Above three times the minimum wage, your contract can set a lower amount or none, so check it.⁴
3. Take off your own pension contribution. Your employer deducts it before tax, which lowers your fiscal wage.⁵ Your contract or your pension scheme's summary names the percentage.

What is left is your fiscal wage. The next three steps use it.

Which rate applies to which part of your salary?

Each part of your fiscal wage gets its own rate. The first rate combines income tax and national insurance contributions.¹

Step 2: Apply the brackets.

1. Tax the part in the first bracket at the first rate from the table below.¹
2. Tax the part in the second bracket at the second rate. Only the amount above the first edge counts here.
3. Tax anything above the second edge at the top rate.
4. Add the slices together. That is your tax before credits.

Round every line to the nearest euro and keep that convention to the end. The worked example below does the same.

How do the tax credits change your net pay?

Two credits come off your tax: the general tax credit and the labour tax credit. Your employer applies both when it withholds. Together they form the payroll tax reduction.⁶ Both shrink as your income rises.²

Step 3: Take off the two credits.

1. Find your general tax credit in the first table below.² With no other income, your fiscal wage is the income it is based on.
2. Find your labour tax credit in the second table, using your fiscal wage as your income from work.³
3. Take both off your tax before credits. That is roughly what your employer withholds over a full year.

Step 4: Turn it into a monthly net figure.

1. Take the tax after credits off your fiscal wage. That is your net pay for the year.
2. Divide by twelve. That is your average net pay per month.

A worked example, from gross to net

Take Kwame, who starts on 1 January 2026 at €5,000 gross a month. He is under state pension age and lives in the Netherlands all year. He has no other income, pays no pension contribution of his own and does not have the 30% ruling. We round every line to the nearest euro.

1. €5,000 × 12 = €60,000. Holiday allowance at 8% adds €4,800. His fiscal wage is €64,800.
2. First bracket: 35.75% of €38,883 = €13,901.
3. Second bracket: €64,800 minus €38,883 = €25,917. At 37.56% that is €9,734.
4. Tax before credits: €13,901 plus €9,734 = €23,635.
5. General tax credit: €64,800 minus €29,736 = €35,064. 6.398% of that is €2,243. €3,115 minus €2,243 = €872.
6. Labour tax credit: €64,800 minus €45,592 = €19,208. 6.510% of that is €1,250. €5,685 minus €1,250 = €4,435.
7. Both credits: €872 plus €4,435 = €5,307. Tax after credits: €23,635 minus €5,307 = €18,328.
8. Net pay for the year: €64,800 minus €18,328 = €46,472. Averaged over twelve months that is about €3,873 a month.

This is an indication, not a final calculation.

Kwame's real payslips will not all show €3,873. His holiday allowance usually arrives in one payment, in May or June for most employees.⁴ His employer also withholds per pay period using the wage tax tables, not on a yearly sum.⁸ So most months come in a little lower and one month is higher.

Starting partway through 2026? Your employer still withholds per pay period, so the monthly figure holds as a guide. After the year, your tax return settles any difference with the tax withheld.

What moves your take-home pay?

Five situations move your indication up or down. Each changes what your employer withholds in a given month.

1. The 30% ruling. If you qualify, your employer may pay part of your salary without tax. That raises your net pay. The 30% ruling checker shows whether you qualify. The rules themselves are in the 30% ruling guide.
2. Your pension contribution. A contribution your employer deducts lowers your fiscal wage.⁵ So it costs you less in net pay than its own amount.
3. A second job or benefit. The job without the payroll tax reduction withholds more.⁷ Read how that works in tax on a second job.
4. A bonus or a thirteenth month. Your employer withholds on those with a separate table for special payments.⁸ That month's net pay looks different.
5. A company car. Do you drive it more than 500 km a year for private trips?⁹ Then its private use counts as wage (bijtelling). Your employer withholds tax on it, so your net pay goes down.

If one of these applies, your real net pay can sit well above or below the indication. More on salary and tax is in work and income.

What to do with your take-home figure

Hold it next to your offer or your first payslip. Kwame puts his €3,873 a month next to his offer. If the two are close, the salary holds no surprises. If they are far apart, check the five situations above first. When something changes, such as a new job, a raise or a pension scheme, work it out again. Every rate and credit on this page is for 2026.

Read more about our tax advice.