Work out your Dutch income tax for 2026

Follow the five steps below to get your own indication. If you live abroad with Dutch income, your credits work differently. How that works is on avoiding double taxation. Self-employed? Start with income tax for the self-employed.

This page is the procedure, not the rulebook. It does not explain why each bracket starts where it does. For the rules behind the rates and brackets, read Dutch tax rates and brackets. Past state pension age your first rate drops. Use the Belastingdienst's own tables then.

Which figures do you need before you start?

Four figures start the calculation. Write all four down before you apply any rate. Step 3 also needs your aggregate income.

Step 1: Gather your four starting figures.

1. Your taxable Box 1 income. Your taxable wage (fiscaal loon) from work, pension or benefit, minus the deductions you may claim. You find it on your jaaropgaaf. That is the annual statement your employer or your pension or benefit provider sends in January. No jaaropgaaf yet? Add up the taxable wage on your payslips.
2. The tax year. The one the income was earned in, not the one you file in.
3. Whether you reach state pension age that year and in which month. At state pension age the first-bracket rate drops, because the AOW premium, the state pension contribution, falls away.¹ In the year you reach it, the rate depends on that month.
4. Your earned income (arbeidsinkomen). That is your income from work. The labour credit is based on it, not on your total income.³

The worked example below follows Aditi, who earned €55,000 in 2026.

How do you work out the tax on your income?

Each part of your income gets its own rate, and you add the results. A higher rate applies only to income above a bracket limit. It never applies to your whole income.

Step 2: Apply the brackets to your income. The table below shows the 2026 brackets. Tax the first part at the first rate and the next part at the second rate. The third rate applies to income above the second limit. Then add the amounts.

The first bracket rate covers income tax and national insurance contributions at once.¹ You pay one figure and there is nothing to add. The bracket limits change every year. Our page on tax brackets and rates lists them.

How do the tax credits change your result?

Both credits come off your tax, not off your income. A credit of €1,000 cuts your tax by €1,000, but never below zero.

Step 3: Subtract the general tax credit from your tax. It depends on your aggregate income and drops to zero from €78,427.² Income from Box 2 and Box 3 counts towards it as well.

Step 4: Subtract the labour credit from your tax. This one only comes with income from work. It climbs with your earned income to a maximum, then tapers back to nothing from €132,921.³ These are the two credits almost everyone gets. If you are entitled to another one, your own figure comes out too high.

The two tables below give both credits for the 2026 tax year.

How much tax does a €55,000 salary cost?

Aditi, who is under state pension age, pays €13,383 on her 2026 salary of €55,000. Every line in the table below uses the tables above. Her salary is her only income and she claims no deductions. So her taxable income, her aggregate income and her earned income are all €55,000. Each line is rounded down to the whole euro.

This is an indication, not a final calculation. The Belastingdienst rounds some steps its own way, so your assessment can differ by a euro or two.

What can change your result?

Five situations change the result you just worked out. Each one is its own calculation and each has its own page.

Step 5: Check the five situations below.

1. The 30% ruling. Part of your pay is a tax-free allowance, so the brackets apply to a lower amount. The Belastingdienst now calls it the expatregeling.⁴ Read the 30% ruling.
2. Your own home. Mortgage interest lowers your Box 1 income and the notional rental value (eigenwoningforfait) raises it. Read mortgage interest deduction.
3. Savings and investments. Wealth above the tax-free amount belongs in Box 3, which has its own rate and its own timing. Box 3 income also raises your aggregate income, so your general tax credit gets smaller. Read assets and Box 3.
4. Income from abroad. With a salary, pension or property abroad, check which country may tax it. Read avoiding double taxation.
5. Your migration year. The year you move here or leave is a part year. That changes both credits, and your return that year is an M form. Read the M form.

What do you do with your result?

Compare it with the tax you have already paid. Your jaaropgaaf shows the wage tax (loonheffing) your employer withheld across the year. If your own figure is the lower of the two, you paid too much. That holds only when none of the five situations above applies to you. It also assumes you have no Box 2 income, which is income from a substantial shareholding in a company. Nor does it count entrepreneur deductions, the extra deductions for business owners. Aditi compares her €13,383 with the wage tax on her own jaaropgaaf and sees the difference.

Then do three things. Check the tax year on each table you used. Check whether one of the five situations above applies to you. Keep your workings, because the Belastingdienst asks for your inputs and not for your outcome. If the year is not over yet, end-of-year tax tips lists what you can still change.