How this estimate is calculated
The calculator follows the Belastingdienst's 2026 rules for automated payroll (rekenvoorschriften) for the white monthly table. Your annual salary is spread over 12 monthly payments. For each month it applies the 2026 tax brackets, then subtracts the general tax credit (algemene heffingskorting) and the labour tax credit (arbeidskorting).
We checked it against every row of the official 2026 white monthly table: for each monthly wage in that table, it gives the same wage tax.
Holiday allowance is part of your taxable wage. Dutch employers pay at least 8% of your gross salary as holiday allowance, usually in May. If your salary is quoted without it, choose "Paid on top of this amount".
Dutch tax brackets in 2026
These are the combined rates for wage tax and national insurance contributions for someone under the state pension (AOW) age.
| Taxable income per year | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to €38,883 | 35.75% |
| €38,883 to €78,426 | 37.56% |
| Above €78,426 | 49.5% |
The 35.75% in the first bracket is 8.1% wage tax plus 27.65% national insurance (AOW, Anw and Wlz). The general tax credit is up to €3,115 and phases out between €29,736 and €78,426. The labour tax credit is up to €5,685 and is gone at €132,920.
The 30% ruling in 2026
With the 30% ruling (the Belastingdienst now calls it the expatregeling), your employer can pay up to 30% of your salary as a tax-free allowance for the extra costs of living abroad. You pay no wage tax on that part.
Your employer applies for it, and the Belastingdienst decides. The ruling lasts at most 5 years.
Main conditions
- You were hired from abroad, or sent to the Netherlands by your employer.
- In the 24 months before your first working day in the Netherlands, you lived more than 150 km from the Dutch border for more than 16 months.
- Your taxable salary, without the allowance, is more than €48,013 a year. If you are under 30 and have a master's degree, the norm is €36,497.
- Your employer has a ruling decision for you from the Belastingdienst.
The allowance is calculated on at most €262,000 of salary, so it is never more than €78,600 a year. From 2027 the maximum drops to 27%, except for people whose employer already applied the ruling in December 2023.
Contractors and freelancers (zzp)
As a self-employed contractor (zzp'er, eenmanszaak) you pay no wage tax. You pay income tax and national insurance on your profit through a tax assessment, plus an income-related health insurance contribution (Zvw) of 4.85% on up to €79,409.
Before tax, your profit goes down by the self-employed deduction of €1,200 if you spend at least 1,225 hours a year on the business, plus a starter deduction of €2,123 in your first years. Then the SME profit exemption takes 12.7% off what is left. You also get the general tax credit and the labour tax credit.
Above €78,426 of income, these deductions save at most 37.56% instead of 49.5%.
What this estimate leaves out
- Pension contributions and other deductions on your payslip.
- Your health insurance premium, which you pay yourself.
- Starting or leaving part way through the year.
- Being at or over the state pension (AOW) age.
- Living outside the Netherlands.
- For contractors: VAT, losses from other years, and freelance income the Belastingdienst does not treat as a business.
- Anything settled later in your income tax return, such as mortgage interest.
Your employer also pays the income-related health insurance contribution (Zvw) and employee insurance premiums. These are not taken from your pay.