How to Read a Dutch Payslip (Loonstrook): Every Line Explained

Your first Dutch payslip (loonstrook or salarisstrook) usually arrives as a PDF in Dutch, full of abbreviations, with a net amount that is lower than you expected. This guide goes through it line by line: what each term means, which lines are deducted from your pay and which are only for information, why your holiday allowance and bonus seem to be taxed so heavily, and the mistakes worth checking in your first few months.

How a Dutch payslip is built

Almost every Dutch payslip follows the same order, whatever payroll software your employer uses:

1. Your details and the pay period: name, BSN, staff number, the period (periode or tijdvak) and the wage tax table used.
2. Gross pay (bruto): your salary plus taxable extras such as overtime, shift allowances or a bonus.
3. Deductions before tax: mainly your share of the pension premium.
4. Wage tax (loonheffing) on the remaining taxable pay.
5. Tax-free allowances (onbelaste vergoedingen), added back on top, such as travel or home-working allowances.
6. Net deductions (netto inhoudingen), for example a bike plan or lunch at work.
7. Net pay (netto loon or uit te betalen): what lands in your bank account.

Many payslips also show cumulative totals (cumulatieven) for the year so far, your leave balance (verlofsaldo or vakantie-uren) and the holiday allowance built up so far. Some employers pay every four weeks instead of monthly. You then get 13 payslips a year, each covering a slightly shorter period.

A worked example

Here is a simplified monthly payslip for an employee earning €5,000 gross a month in 2026, without the 30% ruling, with an assumed pension contribution of €180 and a tax-free travel allowance. Real payslips round differently and your pension contribution depends on your employer's scheme, so treat the amounts as an illustration.

To see the effect of a different salary, the 30% ruling or a pension contribution on your own net pay, use our free Dutch salary calculator.

Dutch payslip terms, translated

Search your payslip for these words. The right-hand column tells you what to check.

Loonheffing: the big deduction

Loonheffing is an advance payment of your Dutch income tax plus the national insurance contributions for the state pension (AOW), survivors' benefits and long-term care. Your employer calculates it each month from the official Belastingdienst wage tax tables, which assume your pay continues at the same level all year. For people below state pension age in 2026, the combined rates are:

The amount withheld is lower than these rates suggest because of two tax credits: the general tax credit (algemene heffingskorting, up to €3,115) and the labour tax credit (arbeidskorting, up to €5,685). Both shrink as your income rises. When your payslip says loonheffingskorting: ja, the credits are spread over your monthly payslips.

For most employees with a salary in one country and nothing else, the wage tax withheld is close to the final income tax, so many do not have to file a return. In your arrival year you usually receive a migration return (the M form) anyway, where any difference is settled. Our guide to resident and non-resident tax status explains which return applies to you.

Why your holiday allowance and bonus are taxed at about 50%

This is the question expats ask most about their payslip. Holiday allowance, bonuses, a 13th month and back pay are not taxed with the monthly table. Payroll uses the special rate table (tabel bijzondere beloningen) instead. The percentage depends on your expected annual wage, and it includes the part of your tax credits you lose because the extra money raises your income.

Because the credits shrink with income, the real tax on an extra euro is higher than the bracket rates. In 2026, for a salary between about €45,600 and €78,400 a year, the 37.56% rate plus the phase-out of both credits adds up to roughly 50%. Between about €78,400 and €132,900, the 49.50% rate plus the phase-out of the labour credit comes to roughly 56%. Above that the credits are gone and the rate is 49.50%.

So in the worked example above, the €4,800 holiday allowance paid in May would lose about half to tax. That is not a payroll error. It is the true tax on that extra income, and if your final annual income turns out lower than payroll assumed, the difference comes back through your tax return.

Holiday allowance (vakantiegeld)

By law you are entitled to holiday allowance of at least 8% of your gross salary. It usually builds up from June to May and is paid in one go in May or June. Some employers pay it monthly or include it in your salary. That is only allowed if your contract states clearly that the salary includes holiday allowance. If you leave a job, the holiday allowance you have built up is paid in your final salary, together with any untaken leave.

Pension contributions

Pensions in the Netherlands are usually arranged through your employer, and joining is often compulsory under a sector pension fund or the company scheme. The employee share is deducted before tax, so a €180 pension contribution costs you less than €180 in net pay. Payslips often refer to the pensioengevend salaris (salary the pension is based on) and the franchise, a part of your salary on which no pension is built up because the state pension covers it. If no pension appears in your first months, check whether your employer has a waiting period or whether something was missed.

What the 30% ruling looks like on a payslip

If you have the 30% ruling, your gross pay is split into a taxable part and a tax-free allowance, often labelled ET-vergoeding (extraterritorial costs) or vergoeding 30%-regeling. Your loon voor de loonheffing is then lower than your salary. If the ruling is approved after you start, payroll can usually correct the earlier months, provided your employer applied within four months of your start date. Remember that the standard allowance is scheduled to drop to 27% from 1 January 2027 for most people, so check your January 2027 payslip.

Tax-free allowances

Employers can pay certain allowances without tax, which is why they appear below the tax line and increase your net pay directly:

• Commuting (reiskostenvergoeding): up to €0.25 per kilometre tax-free in 2026, or the actual cost of public transport. The rate went up from €0.23 with retroactive effect to 1 January 2026, so some employers paid a correction later in the year.
• Working from home (thuiswerkvergoeding): up to €2.45 per home-working day in 2026.
• Other allowances paid through the work-related costs scheme (werkkostenregeling), such as a phone, laptop or a Christmas gift.

Employers are not required to pay these allowances unless your contract or cao says so. Anything above the tax-free maximum is taxed as normal pay.

Your first-payslip checklist

1. Your BSN and name are correct. If your employer did not have your BSN and ID before your first working day, it may have had to apply the anonymous rate of 52% (anoniementarief), without tax credits. Once your details are known, your employer can correct this within the same calendar year; after that, you claim it back through your tax return.
2. Loonheffingskorting says "ja" at your main employer and "nee" anywhere else.
3. The 30% ruling is applied if it has been approved, and earlier months are corrected.
4. Your first month is pro-rata if you started mid-month, and the calculation matches your start date.
5. Holiday allowance is reserved at 8% or more.
6. Pension matches the scheme in your contract.
7. Allowances agreed in your contract are on the payslip and below the tax line if they are tax-free.
8. Employer-only premiums (Zvw, WW, Aof) do not reduce your net pay.

Your employer must give you a payslip with your first salary and each time the amount changes. Early in the following year you also receive an annual statement (jaaropgaaf) with your total wage and tax withheld, which you need for your tax return. Keep both: landlords and mortgage lenders often ask for your three most recent payslips, and the annual statement is useful for years.

Official sources and useful links

• Belastingdienst: wage tax tables, including the special rate tables (Dutch)
• Belastingdienst: labour tax credit table 2026 (Dutch)
• Belastingdienst: box 1 tax rates (Dutch)
• Belastingdienst: the 30% facility (English)
• Rendement: Zvw contribution percentages for 2026 (Dutch)
• SRA: tax-free travel allowance €0.25 from 1 January 2026 (Dutch)

This is general information based on the 2026 rules for employees below state pension age. Collective agreements, pension schemes and individual situations differ. For a decision about your own pay or taxes, check with your employer's payroll team or a tax adviser.