In the Netherlands, employees receive a payslip (loonstrook) from their employer when they are paid. This is an important document that provides a breakdown of how your salary is calculated and amounts that have been withheld for social security contributions and payroll taxes. Here’s what you need to know about receiving and reading your payslip in the Netherlands.
When will I receive my salary slip?
If you have recently started a new job in the Netherlands, you can expect to receive a salary slip the first time you receive your salary. You will also get a payslip if your wage or tax position changes.
Your employer is only obliged to give you a payslip in situations like these, but in practice most employers issue a payslip every month, each time you are paid. Payslips can be sent physically on paper, but nowadays many companies issue them digitally. If you’re not sure how your payslip will be sent out, speak to your employer.
Details included on a payslip
The Dutch government has strict guidelines for what goes into a payslip. It needs to include the following details:
- Name of both employer and employee
- The dates of the relevant period (e.g. the period the payment is related to)
- Employee’s working hours
- Employee’s contract type
- Gross salary
- Breakdown of salary into components like basic salary and bonuses
- Holiday allowance
- Statutory minimum wage for this employee
- Specification of allowances
- Specification of deductions like national insurance contributions
The Dutch payslip explained
The Dutch payslip is usually divided into three different sections containing different details, as follows:
Top section of a payslip in the Netherlands
The top section includes your personal details, including your name, address and BSN number, as well as the name and address of your employer. You’ll also find details like your date of birth, job title, employment start date, working hours and annual salary in this top section.
Some terms you might see in the top section of your payslip include:
- Periode: The relevant time period (week or month)
- Personeelsnummer or Pers. Nr: Your employee number, given to you by your company
- Burgerservicenummer (BSN): Your Dutch social security number or BSN
- Datum in dienst: The date you entered employment
- Burg. Staat: Your marital status
- Functieomschrijving: Your job description or job title
- Tabelkleur: Your tax table colour, as determined by the tax office (see below)
- (Normale) gewerkte uren or parttime %: The number of hours you work per week, often expressed as a percentage of full-time working hours
- Brutoloon, salaris, jaarloon or uurloon: Your gross (untaxed) salary
- Pensioengevend loon: Your salary for pension purposes
- Minimumloon: The legal minimum wage
- Bijzonder tarief: Special tax percentage; this is the tax rate applied to special income like your holiday allowance, overtime or bonuses
- Loonheffingskorting or heffingskorting (ja): This shows if you receive a general tax credit
- Verzekerd voor WW, WiA, ZW, Zvw: This indicates whether you are covered for and contribute to social security
Middle section
The middle section is a breakdown of your salary and deductions, explaining exactly how your net salary is calculated.
You might see terms like:
- Dagen gewerkt: Days worked
- Verloonde uren: Paid hours
- (Normale) gewerkte uren - (normal) hours worked
- Overuren: Overtime
- Omschrijving: Description
- Salaris: Gross salary based on hours worked
- Brutoloon: Gross salary before tax and other deductions
- Loonheffing or ingehouden loonbelasting: The amount deducted as prepaid tax and social security contributions - see below
- Werknemersverzekeringen or sociale verzekeringen (SV): Social security contributions - see below
- Verblijfskosten, vergoedingen or inhoudingen: Tax-free allowances and deductions, for instance if you qualify for the 30% ruling
- Declaratie onkosten: Costs like expenses that you have claimed back from your employer
- Reiskostenvergoeding: Travel expenses
- Nettoloon: Net salary after tax, deductions and refunds; this amount appears at the bottom of your payslip and is the final amount that is deposited into your bank account
Bottom section
The bottom section shows your holiday allowance calculation, holiday hours accumulated and other cumulative figures. You might see terms like:
- (Opgebouwd) vakantiegeld: (Accumulated) holiday leave (in hours).
- Vakantieuren wettelijk: The total hours you have built up towards your statutory annual leave.
- Vakantieuren bovenwettelijk: Hours built up towards non-statutory holiday leave.
- Kort verzuim in geld: Any short-term leave hours you have accumulated.
- SV/ZVW/WW/WAO Loon: Your cumulative total wages for paying taxes and social security contributions.
- Arbeidskorting: Employed person’s tax credit.
More information
Have questions about your Dutch payslip, or need advice on payroll administration and tax issues in the Netherlands? Contact Payingit International.
Breakdown of payslip terms
Some payslip terms are more confusing than others. Here’s a breakdown of some of the more complicated ones:
National insurance premiums on your payslip
Your payslip may state which social security premiums (sociale verzekeringen) you contribute to (and are covered by). National insurance contributions can include:
- AOW (Algemene Ouderdomswet)/OP-premie: Pension contribution
- AP-premie: Disability pension
- ANW (Algemene nabestaandenwet): Widow benefit contribution
- AWBZ: Special healthcare needs contribution
- WAO (Wet op de arbeidsongeschiktheidsverzekering)/WIA (Wet werk en inkomen naar arbeidsvermogen): Benefits for inability to work due to sickness
- WW (Werkloosheidswet): Unemployment benefit
- ZW or Zvw (Zorgverzekeringswet): Paid sick leave
Tabelkleur
Sometimes also written Tabel/Kleur and translating to “table colour” in English, this entry is actually less complicated than it seems. The colour white indicates that you are paying tax on your current employment, while the colour green is used for past employment (for instance if you’re receiving a pension or unemployment benefit).
Loonheffing
Loonheffing means payroll tax in English and is the tax and social security contributions that your employer withholds from your wage and pays to the Belastingdienst (for that reason, it is also sometimes called the “withholding tax”). This means you don’t have to pay the tax and contributions to the tax office yourself.
Loonheffingskorting
The loonheffingskorting (payroll tax credit) is a tax reduction that is given to employees in the Netherlands. You apply for it via your employer and then it is applied to your salary, reducing your overall taxable income and therefore increasing the amount of salary that you get to keep.
The loonheffingskorting only gets complicated if you have two or more sources of income, for instance two jobs, or a social security benefit and a job. In cases like these, the loonheffingskorting can only be applied to one of your sources of income - usually the highest one.
Arbeidskorting
On top of your payroll tax credit, as a waged employee in the Netherlands, you may also qualify for the labour tax credit (Arbeidskorting). Your employer will take the labour tax credit into account when calculating your wage tax.
You can read more about these tax credits in the Netherlands on our dedicated page.
Bijtelling
If you get use of a company car in your job, it is classed as part of your taxable income. This kind of motor vehicle tax is known as “bijtelling”. It works as a figure (calculated based on the car’s net value and its CO2 emissions) that is added to your taxable income as a benefit.
Annual income statement (jaaropgave)
Each year, you will also receive an annual income statement from your employer. This is usually issued in January or February and helps you fill out your tax return. The annual employer statement breaks down how much you have earned in a year, and how much you have paid in tax, national insurance contributions, and other deductions.
It must include the following information:
- The relevant year
- The wages you earned in that year (taxable salary minus pension contributions)
- The taxes and social security contributions deducted from your salary
- The employment tax credit (arbeidskorting) used for payroll taxes
- Any untaxed allowances you received
UWV statement of employment history (UWV verzekeringsbericht)
At some point - particularly if you are applying for a mortgage or a loan - you may need to access your UWV statement of employment history (UWV verzekeringsbericht). This is a PDF document with information about your employment history and salary. It can be used as proof of income, for example.
To download a copy of your employment history, you need to log in to the UWV website with your DigiD.