Your first job
and Dutch tax

What is the payroll tax credit?

Everyone who earns a wage is entitled to a reduction on the tax they pay. Your employer may deduct that reduction from your wage tax straight away, so you keep more net pay. That is the payroll tax credit, or loonheffingskorting. You then do not have to claim it later.

When you join a company you fill in a form for this. It contains one tick box: do you want this employer to apply the payroll tax credit, yes or no? Many people tick yes at every employer, because yes sounds better than no.

What happens if you tick yes at two employers

The credit exists only once, but both employers apply it. So both withhold too little tax. You will not notice: your pay simply looks pleasantly high. Until the Dutch Tax Administration spots the difference and you have to pay it after all.

The Tax Administration puts it like this: "If you apply for payroll tax credit at every employer, you get too much reduction on your tax. You will then probably have to pay tax to us afterwards." Over a full year that amount adds up, and the bill arrives at a moment you are not expecting it.

Two jobs at the same time, or one after the other?

That difference matters, and it is often confused:

• At the same time. Two side jobs side by side? Pick one, usually the one with the highest wage. Switch the credit on there and off at the other.
• One after the other. Six months at one employer and then at the next? Then you may apply for the credit at both. There is never a moment when it runs twice.

If you did not work the full year, something else applies: you have probably overpaid. That is explained below.

How to switch it on or off

You arrange this directly with your employer, not with the Tax Administration. Ask for the form Model opgaaf gegevens voor de loonheffingen, or tell the payroll department. The change takes effect at the next salary payment.

Did it already go wrong last year? Then you correct it with a tax return. You pay the right amount once, instead of the error running on for years. We file that return for you.

Your employer withholds tax each month as though you earn that wage all year. If you work only part of the year, that is too high an estimate: over the year you earned less, so you owe less tax. The difference sits with the Tax Administration and stays there until you file.

When do you get money back?

• You started halfway through the year. Graduated in June, working from September: you paid nothing over the first months and too much over the last ones.
• You had holiday work or a temporary contract. A few busy months with a high monthly wage almost always lead to too much tax being withheld.
• You work variable hours. A month with many shifts is taxed more heavily than a quiet one, while the yearly total is what counts.
• You stopped working. To go back to studying, for example.

Worked example: four months of work

Say you worked from September to December and earned €9,000 gross in those four months. Your employer withheld tax as though you would keep up that pace all year.

Item	What the withholding assumed	What was actually true
Annual wage	€27,000	€9,000
Months worked	12	4
Tax credits used	4 out of 12 months	the whole year

* A simplified example to show the difference, not a calculation of your refund. The general tax credit and the labour tax credit apply for a full year, but are settled per salary payment. If you work only part of the year, part of that credit stays unused until you file a return. How much you get back depends on your wage, the number of months and your personal situation. We calculate it in advance.

Think it is too little to bother with? Let us work it out first. We will tell you honestly if the amount comes out below our price; then you do not do it.

Healthcare benefit from age 18

On the day you turn 18 you must have your own Dutch health insurance. Healthcare benefit (zorgtoeslag) goes with it: a contribution towards that premium. You apply for it yourself at Dienst Toeslagen.

The conditions for 2026:

• Your income is no higher than €40,857 a year. With a benefit partner, the joint limit is €51,142.
• Your assets on 1 January 2026 are no higher than €146,011, or €184,633 jointly.

How much you receive depends on your income: the lower the income, the higher the benefit. Forgot to apply? You can still apply for a whole year until 1 September of the following year. Read more in our article on healthcare benefit.

Rent benefit for your first place of your own

This is where most changed in 2026, and in your favour. The key change: there is no hard rent ceiling any more. Up to and including 2025 you fell outside rent benefit as soon as your rent went above a certain amount. That has gone. You can now receive rent benefit with a higher rent as well; the amount is then calculated using the maximum rent that applies to you, not your actual rent.

That maximum rent depends on your age:

Age of the oldest occupant	Maximum rent used in the calculation (2026)
18 to 20 years	€498.20
21 years and older	€932.93

Three things that often go wrong here:

• With several occupants, the oldest counts. If you are 20 and share with someone of 25, the high limit of €932.93 applies, not the youth limit. That makes a considerable difference.
• Service charges no longer count from 2026. The calculation uses the bare rent. If your contract shows one amount including gas, water and electricity, ask your landlord to split it out.
• Your assets do count. Each occupant may hold at most €38,479 on 1 January 2026. That limit is lower than the one for healthcare benefit.

Read somewhere that the youth limit runs to age 23? That was true up to and including 2025. From 2026 the limit has been lowered to 21, which means 21- and 22-year-olds are actually better off. More about the calculation is in our article on rent benefit.

Going to earn more? Report it straight away

Benefits are paid in advance, based on an estimate of your annual income. If you get a permanent contract, more hours or a higher wage, that estimate no longer holds. Dienst Toeslagen does not adjust it by itself.

If you do not report it, you build up too much benefit all year, and it is reclaimed in one go afterwards. For someone on a starting salary that is an unpleasant bill. So report a change in the month it takes effect, not at the end of the year.

Worked a summer three years ago and never filed a return? You can still do it. You can file or correct a return up to five years back.

For anyone who had side jobs several years in a row, that adds up. We review the years in one go and file them together, through our correction and late return service.