Netherlands Heffingskortingen Calculator 2026 (Algemene Heffingskorting & Arbeidskorting)

Dutch income tax is not just a rate ladder. Two large credits are deducted after the box 1 tax is computed, and both are withdrawn as income rises. Ignoring them overstates the tax by thousands of euros at ordinary incomes, and it is the most common error in Dutch net-salary calculators.

The algemene heffingskorting is a flat €3,115 up to €29,736, then withdrawn at 6.398% of income above that, reaching nil at €78,426.

The arbeidskorting is a four-band piecewise function that rises steeply, plateaus and then falls. It peaks at €5,685 at €45,592 of employment income and is then withdrawn at 6.510%, reaching nil at €132,920. Modelling it as a flat maximum is wrong at every income except the peak.

The consequence is a non-monotonic marginal rate curve. Between €45,592 and €78,426 both tapers run at once: 37.56% statutory plus 6.398% plus 6.510% is 50.468%, which is higher than the 49.50% top bracket rate. The Dutch effective marginal rate peaks below the top bracket and falls when you enter it.

The two credits are also measured on different things. The algemene heffingskorting tapers on verzamelinkomen, your total box 1 income. The arbeidskorting is computed on arbeidsinkomen, income from work alone, so pension or benefit income earns none of it.

Step 1 -- Compute the box 1 tax before credits. Run total income through the 2026 box 1 brackets: 35.75% to €38,883, 37.56% from €38,883 to €78,426, and 49.50% above that.

Step 2 -- Compute the algemene heffingskorting. €3,115 if verzamelinkomen is at or below €29,736. Otherwise €3,115 less 6.398% of the excess, floored at zero, which puts it at nil from €78,427.

Step 3 -- Compute the arbeidskorting from employment income. Four bands: 8.324% of income up to €11,965; €996 plus 31.009% of the excess to €25,845; €5,300 plus 1.950% of the excess to €45,592; €5,685 less 6.510% of the excess to €132,920; nil above that.

Step 4 -- Total the two credits.

Step 5 -- Cap the credits at the tax due. The general case is that heffingskortingen are not refundable: the credits used are the lower of the total credits and the tax before credits.

Step 6 -- Report what was forfeited. Total credits less credits used. Any excess over the tax due is lost in the general case.

Step 7 -- Compute the tax after credits. Tax before credits less credits used.

Step 8 -- Report the taper losses. How much of the €3,115 maximum the algemene heffingskorting taper has already removed, and how much of the €5,685 peak the arbeidskorting has lost.

Step 9 -- Report which tapers are live. The 6.398% rate applies where verzamelinkomen is above €29,736 and at or below €78,426. The 6.510% rate applies where employment income is above €45,592 and at or below €132,920.

Step 10 -- Measure the effective marginal rate. The calculator recomputes the whole thing on €100 more of both incomes and divides the change in tax after credits by 100. Nothing about the tapers is asserted; the number is observed.

Step 11 -- Show the AOW-age comparison. The algemene heffingskorting for someone at AOW age for the whole year, at a €1,556 maximum tapering at 3.195% over the same thresholds.

A €60,000 salary, all of it employment income, below AOW age.

Step 1 -- Box 1 tax, first bracket. €38,883 x 35.75% = €13,900.67

Step 2 -- Box 1 tax, second bracket. (€60,000 - €38,883) x 37.56% = €21,117 x 37.56% = €7,931.55

Step 3 -- Box 1 tax before credits. €13,900.67 + €7,931.55 = €21,832.22

Step 4 -- Algemene heffingskorting taper base. €60,000 - €29,736 = €30,264.00

Step 5 -- Algemene heffingskorting withdrawn. €30,264 x 6.398% = €1,936.29

Step 6 -- Algemene heffingskorting remaining. €3,115.00 - €1,936.29 = €1,178.71

Step 7 -- Arbeidskorting taper base. €60,000 - €45,592 = €14,408.00

Step 8 -- Arbeidskorting withdrawn. €14,408 x 6.510% = €937.96

Step 9 -- Arbeidskorting remaining. €5,685.00 - €937.96 = €4,747.04

Step 10 -- Total heffingskortingen. €1,178.71 + €4,747.04 = €5,925.75

Step 11 -- Credits used. min(€5,925.75, €21,832.22) = €5,925.75, so €0.00 is forfeited

Step 12 -- Tax after credits. €21,832.22 - €5,925.75 = €15,906.47

Step 13 -- Net income. €60,000.00 - €15,906.47 = €44,093.53

Step 14 -- Effective tax rate. €15,906.47 / €60,000 = 26.51%

Step 15 -- Credits as a share of the gross tax. €5,925.75 / €21,832.22 = 27.14%

Step 16 -- Effective marginal rate, measured on €100 more. 50.47%, against a statutory bracket rate of 37.56%, a gap of 12.91 percentage points

The gap in Step 16 is the whole point of the page. Someone at this income who takes on extra work keeps under half of it, not the 62.44 cents the bracket table implies, because the extra €100 also withdraws €6.40 of algemene heffingskorting and €6.51 of arbeidskorting.

• The scope is below AOW age. The 2026 box 1 bracket rates for people who have reached AOW age were not published on any Belastingdienst page this build could read, so they are not modelled and not guessed. The AOW-age algemene heffingskorting itself is published and is shown as a comparison figure only; it is not applied to the tax calculation.
• Only two credits are modelled. The inkomensafhankelijke combinatiekorting, jonggehandicaptenkorting, ouderenkorting, alleenstaande-ouderenkorting and the green-investment credits all exist and none are applied here.
• The narrow refundability exception is not modelled. Heffingskortingen are not generally refundable, and the general case is what this calculator applies: an excess over the tax due is forfeited. A limited exception exists, broadly for taxpayers born before 1963 with a fiscal partner who pays enough tax, and it is not implemented.
• Only box 1 is computed. Box 2 (substantial interest) and box 3 (savings and investments) income and their tax are absent, as is any interaction between the boxes and the credits.
• Deductions are not modelled. Mortgage interest relief (eigenwoningforfait and the deduction), pension premiums, and personal deductions all change the verzamelinkomen before any of this happens. Enter the figure after those, not a gross salary.
• Premiums volksverzekeringen are inside the bracket rates, not shown separately. The 35.75% first-bracket rate is a combined tax and social insurance rate; this page does not decompose it.
• The employment-income field is taken at face value. The calculator does not check that the arbeidsinkomen you enter is consistent with the verzamelinkomen, so entering employment income above total income will produce an arbeidskorting the tax system would not give.
• The income ladder table assumes verzamelinkomen equals arbeidsinkomen. Every row is computed with both incomes set to the same figure, which is not true for anyone with mixed income sources.

• Treating the arbeidskorting as a flat €5,685. It reaches that figure at exactly €45,592 of employment income and is lower everywhere else, rising steeply below it and falling at 6.510% above it.
• Reading your bracket rate as your marginal rate. Between €45,592 and €78,426 both tapers are live and the real marginal rate is 50.468%, above the 49.50% top bracket. Someone in that band faces a higher rate on extra income than a much higher earner does.
• Applying the arbeidskorting to pension or benefit income. It is measured on income from work only. A retiree with the same total income earns none of it.
• Applying the algemene heffingskorting taper to employment income. It tapers on verzamelinkomen, your total box 1 income, which for many people is a different figure.
• Expecting a refund of unused credits. In the general case they are capped at the tax due and any excess is simply lost. A very low earner does not receive the balance in cash.
• Ignoring the credits entirely. They are worth €5,925.75 at this income, 27.14% of the gross tax. Any Dutch net-salary estimate that skips them is wrong by thousands of euros.
• Using an AOW-age algemene heffingskorting with below-AOW brackets. The two go together. This calculator shows the AOW-age credit for comparison but does not model the AOW-age tax position at all.

• Belastingdienst, "Tabel algemene heffingskorting 2026" -- below AOW age: up to and including €29,736 gives €3,115; from €29,737 to €78,426 gives €3,115 less 6.398% of (verzamelinkomen minus €29,736); from €78,427 gives €0. At full-year AOW age: €1,556 with a 3.195% taper over the same thresholds. Read 2026-08-30.
• Belastingdienst, "Tabel arbeidskorting 2026" -- the four below-AOW bands encoded in the primitive. Read 2026-08-30.
• Belastingdienst, "Fiscale informatie 2026", chapter 21 "Heffingskortingen" -- confirms the same figures and that the credits are not generally refundable, with payment of an excess available only under narrow conditions. Read 2026-08-30.
• Box 1 bracket rates for 2026 are in engine/primitives/netherlands-tax.ts, sourced there.