Year-end bonus in the Netherlands: why so much tax goes (2026)

A year-end bonus (eindejaarsuitkering) or 13th month (dertiende maand) is not a legal right in the Netherlands; it comes from your collective agreement or contract. Tax is withheld at the special rate (bijzonder tarief), which is often much higher than the share you see go from your normal pay. Here is why, with the 2026 percentages.

Are you entitled to one?

No law requires it. You are entitled if your collective agreement (cao), employment contract or an employer scheme provides for it. Some cao's fold it into an individual choice budget (individueel keuzebudget, IKB) that you can choose to have paid out. A 13th month is usually 8.33% of your annual salary, one month's pay; a year-end bonus can also be another percentage or a fixed amount. If you work part-time or joined during the year, most schemes pay a pro-rated share. If you leave, your cao or contract says whether you get a share in your final pay. It is usually paid in December, sometimes in November.

The special rate

A year-end bonus is a special payment (bijzondere beloning). Your employer does not use the white table for normal pay but the special payments table (tabel bijzondere beloningen): one percentage over the whole amount. The percentage depends on your annual pay for the previous year, including holiday allowance and bonuses. In 2026, below State pension age and with the tax credit applied, it is 40.20% on annual pay of 29,737 to 38,883 EUR, 42.01% up to 45,592 EUR, 50.47% up to 78,426 EUR and 56.01% up to 143,554 EUR. Above that it is 49.50%. If this employer does not apply your tax credit (loonheffingskorting), a different column is used.

Why it is so high

Your normal pay shows an average rate, with your tax credits already built in. An extra euro falls in your top bracket, and at higher incomes the general tax credit and the labour tax credit also shrink. So the tax on those last euros is higher than the bracket rate, which is also why 56.01% comes out above the top rate of 49.50%. Roughly: you earn 4,000 EUR gross a month and your annual pay last year was about 52,000 EUR. The rate is 50.47%. On a 13th month of 4,000 EUR about 2,020 EUR in tax is withheld and you keep around 1,980 EUR, less if a pension contribution is also taken from it.

Holiday allowance and your tax return

Your holiday allowance (vakantiegeld), at least 8% of your gross pay and usually paid in May or June, is taxed the same way. The special rate is an advance: your final tax comes from your income tax return for the whole year. Because the percentage is close to your real rate on those last euros, you usually get little or nothing back. A refund is more likely if you earn less this year than last year, for example because you cut your hours or worked only part of the year. If you earn more this year, you may have to pay extra.

What to check on your payslip

The amount matches the percentage in your cao or contract, and the base it names (for example with or without allowances); pro-rated for part-time work or a mid-year start; the payment shows as a special payment; the percentage fits last year's annual pay (compare with your annual statement, the jaaropgaaf); a pension contribution only if your scheme makes the bonus pensionable; the tax credit applied by one employer only. Payslop checks this for free.

Questions people ask

Related guides

• Your Dutch payslip explained, line by line (2026)

Indicative rules as of October 2026. Not tax or legal advice.