Everyone who works in the Netherlands should receive a payslip, or salarisstrook in Dutch, from their employer. This document shows all the components of your pay, as well as the final amount to be paid out. Here’s how to read a Dutch payslip.
What is salaris?
Commonly referred to by some groups of foreigners working in Holland as salaris, a salarisstrook is a document that must be issued to every worker legally employed in the Netherlands, i.e. a payslip (usually in Dutch) you receive electronically or physically each time you are paid your wages. It doesn’t matter whether you work on a temporary contract through an employment agency or on a permanent contract.
What must each payslip contain?
It’s mandatory that the Dutch salary statement (loonstrookje) contain the following information:
- gross pay, or brutoloon;
- taxes and contributions payable by the employer, e.g. income tax;
- net pay (nettoloon), i.e. gross pay less taxes and contributions;
- the statutory minimum holiday allowance to which the employee is entitled;
- the number of hours worked, based on the employment contract;
- the period which the payslip concerns;
- employee data.
How do you read a Dutch payslip?
Starting from the top, the payslip contains the following information:- Administrative data on the employee, including:
- Personal data.
- Geboortedatum – date of birth.
- Personeelsnummer – employee number in the system.
- Burgerlijke staat – marital status.
- Tijdvak – number of the week and year to which the payment relates.
- Minimum loon – minimum wage according to Dutch law.
- Datum In dienst – date of commencement of employment with the company.
- Tabel/voordeelregel – tax table type. Carrière uses weekly tables.
- Loonheffing: Has a tax discount ( heffingskorting) been applied? Ja met korting = yes, it has been applied or Ja zonder korting = no, it hasn’t been applied.
- Fiscaal woonland – tax country.
- CAO – Collective labour agreement (ABU or NBBU).
- Employer details (werkgever).
- Items included in the pay calculation:
- Loon normale uren/ overwerkuren/ onregelmatigen– calculation of gross pay for hours/overtime/non-standard hours worked.
- Allowances and deductions (if applied).
- Detailed calculation of remuneration to be paid:
- Loon normale uren: number of hours worked in a specific week. The gross hourly rate is provided.
- Loon overwerkuren: number of overtime hours worked with a percentage of the overtime allowance due.
- Vakantiedagen: payment from the leave reserve.
- Vakantiegeld: amount of holiday pay (usually 8% of total gross pay).
- ET– uitruil overige kosten: breakdown of other costs.
- ET– uitruil huisvesting: breakdown of accommodation costs.
- Totaal bruto loon: gross amount.
- Pensioen Plus: part of the pension contribution paid by the employee.
- Loonheffing: advance payment of income tax and social security collected by the employer.
- WGA: mandatory employment reactivation contribution. The WGA benefit relates to a partially incapacitated employee’s return to work.
- Netto loon — the net amount of pay to be transferred to the employee’s bank account.
- Summary of accruals since the beginning of the fiscal year.
- Total mandatory contributions collected for:
- The WIA Fund
- Loonheffinskorting – tax relief.
- ZVW – healthcare law.
- Current calculation and total amount of leave day reserve and holiday pay.
- Calculation and explanation of the net minimum payment due.
- Summary of amounts broken down by:
- Pensioen Plus – pension;
- Arbeidskorting – employee relief;
- Feestdagen – public holidays;
- Vakantiedagen – leave days used in the current year;
- Z&Z– health insurance contributions.
Individual loonstrookje items may vary from week to week.
We hope that the salarisspecificatie we have prepared will make it easier for you to decipher a Dutch payslip. Carrière employees can ask specific questions regarding financial settlements through our dedicated online portal myholland.eu.
