Employing in the Netherlands
Employing in the Netherlands: the fourteen things buyers ask first
Each answer opens with the rule and the 2026 figure, then hands you the guide that goes further. Take the one you came for, or read down.
Start wherever your question is
1
How do you put someone on a Dutch payroll?
Two routes. Register a company of your own in the Netherlands and become the employer, or hire through an Employer of Record that already employs people there. Both end in the same paperwork: a written arbeidsovereenkomst, the article 7:655 BW written terms, the employee’s BSN and a verified identity document held before the first working day, and monthly payroll with loonheffingen withheld and reported in the loonaangifte to the Belastingdienst.
Read the hiring guide →2
What does a hire cost on top of the salary?
Vakantiegeld at 8% of base salary, then five employer social charges: AWf, Aof, the opslag Wko, the gedifferentieerde premie Whk and the werkgeversheffing Zvw. On a base salary of € 48.000 in 2026 that is € 3.840,00 of vakantiegeld and € 8.693,57 of charges, which is about 26% on top of base salary, assuming no CAO applies and no occupational pension scheme is compulsory. Nothing is charged above € 79.409 of pay.
3
How soon can a new starter actually begin?
Through an Employer of Record a contract can be drafted the day you confirm the role, because the Dutch payroll and the employment administration are already running. Registering a company of your own first means a notarial deed before a notaris, entry in the Handelsregister and a payroll registration with the Belastingdienst before anything can be paid. Either route has one fixed gate: the identity paperwork has to be complete before day one.
4
Do you need a Dutch B.V. of your own?
No. A business abroad can employ people in the Netherlands through an Employer of Record without registering anything of its own. Your own B.V. needs only € 0,01 of share capital, which sounds like nothing, but a notarial deed before a Dutch notaris is mandatory whatever the capital, the notaris charges roughly € 500 to € 1.500, and banks, landlords and counterparties all read the capital figure you chose.
Compare the two routes →5
Should the person be employed or work as a zzp’er?
Article 7:610 BW asks four things: work, pay, over a period of time, and in the service of the other party. In the Deliveroo judgment of 24 March 2023 the Hoge Raad set out nine gezichtspunten to be weighed together, and held that what the parties intended about employment law applying is irrelevant to the answer. Enforcement resumed on 1 January 2025, and vergrijpboetes have been possible since 1 January 2026.
See the nine gezichtspunten →6
What does an arbeidsovereenkomst have to contain?
An oral contract is valid, but three clauses are void unless written down: the proeftijd, the concurrentiebeding and any termination agreement. A written contract is also a condition of the low AWf rate, which is why every Dutch employer produces one. Article 7:655 BW then requires written or electronic information on pay, hours, leave and notice. A proeftijd is void outright in a contract of six months or less.
Go through the contract rules →7
What comes off a Dutch payslip each month?
Loonbelasting and premie volksverzekeringen are withheld together as loonheffingen. For 2026 the first € 38.883 is taxed at 35,75%, the band up to € 78.426 at 37,56%, and anything above at 49,50%, reduced by the algemene heffingskorting and the arbeidskorting where the employee has asked for the loonheffingskorting. An ordinary employee has no health insurance deduction: the employer pays the 6,10% werkgeversheffing Zvw instead.
8
What is the wage floor in 2026?
€ 14,71 an hour from 1 January 2026 and € 14,99 from 1 July 2026 for workers aged 21 and over, a rise of € 0,28, or 1,90%. Since 1 January 2024 the floor has been hourly and there has been no fixed figure by the month, so the lawful minimum for any employee is the hours they worked multiplied by the rate. Younger workers have their own percentages of the adult rate.
9
What is the 8% that keeps coming up?
Vakantiegeld, the holiday allowance in article 15 WML. It is 8% of the wage the employer owes, accrued over the year to 31 May and paid as a lump sum, almost always in May or June, although no statute names a month. Dutch salaries are quoted without it by default, so a € 48.000 offer usually means € 51.840,00 of total gross. Say in writing which you mean.
10
How much paid time off does someone get?
Statutory leave is four times the weekly hours, so 160 hours, or 20 days, on a 40-hour week, and the statute counts it in hours rather than days. Wettelijke days lapse on 30 June of the following year; bovenwettelijke days run for five years. Eleven official holiday dates fall in 2026, and none of them is a statutory paid day off: the contract or the CAO decides that.
11
What do the employer charges actually fund?
AWf funds unemployment benefit and costs 2,74% on a permanent written contract but 7,74% on anything fixed-term or on-call. Aof funds long-term incapacity, at 6,27% for a small employer and 7,63% for a larger one, with the 0,50% opslag Wko beside it. The Whk is set employer by employer. The werkgeversheffing Zvw is 6,10%. No general statutory occupational pension duty exists, though a CAO can create one.
Look at where the charges go →12
How do you end a Dutch employment contract?
Not by giving notice. An employer needs permission first: UWV for redundancy and long-term illness, the kantonrechter for anything personal, on one of the nine grounds listed in article 7:669(3) BW, and only once redeployment has been tested. Permission lasts four weeks. Notice then runs from one to four months by length of service, shortened by the time the procedure took. Transitievergoeding follows at a third of a month per year.
13
Can an employee insist on working from home?
No. The Wet werken waar je wilt, which would have made an employer handle a request to change workplace the way it handles a request to change hours, was rejected by the Eerste Kamer on 26 September 2023. Home working is settled by the contract and the CAO instead. What does exist is the allowance: € 2,45 for each day worked at home in 2026, untaxed inside the werkkostenregeling.
See the home working position →14
Where does an Employer of Record fit into all this?
The EOR becomes the legal employer of the person you hire, so there is nothing for you to register. The arbeidsovereenkomst sits between the worker and the employing company, which pays the salary in euro, withholds and files loonheffingen, accrues 8% vakantiegeld, applies leave under article 7:634 BW and carries the 104-week sick pay duty. You choose the person, set the pay, run the work, and get one invoice.
Read how the arrangement works →Costing out a hire in the Netherlands?
Give us the job title and the base salary you have in mind. Back comes the employer cost with vakantiegeld and the statutory charges built in, what has to be held before the first working day, and how soon the person could be on a Dutch contract without you registering a company of your own.