Dutch social security 2027: which cuts are dropped and what employers pay

Status: Dropped. The cabinet dropped this measure. See Budget Day 2026 and the Dutch 2027 Tax Plan for all measures in one table.

The state pension

The state pension (AOW) is paid to everyone who has reached state pension age, which is 67 in 2027. The coalition agreement included a one-to-one link of the state pension age to life expectancy, worth about €2.8 billion, and the cabinet dropped that plan for good in the budget of 15 September 2026. The AOW remains fully linked to the minimum wage. People who worked in the Netherlands for part of their career keep the accrual they have built up, at 2% for each year of residence or work.

The maximum daily wage

Unemployment and disability benefits are a percentage of the daily wage, up to a maximum that has been €309.91 a day, or about €80,900 a year, since 1 July 2026. The coalition agreement included a 20% cut in that maximum, which would have lowered the benefit of anyone earning more. The cabinet dropped the plan at a cost of €824 million. Because the maximum premium wage, the salary ceiling on which employers pay premiums, is linked to the daily wage, it also remains at the higher level.

Unemployment benefit

Unemployment benefit (WW) lasts at most 24 months for people with a long work history. The government has delayed the cut to 18 months until 2029, so anyone who becomes unemployed in 2027 or 2028 keeps the current duration.

The transition payment

The government planned to release small employers from the transition payment, the statutory severance pay on dismissal for business reasons, from 2027, and has delayed the measure to 1 January 2028. An employer who lets an employee go in 2027 therefore still pays one third of a monthly salary per year of service. In cases of long-term illness, the compensation scheme of the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) applies.

Owners who prefer to hand this over can use payroll and administration for a Dutch BV, where we prepare the payslips, the payroll tax, the bookkeeping and the annual accounts in English.

Your company files a value added tax (VAT) return every quarter, processes payroll every month and draws up annual accounts once a year. Bookkeeping in the Netherlands explains this work and how the monthly amount is calculated.

What an employer pays in 2027

Employer premiums rise in 2027 through the premium for the disability fund (Aof), which brings in about €1.5 billion extra as the employers’ share of higher defence spending. Under the plan the premium rises by 0.4 percentage point, or about €2,000 a year on a payroll of €500,000. Other payroll changes are the tax-free mileage allowance of €0.25, in force since 1 January 2026, and the free allowance in the work costs scheme in 2027. Your other duties as an employer are set out in the pension obligation for Dutch employers and collective labour agreements in the Netherlands.