Status: Proposed on Budget Day. This measure is part of the 2027 Tax Plan the cabinet submitted on 15 September 2026. The lower house votes on 12 November 2026, the senate around 16 December 2026. Every measure in one table: Budget Day 2026 and the Dutch 2027 Tax Plan.
How the scheme works
Everything an employer gives an employee is salary, unless the scheme says otherwise. Three exits are there. Targeted exemptions, items that are tax-free in full, cover specific things: travel at €0.25 per kilometre, a laptop or phone needed for the job, training, a home-office allowance. Nil valuations cover things used at the workplace, such as coffee and a desk. Everything else can go into the free allowance: a percentage of the total payroll the employer may spend tax-free on staff. Above the allowance the employer pays 80% final levy.
What changes in 2027
The own-product discount was a targeted exemption: at most 20% of the market value, capped at €500 per employee a year, on products from the employer or a related company. That exemption disappears. Staff discount becomes salary, unless the employer places it in the free allowance. The free allowance becomes 2.16% of the first €400,000 of payroll and 1.18% above that. At a payroll of €400,000 the allowance is €8,640 in 2027 against €8,000 in 2026: €640 extra. For a shop with twenty staff who each used the full €500 discount, that €10,000 fills the free allowance at once and crowds out the Christmas gifts and the team outing.
| Payroll | Free allowance 2026 (2.00%) | Free allowance 2027 (2.16%) |
|---|---|---|
| €100,000 | €2,000 | €2,160 |
| €400,000 | €8,000 | €8,640 |
| €1,000,000 | €15,080 | €15,720 |
What to do in 2026
Give the 2026 discount before 31 December, up to €500 per employee, and record it in payroll as a targeted exemption. Then look at the free allowance for 2027: what do you want to keep giving, and does it fit? A director-shareholder alone on the payroll at €58,000 has a free allowance of €1,253 in 2027. The full list of what fits under the scheme is in employee benefits under the Dutch work costs scheme; the mileage side in the mileage allowance of €0.25.