Ochtendflits

What is Prinsjesdag?

Prinsjesdag is Dutch Budget Day. On the third Tuesday of September, the King opens the parliamentary year and the government sends its Miljoenennota (the broad budget) and Belastingplan (tax bills) to parliament. It is a big news day because it is when the government says what it wants to change next year.

The important word is wants. A Prinsjesdag announcement is usually a proposal, not a rule you need to follow tomorrow. The Tweede Kamer and Eerste Kamer still have to approve the bills; the package can change along the way. Most approved tax measures start on 1 January of the following year. This page keeps each year’s update in reverse order, so next year’s plans can sit above this one.

2026: plans for 2027

The government presented its 2027 budget on 15 September 2026. Below are the practical proposals most likely to matter to people living and working in the Netherlands. They were still proposals when this guide was published — check the linked official pages before making a financial decision.

Work, payslips and purchasing power

The proposed arbeidskorting (employment tax credit) rises by €173. The first and second income-tax rates would each fall by 0.06 percentage points. The top rate does not fall; its starting point would be held at the 2026 level rather than rising with inflation, so a salary increase could move you into it sooner. This should help many people in work, especially lower- and middle-income earners; your actual net pay also depends on salary, pension contributions and household situation. See your payslip and Dutch income tax.
The government’s central forecast is a 0.1% fall in purchasing power for a typical household in 2027. That is an average, not your personal outcome; it forecasts a small gain for a typical low-income household and for a typical older household.
The tax-free maximum reiskostenvergoeding (work travel reimbursement) is proposed to become €0.25 per kilometre, retroactive to 1 January 2026. Your employer still decides whether to pay it, so this is not an automatic raise.

Benefits, unemployment and AOW

The cabinet has dropped its plan to link the AOW age one-for-one to life expectancy. That does not change anyone’s current AOW date overnight: the legal detail and any replacement mechanism still need political agreement. For the basics, see Pension in the Netherlands.
It has also stopped the proposed 20% cut to the maximum daily wage (maximumdagloon), the ceiling used to calculate benefits such as WW unemployment and WIA disability benefit. In plain English: people at or near that ceiling are not facing that proposed reduction.
Other planned social-security and labour-market cuts have been delayed by a year. The planned shorter WW duration — together with a higher payment in its first two months — is now delayed until 1 January 2029. A delay is not a cancellation, so it belongs on the “watch” list rather than being treated as a permanent win.
Kinderopvangtoeslag is still intended to be higher for many parents in 2027 than in 2026, though the rise is smaller than the government had previously planned. If you receive it, keep updating your income estimate in Mijn Toeslagen as usual.
The government plans to reopen the Noodfonds Energie for low-income households facing a high energy bill, with €193 million earmarked for the coming winter. It is targeted support: eligibility and applications matter, so do not count it as a universal energy discount.

Housing: likely indirect help, not a rent cut

The transfer tax (overdrachtsbelasting) for someone buying a home they will not live in, such as a landlord buying a rental property, is proposed to fall from 8% to 7% on 1 January 2027.
Housing associations (woningcorporaties) would be exempt from transfer tax when they transfer social homes to one another, and the government proposes other measures to increase their capacity to build and renovate. These are supply-side plans: useful context for the housing shortage, but not a quick solution for a current housing search.

Everyday costs, travel and savings

The reduced fuel tax for petrol and diesel would continue through 2027. The proposed fuel-tax rates are about €0.85/litre for petrol and €0.55/litre for diesel. LPG is not included in this extension.
Tax on tap water would rise by €0.10 per 1,000 litres. The government estimates roughly €9–€11 a year more for a typical household, before any other part of a water bill.
For long-haul flights of more than 5,500 km, the proposed air-passenger tax is €59.43 rather than the previously scheduled €74.81. Shorter bands would be €31.04 and €49.87. It is a tax per passenger, not a prediction of the final ticket price.
People earning from €137,800 would have less tax-advantaged pension build-up: the relevant income ceiling would be frozen for 2027–2032. The government also proposes ending the tax deduction for specific healthcare costs in 2028, while working on targeted support for people with chronic illness. If you currently claim those costs, keep records and watch the final legislation.
The larger overhaul of box 3 tax on savings and investments is still aimed at 2028. Prinsjesdag did not turn it into a 2027 reality; the government says it is still considering changes to the proposed system.

What this does not mean

Prinsjesdag coverage often makes every announcement sound immediate. It is better to read this as a map of the government’s direction: some measures can change in parliament, some take effect in 2027, and some are only planned for 2028 or later. A national average does not replace a calculation for your household.

For the full package, use the official Prinsjesdag documents. The clearest official starting points for the consumer-facing plans are the 2027 tax-plan summary, the social-affairs measures, and the government’s plain-language overview.

2025: what took effect in 2026

Unlike the 2026 section above, these were approved measures from the September 2025 budget package. They mostly took effect on 1 January 2026 and still shape everyday costs now.

Huurtoeslag became available to more renters. The old hard maximum rent as an entry condition disappeared: a higher rent no longer automatically blocks an application, although income, assets and the requirement for a self-contained home still apply. The subsidy itself is calculated only up to an annual cap. People aged 21 and 22 also moved to the adult rule, which can mean a higher payment. This is one of the most meaningful practical changes for renters; read the toeslagen guide and run an official trial calculation.
Income-tax thresholds and credits were not fully adjusted for inflation. In practice, a pay rise can take you into a higher tax band sooner than under a full inflation adjustment. There was also a targeted employment-tax-credit change that helped some part-time workers on lower pay. The exact effect is personal, so the useful place to check it is your payslip and the current Belastingdienst tables.
Fuel tax stayed lower through 2026. The temporary fuel-tax discount for petrol, diesel and LPG was extended to 1 January 2027, keeping pump prices below the level they would otherwise have reached. The 2026 Prinsjesdag package now proposes a further extension for petrol and diesel only, so drivers should not assume the LPG treatment will continue in 2027.
The lower 9% VAT rate stayed for culture, media and sport. The government had considered raising it; the decision to keep it avoided a broad VAT jump for things such as books, newspapers, theatre, gyms and many sports activities. The trade-off was less generous inflation adjustment elsewhere in the tax and benefits system — a very Dutch budget choice between visible prices and less visible tax thresholds.

These are the few older measures worth keeping here because they are still live. For the full, enacted package, see the government’s 2026 tax-change overview and its huurtoeslag explanation.