Dutch holiday allowance: at least 8% of gross pay, built up month by month
Estimates only, not financial advice. What you type stays on your device. Checked against sources on 16 Oct 2026.Employees in the Netherlands receive holiday allowance (vakantiegeld) of at least 8% of the gross pay earned over the past year, usually paid in May or June. On €3,000 a month that is €240 built up each month and €2,880 for a full year. Profit shares and year-end payments are left out; overtime counts.
2026 · Rates and rules read from Rijksoverheid, Hoe hoog is mijn vakantiegeld? on 16 Oct 2026; they may have changed since.
Type your gross pay with overtime and choose whether it is a month, four weeks, a week or a year.
Type the months you worked in the build-up year; keep 12 for a full year.
Keep 8% or type the rate in your contract or collective agreement.
Read the holiday allowance for the year and how much builds up each month.
Vakantiegeld, legally vakantiebijslag, is the holiday allowance every Dutch employer pays on top of wages. This calculator follows the Rijksoverheid answer to "Hoe hoog is mijn vakantiegeld?", read on 16 October 2026.
At least 8%. The allowance is at least 8% of the gross pay you earned over the past year, for example from May to May. A contract or collective agreement may give more; type that rate instead.
Which pay counts. Pay for ordinary hours and overtime at its full value, including the overtime supplement. Profit shares and year-end payments do not count. If sickness or leave lowered your pay, the allowance builds up over that lower pay.
Part of a year. Type the months you worked in the build-up year. Someone who started or left halfway through earns the allowance on the pay of those months only: six months on €3,000 gives €1,440.
Pay periods. Monthly pay is counted twelve times a year, four-weekly pay thirteen times and weekly pay fifty-two times, so €2,800 every four weeks is €36,400 a year and €2,912 of allowance.
Less than 8%. A collective agreement can replace the allowance only if you receive at least 108% of the minimum wage. An employee earning more than three times the minimum wage may agree in writing to a lower allowance or none. Below 8% the calculator shows this condition.
When it is paid. At least once a year; most employers pay in May or June, and the payslip shows the amount. The figures are gross: wage tax is withheld.
Not included. The minimum wage itself, the 108% test and tax. An estimate, not legal advice.
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Dutch employees receive at least 8% of the gross pay they earned over the past year as vakantiegeld. On a salary of €3,000 a month that is €2,880 for a full year, or €240 built up for every month worked. A contract or collective agreement may give a higher percentage.
Overtime counts towards holiday allowance at its full value, including any overtime supplement, because the employer must also pay at least the minimum hourly wage for those hours. Profit shares and year-end payments do not count. Include overtime in the pay you type into the calculator.
Employers pay vakantiegeld at least once a year, and most pay it in May or June. The build-up year often runs from May to May. The amount appears on your payslip, and the timing can be agreed differently in your employment contract or collective agreement.
An employer may agree in writing to a lower allowance, or none, only with an employee who earns more than three times the minimum wage. A collective agreement can leave out the allowance only when the employee receives at least 108% of the minimum wage. Otherwise 8% is the floor.
Holiday allowance builds up over the pay of the months you actually worked. Leaving after six months on €3,000 a month gives 8% of €18,000, which is €1,440. Type the months worked into the calculator to see the amount owed for the part of the year.
Holiday allowance keeps building up while you are sick. When your pay was lower because of sickness or leave, the allowance builds up over that lower pay, according to Rijksoverheid. Type the pay you actually received for those months to reflect the lower amount.
Rates and rules change; check the source before you rely on a figure.
Still stuck? Ask about Netherlands Vakantiegeld Calculator (Holiday Allowance) and anybody who knows can answer. No account needed.
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