Everything you need to know about salaris, in other words, how to read a payslip?

Everything you need to know about salaris, in other words, how to read a payslip?

Everything you need to know about salaris, in other words, how to read a payslip? 1000 1000 ReadySteadyGo

When going to work in the Netherlands, you will come across several documents that you may not understand at first. One of the most important is the salarisspecificatie (salarisstrook), abbreviated by Poles as salaris, or Dutch pay slip. Do you want to know how to read a salaris and the meaning of its various items? Below you will find a compendium of knowledge about this document!

Who receives a salaris and when?

You have written your CV, found a suitable job offer and gone to work in the Netherlands with the READY STEADY GO agency. First payday arrives and a mysterious document called salarisspecificatie arrives in your app. Are you wondering what it is? Here’s the answer!

A popular salaris is nothing more than a pay slip that contains a detailed account of your earnings. It is given to every Employee who legally works in the Netherlands, regardless of whether they have entered into an employment contract directly with their employer or work with a temporary employment agency. According to Dutch law, the salaris is a basic payroll document and it is the employer’s responsibility to provide it to the Employee, either by email or on paper.

The salaris itself usually fits on one side of an A4 sheet of paper. Below you will find a sample document and an explanation of its different parts. Admittedly, there are many components of the salaris, but Employees are usually only interested in a few items: the number of hours worked, the rate, the percentage of hours (whether there was a shift allowance, if so, which one), the net amount of the payment, the number of holiday hours and the ET tax credit (extraterritorial reimbursement).

Block 1 – Basic information

Salaris begins by providing detailed background information on employment, how the tax is calculated and the Employee’s identification details. This block therefore contains information such as:

  • medew.no, which is the Employee’s number;
  • BSN – the individual tax number you must have if you work in the Netherlands. Your agency supervisor will help you to obtain it before you start work;
  • geb.datum – your date of birth;
  • loontijdvak – the tax table according to which your income tax has been settled;
  • datum indienst – your date of employment with the company;
  • datum uitdienst – your date of termination of employment; this field will remain blank if you have not terminated your employment with this company in a given week;
  • functie – job title.

Block 2 – description of the wage components

Block two contains data on taxation and the current employer. Mostly not all of these will be completed as they do not apply to Temporary Workers. Those that should interest you are:
  • byz. tar % – the highest percentage of tax you will pay on the salary paid over and above your basic salary if you work for the whole year;
  • lnk – this is the field for tax credits. If the letter J appears in this field it means that tax relief has been applied and the letter N means that it has not been applied;
  • pns – indicates whether pension benefit has been paid on your salary. This is calculated after you have worked 26 weeks. Again, the designations J and N are used here;
  • min. uurl. – minimum hourly rate;
  • loonbeslang – here you will see the amount that has been seized for debts, such as those collected by a bailiff;
  • RC – the balance of settlements with the employer, in your case the temporary employment agency in the Netherlands. An amount other than 0 will appear if you do not work enough hours (negative amount) or if you do not provide a bank account number to pay your salary (positive amount). Please note that your salary will be paid in euros, so to avoid losing out on currency conversion, open a bank account in this currency or use the Revolut app.
  • Verloonweek – the year and week to which the settlement applies.

In block 2 you will also find your name and address, as well as the name of your employer and their details.

Block 3 – Accumulation of balances 

Here you will find aggregated information about your salary, not only the salary to be paid to you, but also the salary that your employer paid you in the previous pay period (i.e. usually the previous week). In the columns of the table, you will find the components of your salary:

  • vak. geld – holiday allowance;
  • vak. uren – number of holiday days;
  • bw verlof – additional holiday;
  • fst. Dgn – balance of public holidays;
  • kort verz. – short absence balance.

In turn, the rows contain the individual balances:

  • oud balance – amounts from the most recently paid salary, e.g. last week;
  • opbouw – the balance of wages to be paid, given in euros or as a number of hours;
  • balance nieuw – the current balance.

In the table you will also find the item reservering %, which indicates the amount of allowances described, given as a percentage. Thus, if the item vak. geld shows 8.33%, this means that you will receive 8.33% of the holiday allowance, which will be paid together with your salary.

Block 4 – Gross pay structure

In this section you will find summary data on your current salary, expressed in gross terms and therefore before tax and insurance contributions. The individual parts stand for:

  • SVW dagen – contribution days, there are a maximum of 5 in a given week;
  • Gewerkte dagen – days actually worked;
  • Normale uren – hours at a percentage of 100%, i.e. basic hours;
  • Toeslag uren – these are overtime hours, e.g. those worked on public holidays or at night, for which you receive a wage bonus. Its amount is determined by your employer’s collective agreement (CAO);
  • Onbetaald verlof – unpaid holiday hours;
  • Wachtdagen compensatie – compensation for unpaid sick days.

The individual columns contain values given in numerical terms, e.g. the number of hours, in amounts, e.g. the rate per hour, and in percentages.

Block 5 – Income taxes

This block contains the calculation of income tax and social security contributions. It is relatively easy to read as it only includes two items – Loonheffing, i.e. tax paid, and Net, i.e. the amount remaining to be paid.

Blok 6 – List of payments

The net amount shown in block 5 is not always the amount to be paid. The temporary employment agency will, according to the terms of your contract, deduct your accommodation charges or associated bills from your pay. You will find information about these deductions or additional payments in block 6. These may include the following:

  • Chauffeursvergoeding – allowance for driving a company car;
  • Inh Huisvesting – deduction for housing;
  • Inh. HV GWE Extra – deduction for above-standard consumption of gas, water or electricity;
  • Inh. personeelsvereniging – charge for membership of an Employees’ union.

Block 7 – Summary

In block 7 it is time to summarise the calculations you have made on salaris. You will find a short table where you can see how much you have earned in a given week and what your cumulative financial result is with a given employer. In fact, the most important parts of this table for you are three:

  • brutoloon – gross pay;
  • loonheffing – income tax;
  • RC WAS – RC balance, i.e. the balance owed (it was already mentioned in block 2).

Block 8 – extraterritorial costs (ET) decision

Dutch law allows a temporary work agency to apply the extraterritorial costs tax credit, which reduces income tax for Temporary Employees. Whether you take advantage of this relief is up to you. However, you must bear in mind that certain conditions must be met for your employer to charge it – a description of these can be found in your contract with the employment agency. The allowance for this tax credit on salaris is under the heading Vergoeding ET (N).

Can you now read your salaris? 

At first glance, salaris seems complicated and difficult to figure out, but in fact the most important points for you are clear and easy to read. If you have any questions or doubts, ask the administration deartment for help with clarifying your salaris. Once you have reviewed a few of these documents, you will certainly be able to fully check the various elements of your salary yourself and verify that they have been calculated correctly.