Allowances: assessment income, assets and advance payment

Healthcare allowance (zorgtoeslag), rent allowance (huurtoeslag) and the child-related budget (kindgebonden budget) share the same building blocks: your assessment income (toetsingsinkomen), your allowance partner (toeslagpartner) and your assets. The Benefits department (Dienst Toeslagen) first pays an advance (voorschot) and determines the amount later. This article explains those terms. The amounts and limits are those of 2026, from the calculations of the Benefits department. Our tools, the healthcare allowance calculator, the rent allowance calculator (Dutch edition) and the child-related budget calculator (Dutch edition), work with them. They give an indication; the Benefits department determines the amount.

Assessment income

Assessment income is the income that counts for allowances. It is not your gross pay and not your net pay.

• With a tax return: your gross income for income tax (verzamelinkomen) over the allowance year. That is lower than your pay if, for example, you deduct mortgage interest.
• Without a tax return: the taxable wage on your annual statement (jaaropgaaf). That is your gross pay with holiday pay and any 13th month, minus among other things your pension contribution.
• Box 3 counts. Income from savings and investments (box 3) is part of your gross income for income tax.
• It is about the allowance year. You file your return for that year only the year after. When you apply, you therefore enter an estimate.
• With an allowance partner your assessment incomes are added together.

What you keep net you work out with the net salary calculator. That is something different from assessment income.

Children's income. For the child-related budget, your children's income does not count. For rent allowance it does, under conditions: for a child who is under 23 on 1 January 2026, only the part above €6,218 a year counts. From age 23 the income counts in full. If your child of 20 earns €8,000 in 2026, you count €1,782.

The Benefits department explains it at What is the income for my allowance? (in Dutch)

Allowance partner and household

• Allowance partner. Usually your spouse or registered partner. If you live together unmarried, your housemate can also be your allowance partner, for example if you have a child together, own a home together or have a cohabitation agreement with a notary. Since 2025 a child or parent no longer counts as an allowance partner.
• Counted together. With an allowance partner, your income and assets count together. The limits are then higher.
• Household for rent allowance. You, your allowance partner and everyone who lives with you and is registered at your address, including your children. A subtenant and the people in their household do not count, nor does their income.
• Co-residents. For rent allowance, the assessment incomes of you, your allowance partner and your co-residents are added together. For assets, the limit applies to each co-resident separately, including a child of 18 or older who lives at home.
• Child-related budget. If you have no allowance partner, you receive the higher amount for a single parent.

Assets on 1 January

Your assets count on 1 January of the allowance year: your possessions minus your debts. These are the possessions and debts from box 3, without the tax-free assets allowance (heffingsvrij vermogen) being deducted. Savings, investments, a second home and assets abroad count, green investments too. The home you live in yourself does not count.

If you are above the limit on 1 January, you do not receive that allowance for the whole year, even with a low income. Below the limit it makes no difference how much you have.

Children's assets. The assets of a child under 18 count for healthcare allowance, rent allowance and the child-related budget.

Sources: the calculations of the Benefits department for healthcare allowance (PDF, in Dutch), rent allowance (PDF, in Dutch) and child-related budget (PDF, in Dutch), 2026. The limits change every year.

Advance and final determination

1. Applying. Via My allowances (Mijn toeslagen) on the Tax Administration's website (Belastingdienst), with your DigiD. You can also apply afterwards, up to 1 September of the following year: for 2026 that is up to 1 September 2027.
2. Advance. You receive an advance every month, based on the income you state. The Benefits department pays in whole euros per month.
3. Changes. If something changes, such as your income, your allowance partner or your rent, report it in My allowances. The Benefits department calculates each month with your situation at that moment.
4. Final determination. After the year ends, the Benefits department determines the allowance, with your actual income. If the advance was too high, you pay back the difference. If it was too low, you receive the difference.

Our tools calculate with a whole year in the same situation. If something changes during the year, the real amount can differ.

You can calculate with your own details using the allowances trial calculation (in Dutch) from the Benefits department. That too gives an indication.

No payment under €24 a year

If an allowance comes to less than €24 a year, it is not paid out (Awir, article 14, paragraph 5, in Dutch; the Awir is the Dutch act on income-dependent schemes). That is why, for example, healthcare allowance stops at an income where the yearly amount falls just below that limit, and a calculator then gives 0.

How we calculate and check, you can read in How our calculators work. How we update the rates every year is in Rates we update by hand every year.

Tools for this guide

• Healthcare Benefit (Zorgtoeslag) Calculator Netherlands 2026Healthcare benefit per month and per year, 2026
• Net Salary Calculator Netherlands (Gross to Net, 2026)Gross to net per month, 2026

The Sumish editorial team