If your child is still in voortgezet onderwijs (secondary school) and is already 18, they can apply for a student allowance. The best way to calculate this is to go the DUO website and indicate the joint income of both parents. The highest amounts are shown below. To apply you need a DigiD. If you do not already have one, you can apply for a DigiD at digid.nl/aanvragen..

Living at home
€ 142,86 per month

Living away from home
€ 333,10 per month

This allowance is granted until your child goes to college/university.

For single parents there is an alternative arrangement.

This https://duo.nl/particulier/tegemoetkoming-scholieren/bedragen.jsp directs you to DUO. There you will find forms you can use for payment arrangements, allowances, refund request, etc.

All information concerning belastingen en toeslagen (taxes and allowances) can be found on the Belastingdienst (Tax Administration) website.

https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/nl/toeslagen/toeslagen

* Note that you immediately inform the Belastingdienst (Tax Administration) if your income changes, either positively or negatively. Your allowances will also change. By informing the Belastingdienst in time you will not have to repay too much at a time.

Living situation	Maximum protected earnings January 2025
Single	€ 2.071,24
Single with child(ren) under 18	€ 2.242,24
Married without children under 18	€ 2.739,03
Mariried with child(ren) under 18	€ 2.855,96

Each year in January and July minimum wages go up a little.

Gross minimum wages per 1 January 2025

This is the legal gross minimum wage for employees aged 21 to 65 for a full work week (36, 38 or 40 hours per week, depending on the sector and CAO (collective agreements)) as of 1 January 2025, excluding 8% holiday pay:

€ 2,437,07 per month
€ 562,40    per week
€ 112,48      per day

Age employee	Per hour
21 years of age	€ 14,06
20 years of age	€ 11,25
19 years of age	€ 8,44
18 years of age	€ 7,03
17 years of age	€ 5.55
16 years of age	€ 4.85
15 years of age	€ 4.22

Minimum wage amounts are for a full work week. It is not defined by law how many hours constitutes full employment. In practice, it is usually 36, 38 or 40 hours, depending on the industry you work in and possibly the CAO (collective agreements).

Note: The amounts are adjusted annually in January and July. Amounts are net per month, including 5% holiday pay.

Norms 1 January 2025

Single 21 years to retirement
€ 1,278.18 excluding vacation allowance of € 67.27

Single parent
€ 1,426.02  excluding vacation allowance of € 75.05

Married/cohabiting
€ 1,825.97 excluding vacation allowance of € 96.10

 

• Kostendelersnorm

Concerning welfare benefits, the kostendelersnorm (co-resident rule) applies. This means that your welfare benefit is lower if more than one person live at the same address. Exceptions are:

For married couples and single individuals aged 21 or older who live with one or more persons aged 21 or older with whom costs can be shared, a lower amount applies based on the cost-sharing norm. As of January 1, 2025, the cost-sharing norm has been adjusted so that only co-residents aged 27 or older are counted as cost sharers for the benefit of housemates.

Below is a good link to clarify what the cost-sharing scheme is:
http://www.rotterdam.nl/kostendelersnorm#A5

Number of adults in a household

Two persons
Welfare norm per person: 50%

Three persons
Welfare norm per person: 43.33%

Four persons
Welfare norm per person: 40%

Five persons
Welfare norm per person: 38%

Single parent

In many cases a single parent can apply for the kindgebonden budget (supplementary child benefit).

Own funds

The own funds of people receiving welfare benefits may not exceed €7,770 for single persons, €15,540 for a single parent and married persons.

An additional exemption of up to €65,500 applies only to people who own their own homes:

1. Providing you yourself live in this home.
2. You cannot be expected to sell your home or take out an (additional) mortgage because your housing costs are approximately the same as the rent of a rental property suitable for you.

Net or gross

The WWB (Wet Werk en Bijstand, social assistance act) is the only allowance that works exclusively with net amounts. The gross annual amounts can be found on your annual statement; they are used for filling out tax papers and applying for schemes.

A toeslag (allowance) is a supplement to your income.

If sickness, WW, WIA, WAO or Wajong causes you to fall below the social minimum applicable to your situation, you are entitled to a supplement from the Toeslagenwet (Supplementary Benefits Act). This supplements your income to the relevant social minimum or the last wage earned if this was below the social minimum. This supplement can be applied for at both Werkplein (WW) and UWV (sickness). For more information go to www.uwv.nl, Forms, Applying for a UWV top-up benefit.

You must submit the application for a supplementary allowance to UWV within 6 weeks after the benefit has been granted. You can do this online using your DigiD. If you submit your application after 6 weeks, you are late and in breach of the regulations. UWV may then impose a measure, i.e. temporarily reduce your allowance. You will receive a supplement retroactively, but it will be temporarily reduced.

Note: You have an obligation to provide information. Within a week after your income changes, UWV must be notified.

Application form Toeslagenwet (Supplementary Benefits Act) at UWV https://www.uwv.nl/nl/toeslag/toeslag-aanvragen

DOWNLOAD THE FORM “MAAK JE EIGEN BUDGET” (“SET YOUR OWN BUDGET!”)
(This file can only be downloaded if you have the new version of Excel on your desktop. In case you do not have this new version, you can use the free Google Spreadsheets or the free software Libre Office)

With “Maak je eigen Budget!” (“Set your own budget”) you can easily enter your income and expenses and gain an insight into your monthly spendings and possibly savings. You can send yourself an anonymous e-mail with the numbers you have entered.

Use:

You have to calculate all amounts, including income and expenses, to total per month. For example, if you pay € 90,– for water every three months, then you divide this amount by three and fill in this amount in the form. Another example is getting paid every four weeks, which also has to be calculated to a total per month exactly. So if you are paid 2000,- per four weeks: it means you get 52 wk / 4 wk = 13 payments per year. 13 x 2000 / 12 = 2166,66 as salary per month.

You can fill in this form every month. Some amounts almost never change, but sometimes you have more or different expenses in a month – you can just add these. That way you will know exactly what is left at the end of each month. Make a sport of it! When you know how much money you have left, you can enter this in the DSR Budgetmanager.

Go for it! Let us know what you think or what we could improve!

Take a fixed amount out of your account once a week on a fixed day – do not withdraw any money from your account for the rest of the week. For example, take out €50 or whatever you are used to. The same day you buy groceries at the supermarket and pay €5. Now subtract this amount from the original €50 = €45. This means that you have €45 left for the other six days of the week…

Date	Weekly amount: 7 days	Possible spending per day	Groceries
1 January	€ 50,– : 7 days	is € 7,14 per day	spend € 5,–
2 January	€ 45,– : 6 days	is € 7,50 per day	spend € 6,–
3 January	€ 39,– : 5 days	is € 7,80 per day	spend € 7,–
4 January	€ 32,– : 4 days	is € 8,– per day	-
5 January	-	-	-
6 January	-	-	-
7 January	-	-	-

…et cetera. The money you do not spend is carried forward to the following week or goes into your savings account.

At the start of the new week, you again withdraw a fixed amount and keep a cash book. It is useful to use a week menu based on the supermarket advertising leaflets.

See also our handy cash book app. https://bmwvoorelkaar.nl/de-sociale-raadsvrouw/de-dsr-budgetmanager/