The Dutch transition payment (transitievergoeding) is one third of a monthly wage per year of service, plus a proportional part for the remaining period, capped in 2026 at €102,000 or one year's wage if that is higher (Article 7:673 of the Dutch Civil Code). The employer pays it on dismissal, dissolution and non-renewal of a fixed-term contract. This free calculator uses the full monthly wage under the Besluit loonbegrip, including holiday allowance, a 13th month and bonuses, and shows every step. You can also include varying hours, earlier contracts and successive employership in the calculation.
On this page
What can this calculator calculate?
- The full monthly wage: holiday allowance, a fixed year-end payment, bonuses over three calendar years, overtime pay and shift allowances.
- Varying hours and special forms of pay: on-call, zero-hours and min-max contracts, piece wages and commission, and a salary per month, per 4 weeks, per week or per hour.
- Earlier contracts: contracts are added together if the intervals between them were no more than six months, with the transitional law for contracts that ended before 1 July 2015.
- Successive employership: for each contract, the employer and who ended the contract; in case of doubt, a provisional result and the result without those periods.
- Short periods of employment: the remaining part based on the salary actually earned, and contracts shorter than one month.
- Work before the 18th birthday: months in which the employee worked on average no more than twelve hours a week do not count.
- The statutory maximum: the amount for the year in which employment ends or one year's wage, and deduction of a transition payment paid earlier.
- Entitlement check: an indication of whether the payment is due in your situation.
You see every step of the calculation and can save it as a PDF, Excel or text file. If the employer pays late, the calculator can also calculate the statutory interest.
When is an employee entitled to a transition payment?
The employer owes a transition payment (transitievergoeding) when it gives notice of termination, when the cantonal court dissolves the employment contract at its request, or when it does not continue a fixed-term contract after it expires (Article 7:673(1) of the Dutch Civil Code). The employee builds up the payment from the first working day, including during a probation period, regardless of the length of service or the position held. For the details of fixed-term contracts, see transition payment for fixed-term contracts.
If the employee resigns, there is in principle no entitlement, unless the resignation results from seriously culpable acts or omissions of the employer. On termination by mutual consent (a settlement agreement, vaststellingsovereenkomst) there is no statutory entitlement; the parties agree the payment themselves, often using the transition payment as the starting point.
No transition payment is due if the employment ends in connection with or after reaching the Dutch state pension (AOW) age or an agreed retirement age, in case of seriously culpable acts or omissions of the employee, or for employees under 18 who worked on average at most twelve hours a week (Article 7:673(7) of the Dutch Civil Code). In case of seriously culpable conduct of the employee, the cantonal court may still award all or part of the payment if refusing it would be unacceptable (paragraph 8).
In three other situations, too, the transition payment is in principle not due: if the employer has been declared bankrupt, has been granted a suspension of payments or is subject to the debt restructuring scheme (Article 7:673c(1) of the Dutch Civil Code); if the applicable collective agreement contains an arrangement for a business-economic dismissal that takes the place of the statutory transition payment (Article 7:673b of the Dutch Civil Code); and if, before the end of a fixed-term contract, a new employment contract was already agreed that starts within six months and can be terminated in the interim (Article 7:673(1)(a)(3°) of the Dutch Civil Code).
With the optional entitlement check in the calculator you can go through these conditions and exceptions step by step. The check only asks the questions that are relevant in your situation and gives an indicative outcome: due in principle, not due in principle, legal assessment needed, or, for a settlement agreement, a statutory reference amount. The amount is always calculated, even if the payment does not appear to be due in your situation.
How do you calculate the transition payment?
The formula is set out in Article 7:673(2) of the Dutch Civil Code: one third of a monthly wage for each year the employment has lasted, plus a proportional part for the remaining months and days. Two things therefore determine the outcome: the monthly wage and the length of the employment.
The monthly wage
The monthly wage is more than the gross base salary. Under the Besluit loonbegrip vergoeding aanzegtermijn en transitievergoeding (Decree on the wage concept for the notice compensation and the transition payment) and the Regeling looncomponenten en arbeidsduur (Regulation on wage components and working hours), the following count:
- the gross monthly salary (hourly wage times the agreed working hours, or the average over the last twelve months if the hours vary);
- the holiday allowance, divided by twelve: with an 8% holiday allowance that is 8% of the monthly salary;
- a fixed year-end payment or 13th month, divided by twelve;
- overtime pay and shift allowances over the last twelve months, divided by twelve;
- bonuses, profit shares and variable year-end payments over the three calendar years before the year in which employment ends, divided by 36. Years without a bonus count; if the employee was employed for a shorter period, the divisor is adjusted pro rata.
A lease car and expense allowances, among other things, do not count: they are not designated as wage components.
The length of the employment
The length runs from the first day of employment up to and including the last day of employment. Successive contracts with the same employer are added together if there were never more than six months between them, and the same applies to successive employers, for example when a temporary agency worker is hired by the client for the same work (Article 7:673(4) of the Dutch Civil Code). If a transition payment was already paid on an earlier contract, it is deducted from the new one (paragraph 5). Months before the 18th birthday in which the employee worked on average no more than twelve hours a week do not count (paragraph 4(a)); the calculator excludes them if you indicate that you already worked for the employer before your 18th birthday.
The remaining part. For the period after the full years of service, the law does not use a fraction of calendar days but the gross salary actually owed over that period: (gross salary over the remaining part / gross monthly salary) × (1/3 monthly wage / 12). If the employment lasted 9 years and 5 days, with a monthly salary of €3,000 and €800 salary over those 5 days, the payment is 9 × €1,000 + (€800 / €3,000) × (€1,000 / 12) = €9,022.22. If the remaining part consists only of full months and the salary stayed the same, this comes down to 1/36 of the monthly wage per month. If the employment contract lasted less than one month, the monthly wage is the total gross wage with wage components over the whole contract (article 4 of the Besluit loonbegrip): with €800 for five days, the payment is €800 / 36 = €22.22.
In the calculator, enter earlier contracts separately under More wage components and earlier contracts, stating for each contract the employer and who ended it. The calculator decides for each contract whether it counts and states why; the intervals themselves do not count. After an interval of more than six months, the contract before it and all earlier contracts do not count. A collective agreement cannot shorten that limit for the transition payment. An earlier contract that the employee ended does not count (Supreme Court, 28 November 2025, ECLI:NL:HR:2025:1808). Transitional law applies to contracts that ended before 1 July 2015: an interval of more than three months breaks the combination for a contract that ended before 1 July 2012, and for a contract that ended before 1 July 2015 if a permanent contract started within six months (article XXII(8) of the Work and Security Act). Where this depends on facts the calculator does not know, such as successive employership, the result is provisional and you also see the result without those periods.
Calculation examples
The calculator above gives the same results for the same data.
Example 1: exactly six years of employment
An employee was employed from 1 January 2020 up to and including 31 December 2025, with a gross monthly salary of €4,500 and 8% holiday allowance. The monthly wage is €4,500 + €360 = €4,860. The transition payment is 6 × €4,860 / 3 = €9,720.
Example 2: 13th month and varying bonuses
An employee was employed from 1 January 2019 up to and including 30 April 2026: 7 years and 4 months. The gross monthly salary is €4,000, with 8% holiday allowance, a 13th month of €4,000 and bonuses of €12,000 (2023), €0 (2024) and €12,000 (2025). The monthly wage is €4,000 + €320 + €333.33 (13th month / 12) + €666.67 (€24,000 / 36) = €5,320.
- 7 full years: 7 × €5,320 / 3 = €12,413.33
- 4 full months: 4 × €5,320 / 36 = €591.11
Transition payment: €13,004.44.
Example 3: short fixed-term contract
An employee with a fixed-term contract from 15 January up to and including 20 March 2025 earned €3,000 a month, without holiday allowance in the wage. The employment lasted less than a year, so the whole employment is the remaining part. According to the payslips, a total gross salary of €6,480 was owed over that period. The transition payment is (€6,480 / €3,000) × (1/3 × €3,000 / 12) = €180.00. A short contract therefore also gives rise to a payment. If you do not enter the salary over the period, the calculator gives an estimate based on calendar days.
Example 4: earlier contracts with an interval
An employee had three fixed-term contracts with the same employer: from 1 March 2018 up to and including 28 February 2019, from 1 January 2020 up to and including 30 June 2021, and from 1 October 2021 up to and including 30 September 2026. The employer let each contract expire. The gross monthly salary was €3,600 throughout, with 8% holiday allowance. The monthly wage is €3,600 + €288 = €3,888.
- There were ten months between the first and the second contract. That is more than six months, so the first contract does not count (Article 7:673(4)(b) of the Dutch Civil Code).
- There were three months between the second and the third contract. Those contracts are added together: 1 year and 6 months plus 5 years is 6 years and 6 months. The three months themselves do not count.
- 6 full years: 6 × €3,888 / 3 = €7,776
- 6 full months, with an unchanged salary: 6 × €3,888 / 36 = €648
Transition payment: €8,424. The second contract counts because the employer let it expire; an earlier contract that the employee ended does not count.
Example 5: on-call contract with varying hours
An on-call worker was employed from 1 April 2022 up to and including 31 March 2026, without fixed working hours, at an hourly wage of €16 and with 8% holiday allowance. In the twelve months before the end, the employee worked a total of 1,248 hours, between 88 and 120 hours a month, without any significant leave or sickness.
- If the working hours vary, the average number of hours worked per month in the twelve months before the end counts (article 2(1) of the Besluit loonbegrip): 1,248 / 12 = 104 hours.
- Monthly wage: 104 × €16 = €1,664, plus 8% holiday allowance (€133.12) = €1,797.12.
- 4 full years: 4 × €1,797.12 / 3 = €2,396.16
Transition payment: €2,396.16. Periods of leave, strike or sickness do not count towards the average; if they add up to 30 days or more, earlier months take their place (article 2 of the Regeling looncomponenten en arbeidsduur). In the calculator, use the extended calculation below the salary field for this.
How much transition payment do you get per year of service?
For each full year of service, the transition payment is one third of a monthly wage. With a monthly wage of €4,000 (including holiday allowance and other components) this comes to:
| Years of service | Number of monthly wages | With a monthly wage of €4,000 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 0.33 | €1,333.33 |
| 2 years | 0.67 | €2,666.67 |
| 5 years | 1.67 | €6,666.67 |
| 10 years | 3.33 | €13,333.33 |
| 15 years | 5.00 | €20,000.00 |
| 20 years | 6.67 | €26,666.67 |
| 30 years | 10.00 | €40,000.00 |
Maximum transition payment per year
The transition payment is never higher than the statutory maximum of the year in which the employment ends, or one year's wage if that is higher (Article 7:673(2) of the Dutch Civil Code). The maximum is adjusted every year on 1 January in line with collective wage developments and applies to employment that ends on or after that date (paragraph 3).
| Year employment ends | Maximum |
|---|---|
| 2026 | €102,000 |
| 2025 | €98,000 |
| 2024 | €94,000 |
| 2023 | €89,000 |
| 2022 | €86,000 |
| 2021 | €84,000 |
| 2020 | €83,000 |
Source: Article 7:673(2) of the Dutch Civil Code in the versions in force on 1 January of each year (wetten.overheid.nl).
An example: someone earning €10,000 a month has an annual wage of €120,000. For that employee the maximum in 2026 is €120,000 instead of €102,000.
Dismissal, non-renewal and settlement agreement
The same calculation applies to dismissal with permission from the UWV, dissolution by the cantonal court, collective redundancy and non-renewal of a fixed-term contract by the employer. In case of seriously culpable acts or omissions of the employer, the cantonal court may also award fair compensation (billijke vergoeding). For dismissal after long-term illness, compensation for the employer and dormant employment contracts, see transition payment and illness.
In a settlement agreement, employer and employee set the payment themselves. The transition payment is then the usual starting point of the negotiation, but not a statutory minimum. With the settlement agreement generator you can draw up such an agreement, with the transition payment calculation as an annex.
Under certain conditions the employer may deduct certain costs from the transition payment, such as the costs of measures to prevent or shorten unemployment and the costs of improving the employee's broader employability during the employment (Article 7:673(6) of the Dutch Civil Code). The costs must have been specified to the employee in writing in advance and the employee must have agreed in writing in advance, unless a collective labour agreement obliges the employer to incur those costs (Besluit voorwaarden in mindering brengen kosten op transitievergoeding, Article 2).
What is the legal basis for this calculation?
The calculator follows the statutory rules and keeps four questions apart:
- Which wage counts? This follows from the Besluit loonbegrip and the Regeling looncomponenten en arbeidsduur.
- Which period of service counts? Article 7:673(4) of the Dutch Civil Code determines which contracts are added together. The calculator follows the Supreme Court judgment on contracts that the employee ended (ECLI:NL:HR:2025:1808) and the transitional law of the Work and Security Act.
- How much is the payment? One third of a monthly wage per full year of service and a proportional part after that, up to the maximum for the year in which employment ends (Article 7:673(2) of the Dutch Civil Code).
- Is the payment due? The optional entitlement check goes through the conditions and exceptions of Articles 7:673, 7:673b and 7:673c of the Dutch Civil Code, but only gives an indication.
The calculation rules run on the server of the Dutch Law Institute; the calculation examples on this page give the same result in the calculator. If the result depends on facts the calculator cannot establish, such as successive employership, the calculator marks it as provisional and a legal assessment is needed. The full account, with public test cases, is on the calculation methodology page.
What does this calculator not cover?
This tool calculates only the statutory transition payment under Article 7:673 of the Dutch Civil Code. It does not include: fair compensation, a higher payment in a settlement agreement, deductions of costs under paragraph 6, wage tax, social plan payments. A fixed salary per month, per 4 weeks or per week, and fixed hours with an hourly wage, can be entered directly at the salary. For variable working hours (on-call, zero-hours or min-max contract), piece wages or commission, use the extended calculation below the salary field; it calculates the monthly wage under article 2 of the Besluit loonbegrip. For a binding assessment, consult a Dutch employment lawyer.
Common calculation mistakes
The most common mistakes in calculating the transition payment:
- leaving the holiday allowance out of the monthly wage;
- forgetting the 13th month or the bonuses over the three calendar years before the year in which employment ends, or skipping years without a bonus;
- counting a lease car or expense allowance;
- not counting earlier fixed-term contracts with gaps of no more than six months;
- applying the old calculation from before 2020 (accrual per full half year and a higher accrual after ten years of service).
Employees who suspect an underpayment must file a request with the cantonal court within three months after the employment ends (Article 7:686a(4) of the Dutch Civil Code). Anyone who misses this deadline loses the right, regardless of the size of the underpayment. The period starts on the day after the last day of employment and ends at the end of the day with the same number three months later; if that month has no such day, on the last day of the month (Supreme Court 5 February 2021, ECLI:NL:HR:2021:188). If the last day of employment was 31 January, the last day is 30 April. If that day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the period runs until the next day that is not (General Time Limits Act).
What if the employer pays the transition payment late?
Statutory interest is due on the transition payment from one month after the day on which the employment contract ended (Article 7:686a(1) of the Dutch Civil Code). If the last day of employment was 31 May, interest runs from 1 July; if it was 30 November, from 1 January (for example District Court of Limburg 9 April 2026, ECLI:NL:RBLIM:2026:3309, and District Court of Rotterdam 12 June 2026, ECLI:NL:RBROT:2026:10207). This is the ordinary statutory interest rate (4% a year since 1 January 2026), not the higher commercial rate. If you wish, the calculator calculates that interest after the calculation.
The statutory increase under Article 7:625 of the Dutch Civil Code for late payment of wages does not apply: the transition payment is not wage fixed in money within the meaning of that provision. Cantonal courts therefore reject an increase on the transition payment (for example District Court of The Hague, 22 March 2024, ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2024:5371).
For extrajudicial collection costs, the fixed scale does not apply automatically: the Besluit vergoeding voor buitengerechtelijke incassokosten (Decree on compensation for extrajudicial collection costs) was written for claims against consumers and between businesses. What remains is the general standard of Article 6:96(2)(c) of the Dutch Civil Code: reasonable costs. In proceedings before the cantonal court these are assessed as legal costs.
Frequently asked questions
What is the formula for the Dutch transition payment?
How much is the transition payment after 10 years?
What is the maximum transition payment in 2026?
From which day does the transition payment accrue?
Does a lease car count towards the transition payment?
Is an employee entitled to a transition payment after resigning?
Am I entitled to a transition payment under a settlement agreement?
What if a fixed-term contract simply expires?
Is the transition payment taxable?
When is statutory interest due on the transition payment?
What if the employer calculated the transition payment too low?
Is this calculation legal advice?
How is a period shorter than one year calculated?
Am I entitled to a transition payment after two years of sickness?
How is the transition payment calculated for an on-call or zero-hours contract?
Am I entitled to a transition payment after summary dismissal?
Related Dutch employment law resources
- Transition payment under Dutch law: full legal explanation
- How to calculate the transition payment step by step
- Holiday allowance as part of the monthly wage
- Seriously culpable conduct of the employee
- Deadlines for contesting a dismissal or a payment
- Dutch settlement agreement (vaststellingsovereenkomst): what to negotiate
- Find a Dutch employment lawyer to verify your transition payment