Payroll update February 2026

1. Wage Earnings Supplement Act (WTL): Dont miss out on subsidies!
2. Annual documents and statements of 2025
3. Settlement Work-related costs scheme (WKR) 2025
4. Updating pension portals and providing the new 2026 pension premiums
5. Insurances and 2025 settlements
6. Application Tax Credit for Research and Development 2026 (WBSO)

Wage Earnings Supplement Act (WTL): Don’t miss out on subsidies!

The Wage Earnings Supplement Act (WTL) is a law that grants employers compensation from the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) for employees or interns who have an occupational disability (due to age or incapacity for work). The compensation is granted retrospectively, in other words: this year, the compensation for 2025 will be determined and paid out.

Since 2025, there has been only one category within the WTL: wage cost benefits. Previously, there were three categories, but two of these have now been discontinued (the Low Income Benefit, abbreviated to “LIV” in Dutch, and the youth LIV).

In March, you will receive a letter from the UWV with the provisional calculation if you are entitled to a wage cost benefit. If this letter is incorrect, you must submit an objection to the UWV for 2025. This can only be done through payroll administration, because the wage tax return for 2025 will need to be corrected. Therefore, send the provisional calculation to your payroll processor. They can check the calculation for you and object if necessary.

Please note: previously, wage cost subsidies were limited to a maximum of three years for new employees and one year for redeployed employees. Since January 1, 2026, one of these wage cost benefits has become permanent: the wage cost benefit for the target group for the 2026 job agreement (previously the target group for the “job agreement and educationally hindered people”). This subsidy now has an indefinite term. As long as the employee and employer meet the conditions, the employer will continue to receive the subsidy annually. You can read about the changes here.

For employees who were employed before January 1, 2026, there is a deadline for applying for the so-called target group declaration (“doelgroepverklaring”). This must be done before March 31, 2026, otherwise the right to this subsidy will be permanently lost. Employees are not legally obliged to share information about or cooperate with a target group declaration.

For employees who join the company on or after January 1, 2026, it will no longer be necessary to apply for a target group declaration; confirmation that they are listed in the target group register will suffice. Here too, this must be processed in the payroll administration within three months of commencement of employment, otherwise the right to subsidy will lapse permanently. Again, the employee is not obliged to cooperate.

All information, subsidy amounts, and duration can be found in this document (downloads automatically as PDF).

Annual statements of 2025

We have released the annual documents and annual statements of 2025 during February for all employers and employees in Nmbrs. Both employers and employees have received an email from Nmbrs. You can find the documents here:

• Employers can find the annual documents in the salary documents dashlet (click on “more...” at the bottom right and set the year back to 2025). 
• Employees can find their annual statement in the Nmbrs ESS App (hamburger menu → “pay slips” → adjust the year to 2025) or via the website (“pay slips by period” → click on “more...” in the bottom right → adjust the year to 2025).

Did an employee have multiple employments at your company in 2025 (for example, was someone an intern and employee in 2025)? Then keep in mind that there are two (or more) annual statements and they can only be accessed in Nmbrs simultaneously if both logins are registered on the same e-mail address.

Via the website, an employee can view the other employment by clicking on the person icon in the upper right corner and then changing profiles (using the “change profile” button). This can also be done within the Nmbrs ESS App.

Settlement Work-related costs scheme (WKR) 2025

In December’s payroll update, we have already mentioned the WKR and its final settlement. Have you exceeded the discretionary scope in 2025? 80% final levy (tax) has to be paid over this excess. Keep in mind that you must report this final levy to us in a timely manner: it must be included in the February 2026 payroll tax return at the latest. Therefore, please submit the final levy if you have not done so already.

Your regular financial processor can give you more information about a possible WKR excess in 2025 and the corresponding levy.

Updating pension portals and providing the new 2026 pension premiums

Pension contributions always change per January, it is common to receive these from the pension insurer in January or February. Do you have a general pension fund (think Brand New Day, Aegon PPI, BeFrank and the like)? Then make sure you update your pension portal in a timely manner and that you pass on the new pension premiums to us in 2026, this is your responsibility as an employer. In this way, we will prevent the pension contributions from continuing to run incorrectly. Failure to pass on pension changes, or to do so in time, can add up to big financial discrepancies.

Insurances and 2025 settlements

Many employers have various ongoing insurances for their employees and expenses from a cost point of view or from an obligation by a collective bargaining agreement. Examples include absenteeism insurances, WGA gap (disability gap) insurances, ANW gap insurances or WIA excess insurances. Note that the aforementioned insurances for the WGA, ANW and WIA are additional gap insurances next to the benefits as referred to by the corresponding hyperlinks. Many of these insurers estimate the total wage at the beginning of a calendar year and base their premiums on that. The following year, the final total wage is then determined, and the final settlement takes place. Many insurers therefore request the 2025 “cumulatieve verzamelloonstaat” (in English: payroll register summary cumulative) and the 2025 total wages in February 2026 in order to proceed to the 2025 final settlement.

You can find the payroll register summary cumulative in the 2025 annual documents (see above section on when and how to access it).

Do you need help with the submission for the final statement? Please contact your regular payroll processor.

Application Tax Credit for Research and Development 2026 (WBSO)

In our previous updates we have mentioned the Tax Credit for Research and Development (or in Dutch: WBSO) in detail several times. We would like to receive (if not in our possession) all granted WBSO decisions of 2026 on short notice. We need these in order to apply the WBSO over 2026. In addition, we would like to be informed if we incorrectly applied the full WBSO in 2025.

All other information, conditions and obligations regarding the WBSO can be found here.