Yesterday, the Senate passed the 2026 tax plans. This means that the rates and percentages for 2026 are known. You can find them in the Appendix to Payroll Tax Newsletter 2026.
As we are used to by now, many amounts are slightly adjusted for inflation. This inflation adjustment is sometimes partially applied in 2026, for budgetary coverage of measures. We explain some of the adjustments below.
Salary increase for the DMS
With effect from 1 January 2026, the minimum salary a DMS must receive from his or her own private limited company(ies) will be increased from €56,000 to €58,000.
(Delivery) cars
The Senate has negotiated one small adjustment to the tax plans: those who drive a youngtimer before 1 January 2026, who reach the age of 16 in 2026, may continue to apply the youngtimer scheme (addition of 35% of the economic value of the car) in 2026.
The amount of final tax for continuously and alternately used vans has been adjusted annually since 2025. In practice, this scheme is also known as the “€300 rule”, but in 2025 the amount of final tax was increased to €438. For 2026, it will be: €451.
The pseudo-final tax on non-emission passenger cars made available to employees (12% of the catalogue value) has also been adopted, but this scheme will not take effect until 1 January 2027. See our article Additional burden for non-elektrical cars.
WKR
The headroom under the working expenses scheme (WKR) will not change. It amounts to 1.18% of the wage bill, subject to a margin of 2% over the first €400,000 of the wage bill.
The valuation of a no more than incidental business meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner) provided to the employee at the workplace is in 2026: €4.05 (2025: €3.95).
For a home working day, €2.45 may be reimbursed tax-free in 2026 (2025: €2.35).
The tax-free allowance for business kilometres is unchanged: €0.23 per kilometre.
Volunteers
Earlier, we reported that the amounts of the volunteer scheme will not be adjusted. That is correct, with the understanding that the indexation that has applied to this scheme for several years also leads to a small increase for 2026.
- standard amount per year: €2,200 (2025: €2,100);
- Standard amount per month: €220 (2025: €210).
- norm amount per hour (> 21 years): €5.75 (2025: €5.60)
- norm amount per hour (< 21 years): € 3.40 (2025: € 3.30)
However, it is also important that organisations check whether they meet the conditions for applying the volunteer scheme. See our factsheet.