Working from home in the Netherlands: internet, the €2.45 allowance and backup
Door Marthijn de VriesBijgewerkt op 7 min lezen
Your employer may pay a tax-free home working allowance (thuiswerkvergoeding) of up to €2.45 per home working day in 2026, but it's optional and can't be combined with a tax-free travel allowance on the same day. Which internet speed and upload you need, how to stay online during an outage and what self-employed people can deduct.
Short answer
As of 29 September 2026: Dutch employers may pay a tax-free home working allowance (thuiswerkvergoeding) of up to €2.45 per home working day in 2026, up from €2.40 in 2025 (Rendement). It is optional: your employer doesn't have to pay it unless your contract or collective agreement says so (IamExpat). It can't be combined with a tax-free travel allowance for the same day (Belastingdienst knowledge group). For the connection itself, upload speed and stability matter more than download: a 1080p Zoom group call needs about 3.0 Mbit/s up (Zoom). A phone hotspot is the simplest backup for outages; for full-time home workers a 4G/5G router or a modem with mobile failover is more robust.
How does the Dutch home working allowance work?
It is a targeted tax exemption: your employer can pay up to €2.45 per day you work from home without payroll tax, and you receive it net. Anything above that is taxed as salary. The rules in short:
| Rule | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Maximum tax-free amount | €2.45 per home working day (2025: €2.40) |
| Obligation for employers | None by law; check your employment contract or collective agreement (cao) |
| Same day as travel allowance | Only one of the two can be tax-free for that day, even if you work half a day at home |
| Fixed monthly allowance | Allowed, based on your regular pattern of home and office days |
| Tax-free travel allowance, for comparison | €0.23 per km |
Sources: Rendement, Belastingdienst knowledge group on fixed travel and home working allowances, IamExpat. The allowance is meant to cover extra costs such as energy, coffee and part of your internet. Three home days a week over a year is roughly €350 in allowance at the maximum rate (our calculation, assuming 48 working weeks). As an employee you can't deduct home internet costs in your own tax return; the allowance is the route.
Self-employed (zzp)?
If you run a business, the business share of your internet costs can be a business expense, and for VAT you can reclaim the business share on mixed-use costs. The Belastingdienst explains mixed use in Dutch; an accountant can tell you how to split it.
VAT on mixed use: Belastingdienst. Dutch: backup internet for home workers (in Dutch).
What internet do you need to work from home?
Most home workers are fine with 100 to 500 Mbit/s; what makes the difference is upload and a stable connection. Video calls send as much as they receive: Zoom recommends 3.8 Mbit/s down and 3.0 Mbit/s up for a 1080p group call (Zoom), and Microsoft Teams recommends 1.5 Mbit/s in each direction for a one-to-one HD video call (Microsoft). Two people calling while a cloud backup runs can fill a slow upload.
- Fibre usually uploads as fast as it downloads, which suits home workers. It costs a median €35.58 a month in year one against €34.03 for cable (Kiesbeter Internet Price Index, 29 September 2026, n = 434).
- Cable uploads 25 to 120 Mbit/s depending on the Ziggo plan (Ziggo), enough for several simultaneous video calls from 500 Mbit/s up.
- Wi-Fi causes more choppy calls than the line itself. A network cable to your laptop or a mesh point in your home office often fixes it.
Details: fibre or cable and how fast internet do you need; prices by connection in fibre vs cable vs DSL prices.
How do you stay online when your internet goes down?
Use your phone's hotspot for short outages and a mobile backup router if you can't afford a lost day. The options:
| Option | What you need | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Phone hotspot | A mobile plan with enough data | Outages of a few hours, one laptop |
| Modem with mobile failover | A router that accepts a phone or 4G stick as backup | Whole household online automatically |
| Separate 4G/5G router | Router plus a data SIM | Longer outages, several devices |
| Business internet with backup | Business subscription | Self-employed people whose income depends on it |
A FRITZ!Box, for example, can use an Android phone's USB tethering when the fixed line fails (AVM). For business customers, Ziggo includes a backup SIM on some plans and describes it as a temporary solution with fair use (Ziggo Business); KPN offers a 4G backup that switches automatically (KPN Business).
Budget data: at Teams' recommended 1.5 Mbit/s per direction, an hour of video calling uses about 0.68 GB each way, so roughly 1.35 GB in total (our calculation). Turning off your camera cuts that sharply. Outages longer than 12 hours entitle you to compensation of your subscription fee, not your lost working hours; see your rights with outages.
Checklist for a reliable home office
- Ask your employer whether it pays the €2.45 home working allowance and whether it provides a phone with data.
- Choose fibre if it reaches you and you upload a lot; compare on our internet comparison.
- Put your work laptop on a cable or near a Wi-Fi point; test with our speed test.
- Make sure your mobile plan has enough data for half a day of calls, or unlimited data.
- Test your backup once a quarter: switch off the fixed line and work an hour through it, including your company VPN.
Veelgestelde vragen
Up to €2.45 per home working day tax-free (€2.40 in 2025). Employers aren't legally required to pay it, and it can't be combined with a tax-free travel allowance for the same day.
No. Employees can't deduct home internet in their tax return; the route is the tax-free home working allowance from your employer. Self-employed people can treat the business share as a business expense.
Usually 100 to 500 Mbit/s with good upload. A 1080p Zoom group call needs about 3.8 Mbit/s down and 3.0 Mbit/s up per person; fibre usually has the best upload.
Your phone's hotspot, if your plan has enough data. An hour of HD video calling uses roughly 1.35 GB in total. For longer outages, use a 4G/5G router or a modem with mobile failover.
Geschreven door
