Picture a small employer preparing the first payroll run of 2027. One employee receives ordinary wages and an occupational-disability benefit through the same payroll. The software produces a lower net amount than the employee expected. Nothing about the employee’s work has changed, yet the payslip tells a different financial story.
That possibility follows a government decision announced by Rijksoverheid. From 2027, employers may no longer apply the employment tax credit to occupational-disability benefits within the measure’s scope when those benefits pass through the employer. About 11,000 recipients are expected to face financial consequences, with most likely to receive less net income.
The change follows Supreme Court judgment ECLI:NL:HR:2024:1657. The Court examined why comparable WGA recipients received different tax treatment depending on whether UWV paid them directly or through an employer. It found the distinction incompatible with treaty protections against discrimination and left the choice of repair to the legislator.
Equality travels through payroll
The government has chosen a forward-looking repair. Instead of extending the employment tax credit to benefits paid directly by UWV, it will stop the credit being applied to relevant benefits routed through employers. The 2027 start gives recipients, employers and payroll-software developers time to prepare.
The legal logic is understandable. A payment route should not decide whether two comparable people receive different tax treatment. Yet legal equality does not guarantee an easy transition. The correction lands inside a relationship involving income, health, work capacity and personal dignity.
For the employee, the payslip is rarely an abstract tax calculation. It is rent, groceries, energy and the amount left at month-end. A reduction may feel like an employer decision even when it follows national policy. That makes the first explanation almost as important as the first calculation.
The District Court of The Hague confirmed the direction of travel in ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2026:9745. It recorded that the government had chosen to exclude employer-paid WGA benefits from the employment tax credit calculation from 2027. The transition is therefore becoming an HR and payroll responsibility.
The number is not the whole answer
There is no standard amount that every affected employee will lose. The result depends on wages, the benefit amount, the use of payroll tax credits and the person’s wider income. Some people may receive a more favourable outcome under the revised aggregation rule, although most of the affected group are expected to lose net income.
The official average estimate for the affected group was a net-income reduction of about €3,000 per year, including people who may benefit from the change. That figure helps describe the scale of the policy. It does not calculate the payslip of a particular employee.
An employer can estimate what its own payroll will produce. It cannot see the employee’s complete tax position. Another job, pension, benefit or source of income may affect the final entitlement determined through the income-tax assessment.
This distinction matters during conversations. A confident but incomplete promise can cause more damage than a careful estimate. “This is what our payroll currently shows” is credible. “This is your final annual tax outcome” may not be.
I read this as a boundary of responsibility rather than an excuse for silence. The employer does not own the employee’s whole tax position. It does own the accuracy of the information it processes, the quality of the handover to its payroll provider and the timing of the conversation.
That brings us back to the employee in the opening scene. The lower figure will still arrive on the employer’s payslip. If nobody has explained the change, the employee may reasonably ask why the business allowed it to come as a surprise.
Ownership matters before January
Small businesses often outsource payroll, but they cannot outsource every consequence. The payroll bureau controls calculations within its mandate. The employer knows which payments are being received, why they are being passed on and who inside the company understands the employee’s situation.
Exceptional payments are where responsibility can become blurred. The owner assumes the accountant knows. The accountant assumes HR has informed the payroll processor. HR expects the software update to identify the right employee automatically. Each assumption sounds modest. Together, they create an avoidable January problem.
A sensible preparation starts with visibility. The business needs to know whether it passes social-security benefits through payroll alongside current wages. It needs records that distinguish the purpose and payment route of each component. The payroll provider can then explain how the 2027 change will be configured and tested once final official implementation guidance is available.
This is also a ledger issue. Current wages and a benefit connected with an earlier employment relationship may appear together in one net payment, but they do not carry the same fiscal logic. If the underlying components cannot be reconciled, neither the employer nor the adviser can explain the result cleanly.
The 2027 change will require careful attention to the relevant benefit categories, payment routes and payroll treatment. Employers should work from the final official implementation guidance rather than assume that a current software setting will carry forward unchanged.
Trust is built before January
The direct policy change concerns the employee’s tax credit, not an automatic increase in the employer’s wage bill. Still, employers may bear real operational costs through testing, corrections, provider charges and difficult conversations. A surprised employee may also ask for an advance or other support when household cash suddenly tightens.
The better moment for that conversation is before the first affected payslip. It can be calm and limited: the rule is changing, the net result may change, payroll can provide an estimate, and the final tax position depends on total income. That is honest without pretending to know everything.
A fairer rule can produce an uncomfortable personal result. Good employment practice does not require the employer to solve national tax policy or every household budget. It requires clear ownership, reliable payroll records and timely human communication.
By January 2027, the legal argument will be settled for most small employers. Their real test will be simpler: whether the employee first learns about the change from a conversation, or from a smaller number at the bottom of the payslip.
Need help checking payroll records and preparing staff communication? We can help with the practical steps
The data, sourcing, and analysis behind this article were conducted by Paolo Maria Pavan. AI was not used to identify sources, build the factual basis, or produce the analytical judgment contained here. AI was used only as a drafting aid. The final English text was personally reviewed, edited, and approved by Paolo Maria Pavan before publication.
