Benefit partner (toeslagpartner): the rules for expats

For every Dutch allowance, the Dienst Toeslagen first asks whether you have a benefit partner (toeslagpartner). If you do, your incomes and assets are added up and you receive the allowance as a household. You do not choose this. Spouses and registered partners are always benefit partners, even when one of them lives abroad. People who are registered at the same address become partners when they have a child together, when one has acknowledged the other's child, when they own the home together, when one is registered as the other's partner in a pension scheme, or when both are adults and a minor child of either of them lives at the address. For expat households this matters in three common situations: a spouse who joins later from abroad, a partner without Dutch income, and two people sharing a rented home. The calculator below compares your healthcare allowance alone and as partners, with the official 2026 formula.

Who counts as your benefit partner

The rules are in article 3 of the general allowances act (Awir), which first refers to the tax partner definition and then adds five situations for people registered at one address. Marriage and registered partnership come first: your spouse is your benefit partner, and income he or she earns outside the Netherlands also counts towards the assessment income. For unmarried couples, the address in the population register (BRP) is the starting point, combined with a child, a jointly owned home, a pension registration, or a minor child of either partner on the address.

The last situation catches people out. A single parent who takes in an adult lodger can find that person counted as a benefit partner, even without a relationship. The Awir has an exception for which you can file a request, but check the conditions with the Belastingdienst before you register at the same address.

Healthcare allowance as a couple

With a partner, the standard premium doubles to €4,238, but the fixed part of the norm premium rises from 1.912% to 4.289% of the threshold income, and both incomes count. Someone earning €24,000 alone receives €129 a month. When a partner without income moves in, the household receives €246; when the partner finds a job paying €30,000, that drops to €0. The trailing spouse of an expat earning €40,000 turns an allowance of €11 into €129.

The couple's income limit is €51,142. Many expat couples are above it in their first full year, but below it in the year they arrive, when the calendar-year income only covers a few months.

Rent allowance: partners and flatmates

For rent allowance, everyone registered at the address counts except a subtenant who rents from you under a written contract. A flatmate who is not your partner is a co-resident: his or her income is added to the household income, and the asset limit rises by €38,479. Two friends earning €24,000 each and sharing a €1,100 flat would together receive €222 a month, provided the home is self-contained. The difference between partner and flatmate shows up in healthcare allowance and the child-related budget, where only a benefit partner counts.

Single parents moving in together

The child-related budget includes a single-parent top-up of €3,416 a year, and its phase-out starts at €29,736 for single parents against €39,141 for couples. A single parent with €32,000 and a three-year-old receives €485 a month. Once a new partner becomes a benefit partner, even one without any income, it falls to €215 because the top-up disappears. Moving in together is a life decision, not a tax one, but calculate it beforehand and report the change on time: a late report means repaying every month in between.

When a partnership ends during the year, you can ask for the income your former partner earns afterwards to be left out of your assessment income, if that lowers it by at least 10% (Awir article 8). Report the end of the partnership straight away in Mijn toeslagen. If you are unsure whether you are benefit partners, calculate both situations with the allowance calculator: the difference shows how much is at stake if the Dienst Toeslagen sees it differently, and a repayment covers every month since the partnership started.

Frequently asked questions