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These 12 changes will hit your wallet in the Netherlands in 2024

Lyna Meyrer 🇱🇺
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These 12 changes will hit your wallet in the Netherlands in 2024

With January 1 comes change. In 2024, a set of new rules and regulations come into force in the Netherlands — and some of them will have an effect your wallet.

Will you be saving geld or losing it? The AD has listed the most important changes. Let’s check them out. 👇

💼 Changes coming to the work place in 2024

1. The minimum hourly wage will go up

As of January 1, 2024, the Dutch minimum wage will increase from €11.51 to 13.27 (based on a 40-hour work week).

With a working week of 40 hours, you could therefore receive €266.75 more per month than in 2023. 💸

2. Salaries will increase

Due to increases in labour credit (arbeidskorting) and general tax credit (heffingskorting), the average net salary in the Netherlands is also going up.

READ MORE | Salaries in the Netherlands: the ultimate guide to Dutch wages

On average, people will see a nice €79.19 extra on their monthly pay slip.

3. You can claim more travel and work from home allowance

Commuting to work? Starting 2024, you can claim a travel allowance (reiskostenvergoeding) of €0.23 per kilometre. That’s an increase of 2 cents per kilometre from 2023.

elegantly-dressed-man-on-his-way-to-work-in-amsterdam-government-encouragement-netherlands
You might even be able to claim this allowance if you bike to work. Image: Depositphotos

The “working from home” allowance (thuiswerk vergoeding) is also going up by 20 cents. This brings it to a total of €2.35, which can be claimed by an employee per WFH day.

🏥 Healthcare changes in the Netherlands in 2024

4. Your healthcare allowance will go down

While childcare allowance, housing allowance and child benefits go up in 2024, the healthcare allowance is decreasing.

For a single person, next year’s maximum zorgtoeslag is limited to €123 per month, as opposed to €154 per month in 2023.

5. … but your healthcare premium will go up

Overall, healthcare premiums will go up in the Netherlands in 2024 — the exact amount just depends on your insurer and the type of insurance you have.

READ MORE | Dutch health insurance in 2024: what’s new?

For example, the most expensive basic coverage in the Netherlands will cost €170.95 per month, while the cheapest costs about €40 less.

🏠 Changes affecting your home in 2024

6. Your landlord can increase your rent

Here we go again. For all rentals in the free sector, landlords may increase rents by up to 5.5% in 2024. This limit was set by the Dutch government.

7. You could get a higher mortgage, under one condition

In 2024, your maximum Dutch mortgage is linked to the energy efficiency of your home.

READ MORE | Is now the time to buy a house in the Netherlands? Here’s what the mortgage experts say

If you’re buying a home with an A++++ energy label, you could get up to €50,000 more in loans. For C and D labels this amount is €5,000, and for E, F and G it is €0.

man-checking-energy-efficiency-of-house-in-the-netherlands-on-tablet
The better your energy label, the more mortgage you can get. Image: Freepik

Homeowners with low energy labels may also borrow extra money to make their home more energy efficient.

8. Energy prices are going up again

The Dutch energy price ceiling is expiring on January 1. On top of that, we can expect to pay more due to higher taxes and rising network management costs. Yikes.

READ MORE | Energy prices in the Netherlands: what’s changing in 2024

On average, energy prices are expected to increase by about €13 per month.

🛒 Changes coming to your Dutch supermarket in 2024

9. Beer is becoming more expensive

Bad news for all biertje lovers: the golden liquid will soon be pricier in the Netherlands.

The price of a crate of beer will go up by €0.50 in 2024, while the price of an individual bottle will go up by €0.20.

photo-of-a-person-buying-a-crate-of-beer
Stock up while you can! Image: Depositphotos

You can also expect to pay an extra 13 cents per bottle of wine.

10. Non-alcoholic drinks will also cost you more

As the AD writes, the so-called consumption tax for sodas will rise from 9 cents to 26 cents per litre next year. This does not apply to water.

✈️ Changes that will affect you when travelling in 2024

10. Flight tax is increasing

Planning to travel by plane in 2024? Expect to pay slightly more than in previous years.

The reason for that is an increase in flight tax. The tax per departing passenger will rise from €26.43 to €29.05 in 2024.

11. Higher fines for all traffic infractions

All traffic fines in the Netherlands will go up by a whopping 10% in 2024.

Texting and driving with will soon set you back €420 euros, while driving on the wrong side of the road will cost you €270.

Driving 20 km/h too fast in a residential area? That’ll be €240. Ouchie. 😳

📈 Changes coming to your savings and investments in 2024

12. Tax rates on assets will go up

If your assets exceed the tax-free limit in the Netherlands, you will soon pay 36% tax on the return of your savings and investments above that limit (as opposed to 32% in 2023.)

The tax-free limit currently sits at €57,000 for a single person and €114,000 for tax partners.

How will your wallet be affected by these changes? Let us know in the comments!

Rain, rain and more rain causes flooding across the Netherlands (and the worst is yet to come)

Sarah O'Leary 🇮🇪
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Rain, rain and more rain causes flooding across the Netherlands (and the worst is yet to come)

Forget a white Christmas, the Netherlands has had a very wet Christmas, with flooding in many areas across the country — and we haven’t seen the worst of it yet.

The current holiday season in the Netherlands has not seen snow but instead copious amounts of rain.

Combine this with the fact that the Alps are unusually warm for this time of year, and the Netherlands’ rivers and dikes are not coping well.

This is not only putting a damper on holiday spirits, it’s also causing flooding in areas such as Overijssel, Gelderland, Drenthe, Brabant, and Limburg, the NOS reports.

Translation: The water levels in the Ijssel are high.

Water levels expected to rise further

While the wet weather is expected to ease up slightly today, the Netherlands is bracing for the worst of the flooding.

READ MORE | Why does it rain so much in the Netherlands?

Meteorologist Leander de Wit of Buienradar explains to RTL Nieuws that:

“It is quite warm in the Alps. This causes a lot of melting snow. As a result, the water level in the Rhine will rise in the coming days, and is expected to peak on December 28.”

This won’t be helped by even more rain, which is forecast for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Translation: Pleasant weather: high water in the IJssel attracts a lot of attention today in the Hoenwaard near Hattem.

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Internationals do NOT cause the Dutch housing crisis, says UN official: Here’s what is to blame

Sarah O'Leary 🇮🇪
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Internationals do NOT cause the Dutch housing crisis, says UN official: Here’s what is to blame

The Netherlands invited a top UN official to investigate the Dutch housing crisis. His findings? The crisis is a result of poor housing policy, not immigrants.

Last month, a shockingly large proportion of Dutch people voted for the far-right, anti-immigration PVV party leader Geert Wilders in the Dutch national elections.

Wilders’ policy is largely anti-immigration, and he likes to justify this by blaming immigrants for the country’s problems — including the current housing crisis.

However, UN special rapporteur Balakrishnan Rajagopal has laid this myth to rest.

A failure in policy

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Rajagopal explained, “This housing crisis is not due to migration and refugees but due to the failure to recognise and protect housing as a human right.”

According to his findings, the Dutch housing crisis is a result of poor housing policy that has been left to fester for years:

“This crisis has been building over a couple of decades through an active policy of encouraging the market to replace the government in the provision of housing,” Rajagopal said.

*Flashback to when the Dutch housing minster told a woman to get a boyfriend to afford a house.*

Immigrants are not to blame

A popular narrative in the Netherlands right now is the claim that over-immigration is to blame for the current housing shortage, Rajagopal disputes this.

Many like to point to overcrowded asylum centres and make the claim that the Netherlands is falling victim to insurmountable waves of refugees and immigrants.

The claim popularised by Wilders is that these people are then taking homes from the Dutch.

However, Rajagopal has found that the overcrowded centres are “not due to hordes of new arrivals in the country” but instead come down to a backlog at Dutch immigration services, which leaves people stuck in the centres.

On top of this, he explains that the housing crisis is “as much a crisis of unaffordability of housing” as it is a crisis in the number of homes available.

Rajagopal will present his full report along with recommendations to the UN Human Rights Council in March.

Want the latest Dutch news to come zooming through the internet to your inbox? Dat kan! Subscribe to DutchReview’s weekly roundup 📮

Schiphol Airport announces thousands more flights in 2024

Liana Risseeuw 🇱🇰
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Schiphol Airport announces thousands more flights in 2024

If you’re currently making your 2024 travel plans, we have a delicious slice of good news for you: there’ll now be even more flights available to book to and from Schiphol Airport. 🛫🏖️

That’s right! Amsterdam Airport Schiphol has just announced that it’s adding a whopping 13,000 more flights to its 2024 summer schedule, reports the NOS.

Great for holidaymakers, bad for those living near Schiphol

Although the airport is legally allowed to carry up to 500,000 flights, the previous Dutch cabinet had set a maximum limit of 460,000 flights due to noise pollution.

However, this limit was later scrapped after cracking under joint pressure from the European Union and the US — despite Schiphol only operating 433,000 flights this year.

Oh, and has the thought of Schiphol’s endless queues already struck dread in your soul?

You can rest easy knowing that the airport is currently looking into how they can reorganise their schedule to reduce the number of flights at peak times.

What do you think of the addition of more flights, despite noise pollution concerns? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

This is one of the most stunning train journeys in the Netherlands

Sarah O'Leary 🇮🇪
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0
This is one of the most stunning train journeys in the Netherlands

Fun fact: One of Europe’s most beautiful train journeys may very well be part of your morning commute!

If you happen to travel between Lelystad and Zwolle, it’s time to take your nose out of your phone screen and enjoy what The Guardian has deemed one of the most beautiful train journeys in the Netherlands.

Rich in wildlife

Specifically, the route along the Hanzelijn is the real beauty, according to The Guardian writer Nicky Gardner.

photo-of-view-from-window-of-Zwolle-Lelystad-beautiful-train-roue-in-Netherlands
These Dutchest of the Dutch. Image: Depositphotos

You may be wondering what qualifications a non-Dutchie has to determine which Dutch train line is the prettiest, but Gardner is actually the co-author of ‘Europe by Rail: the Definitive Guide’ — so listen up!

Why is this route getting so much love? Well, for one, you can enjoy “wistfully beautiful water meadows” and “a real dash of wilderness.”

READ MORE | 10 hidden gems in the Netherlands: unique places you wouldn’t think to visit

Such wilderness includes “sea eagles, heck cattle (which look strangely like bison), wild konik ponies, foxes and red deer.”

A whole new world — and a pretty train route

Gardner is also impressed by the fact that this view would have once been underwater:

“Is it not a wondrous thing that so much of this railway crosses land that a century ago was below the waves?”

According to her, this relative newness adds to the beauty of the region “for some of these lands newly claimed from the sea are not yet entirely tamed.”

Day trip to Zwolle, anyone? 👀

Do you agree? Is this the most beautiful train route in the Netherlands? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

BREAKING: Eurostar and Eurotunnel announce shock strike, travellers stranded

Sarah O'Leary 🇮🇪
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0
BREAKING: Eurostar and Eurotunnel announce shock strike, travellers stranded

Are you planning on using Eurostar or Eurotunnel services to travel this holiday season? Well, your plans have just come to a screeching halt.

As of 11 AM this morning, Unions announced the sudden strike of Eurotunnel staff. As a result, all Eurostar services to and from London have been cancelled, the BBC reports.

This strike will, in turn, affect all LeShuttle services travelling along this route.

A sudden walk-out

The cancellations follow the sudden walk-out of Eurotunnel staff.

According to the BBC, staff were offered a bonus of €1,000; however, the union is requesting three times this amount.

Passengers left stranded

Speaking to the BBC, one passenger describes the chaos:

“There are around 500 people stuck past security waiting… No one knows whether to leave or stay. There’s been no real communications.”

Eurotunnel has said they are working to resolve the strike as soon as possible. However, it’s worth noting that under French law, the workers can strike for as long as they like.

So far, there has been no indication from the unions as to when the strike will end.

Want the latest Dutch news to come zooming through the internet to your inbox? Dat kan! Subscribe to DutchReview’s weekly roundup 📮

Tony’s Choco-what? The internet is in SHOCK at this Dutch brand’s real name

Liana Risseeuw 🇱🇰
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Tony’s Choco-what? The internet is in SHOCK at this Dutch brand’s real name

Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate bars, in their cheerful, colourful wrappers, are a staple of the Dutch chocolate industry and a delicious hit internationally. Except… people aren’t quite sure what to call them. 👀

In a now-viral video, UK TikTokker @grac31ouise dropped a virtual bomb on her chocolate-loving audience.

The bomb in question? Most of us have been pronouncing ‘Tony’s Chocolonely’ wrong. 😬

It’s ‘Chocolonely’, not ‘Chocoloney’

“Is it just us who thought it was called Tony’s Chocoloney?” the creator asked her followers.

@grac31ouise

Well this is embarrassing #tonyschocolonely #tonyschocoloney

♬ original sound – 🧿🦋🌙

Many were quick to agree with @grac31ouise, with one saying, “Hahaha I never noticed that… Been saying Tony Chocoloney for years.”

Another chimed in with: “I live in the Netherlands, so I see that chocolate EVERY damn day… I SWEAR it’s always been Chocoloney?? But it’s not??”

Others were quick to point out the weirdness of their shared mispronunciation: “This is a new Mandela effect I’m telling ya”.

This is in reference to a phenomenon known as the Mandela effect, in which a large group of people collectively misremember things like the appearance of an image, a pop culture event — or the name of a chocolate bar!

What’s in a name?

Umm… just who is this Tony, and why is he naming a brand of chocolate after himself?

According to the brand’s website, ‘Tony’ is the English variant of the Dutch name ‘Teun’ — the first name of Dutch TV journalist Teun van de Keuken, who founded the brand.

A sworn activist against slavery in the cocoa industry, he decided to carve out his own exploitation-free niche in the sector after his efforts to discuss issues with larger chocolate makers were ignored.

He came up with ‘Chocolonely’ as a nod to his efforts — and, after cranking out a whopping 5,000 chocolate bars himself, Tony’s Chocolonely was officially born!

Do you think that this is an example of the Mandela effect at work? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

Image: Sipalius/Wikimedia Commons/CC4.0

Storm Pia arrives in the Netherlands: flights cancelled, warnings for rush hour traffic

Katrien Nivera 🇵🇭
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0
Storm Pia arrives in the Netherlands: flights cancelled, warnings for rush hour traffic

Hold on to your hats, as Storm Pia has made landfall in the Netherlands and the Dutch Royal Weather Institute (KNMI) has issued a code yellow weather warning. 🌧️🌬️

In response, Schiphol announced it would be cancelling more than 200 flights due to the strong winds forecasted.

READ MORE | Code Yellow issued for the entire country as 110 km/h winds are forecast

Commuting a different way today? You can expect the evening rush hour to be worse than normal, as the gales are expected to peak in the late afternoon to early evening.

Any way the wind blows

The storm comes in with strong winds, reaching 100 to 110 kilometres per hour (km/h) along the northern coastline, reports RTL Nieuws.

Even if you’re living in the more inland areas of the Netherlands, you can still expect gusts of wind from 80 to 90 km/h.

Translation: Forecast today and tomorrow: Stormy today with lots of showers and (very) heavy gusts of wind due to storm Pia. Continuous showers and lots of wind on Friday

Light showers in between

And, of course, with Dutch wind comes Dutch rain. 🫠

You can expect a drizzle this Thursday morning, with the chance of hail and thunderstorms in the northeast of the country.

As a small consolation, the temperature is forecasted to sit at a comfortable 12 degrees Celsius (but, let’s be honest, it definitely won’t feel like that with the wind 😬).

How are you spending this windy Thursday? Tell us in the comments!

Code Yellow issued for the entire country as 110 km/h winds are forecast

Lyna Meyrer 🇱🇺
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0
Code Yellow issued for the entire country as 110 km/h winds are forecast

The Dutch Royal Weather Institute (KNMI) has issued a Code Yellow warning for the Netherlands on Thursday, December 21.

The culprit? Storm Pia, which will be knocking on our doors early tomorrow morning.

What can we expect?

The KNMI warns of heavy wind gusts across the entire country.

In the coastal areas, especially in the north, these gusts may reach a force of up to 110 km/h. Across the rest of the country, we can expect winds of around 80 km/h. 💨

If it’s possible for you to stay home tomorrow, you might want to consider doing so.

Just in time for Christmas, Pia brings with her a risk of “breaking tree branches and flying objects such as roof tiles or garden furniture.” 😀

Naturally, this may also cause nuisances and delays on our streets.

Let op! Here’s when you may be affected

The country-wide Code Yellow takes effect at different times across the country. Check out when you may want to seek shelter.👇

AreasCode Yellow times
Noord-Holland, Friesland, Groningen, Wadden Islands9 AM until 8 AM (Friday morning)
Zuid-Holland, Zeeland, Drenthe, Flevoland, around the IJsselmeer11 AM until 4 PM (Friday morning)
Inland provinces1 PM until midnight

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These Dutch train stations are among Europe’s top ten (and we’re surprised)

Lyna Meyrer 🇱🇺
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0
These Dutch train stations are among Europe’s top ten (and we’re surprised)

Look, we love to complain about Dutch trains just as much as the next person — but, as it turns out, Dutch train stations are actually among the best in Europe.

Yup, when compared to 48 of the largest European train stations, Utrecht Centraal and Amsterdam Centraal both snagged a spot in the top 10! 👑

These were the results of the 2023 European Railway Station Index, a study conducted by American consumer organisation Consumer Choice Center.

On the right track

To create their ranking, researchers considered a variety of factors to determine which train stations give consumers “the best possible experience.”

Among other things, they took into account opening hours, facilities, accessibility for people with disabilities, local and international connections and, believe it or not, how often trains are delayed.

The result? The Netherlands shines with platform perfection! While Amsterdam snagged eighth place, Utrecht came in fifth. Hoera! 🙌

Who else was in the top 10?

Planning a European interrail travel? Get out your notepad because these are the best stations to travel through:

RankRailway Station
1Zurich Hbf (Switzerland)
2Vienna Hbf (Austria)
3Berlin Hbf (Germany)
4Bern (Switzerland)
5Utrecht Centraal (The Netherlands)
6Frankfurt Hbf (Germany)
7Napoli Centrale (Italy)
8Amsterdam Centraal (The Netherlands)
9Gare de Lyon (France)
10Oslo Central Station (Norway)

Are you surprised to find out that a Dutch station scored so highly? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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