RVU scheme and early retirement: what you can arrange as an employer

What is the RVU scheme?

RVU stands for regeling voor vervroegde uittreding, a scheme for early retirement. You give an older employee a benefit that bridges the years until their AOW. That can be a monthly amount or a lump sum.

On an RVU you normally pay an extra tax on top of the regular payroll taxes: the pseudo final levy, usually called the RVU levy. It is meant to discourage early exit. For a benefit that stays below the threshold and falls within three years before the AOW age, the levy does not apply. This is called the threshold exemption (drempelvrijstelling).

The exemption has existed since 2021 and was originally due to run until the end of 2025. In the agreement 'Gezond naar het pensioen' (healthy to retirement), the government and the social partners agreed to continue it permanently from 2026. The Dutch Tax Administration therefore no longer describes the threshold exemption as a temporary measure. There is no end date; the government and social partners do review at set moments whether the scheme works as intended.

The purpose has been clearly agreed: the RVU is meant for people who cannot keep working healthily until their AOW because of heavy work. For tax purposes, however, the exemption is general. The law sets no condition about heavy work; it is up to employers and employees to target the scheme at that group.

How much may an RVU benefit be in 2026?

The amounts you find online differ. You will see both € 2,357 and € 2,657 per month. Both are correct, but they mean different things.

• € 2,657 gross per month is the amount in the law and the one the Tax Administration uses. Up to this amount you pay no RVU levy in 2026, for a maximum of 36 months.
• € 2,357 gross per month is the base amount. The Dutch government explains that this is roughly equal in net terms to a net AOW benefit. For the employee it feels as if their AOW starts earlier.
• € 300 gross per month is the difference. Since 1 January 2026 this extra room is intended for employees with a low income or little supplementary pension. Under the agreements between the government and the social partners, using it is not a matter of course; you decide per scheme whether it is needed.

The amount is adjusted every year so that it stays in line with the AOW. The threshold for 2027 had not yet been published when this article was written.

You decide how high the benefit is. The threshold only tells you up to which amount you pay no levy. A lower amount or a shorter period is also allowed, as is a benefit in proportion to part-time hours.

How long before the AOW age may an employee stop?

A maximum of three years, or 36 months. You calculate the exemption by multiplying the monthly amount by the number of months between the first payment and the AOW age, rounded up to whole months. Someone who stops two years before their AOW therefore gets room for 24 months.

If you pay an RVU benefit in the period more than 36 months before the AOW age, the exemption does not apply there. You pay the full levy on that payment. With a monthly benefit, the exemption only applies to the months within the last three years.

The AOW age has been set up to and including 2031: 67 in 2026 and 2027, and 67 years and 3 months from 2028 up to and including 2031. For anyone born on or after 1 October 1964 it has not yet been set. Check each employee's own AOW date, because that determines the number of months.

What does early retirement cost above the threshold?

On the part above the threshold you pay the RVU levy. The levy comes on top of the benefit and is paid by you, separately from the payroll taxes you withhold from the employee's benefit. The rate rises step by step:

Worked example. A warehouse employee has 36 months to go until their AOW age. You agree an RVU benefit of € 3,000 gross per month.

1. Threshold exemption 2026: € 2,657 per month.
2. Part above the threshold: € 3,000 minus € 2,657 is € 343 per month.
3. RVU levy in 2026: 57.7% of € 343 is € 197.91 per month.
4. For the months in 2026 the scheme costs you € 3,197.91 per month: the benefit plus the levy.
5. In 2027 the rate rises to 64%. With the same amount above the threshold, the levy is then € 219.52 per month. Because the 2027 threshold is not yet known, this is an indication.

If you keep the benefit at € 2,357 per month, you pay no levy and the extra € 300 remains available for an employee in a pressing situation. For many smaller employers that is the simplest set-up.

Do not forget pension accrual. When the employment ends, accrual in principle stops too. If you pay an extra amount to make up for it, that counts towards the threshold.

Can you retire early without an RVU?

Yes. The RVU is a benefit from you as the employer, but there are also routes in which the employee mainly uses their own pension. Often you combine them.

Whether an employee can take their pension early, and at what benefit, depends on the pension scheme. The pension provider makes that calculation. With a generation pact, watch the size of the reduction: according to the guide of the Stichting van de Arbeid (Labour Foundation), a reduction of more than half of the working hours counts as an RVU for tax purposes.

In my practice I see that the best arrangements have two parts. The employer bridges part of the gap with an RVU or a pact, and the employee tops it up from their own pension or savings. That keeps it affordable for both.

How much lower is your pension if you stop early?

There is no fixed percentage. Three things add up. You accrue for a shorter time, so there is less pension. That pension has to last longer, so the monthly benefit is lower, also after your AOW age. And until your AOW age you have no state pension yet, so you bridge those years with your pension, an RVU or your own money.

Tax plays a part too. Until the AOW age you pay 35.75 percent in the first tax bracket in 2026, because the state pension contribution still applies. After that, the contribution falls away.

Your pension provider calculates how much difference it makes in your case. Ask for a calculation for a few stop dates side by side, so you can see what each year earlier costs.

Do you need a collective labour agreement for an RVU scheme?

No. Many RVU arrangements are in a collective labour agreement (cao), but that is not required. You can also agree an individual RVU with an employee who does heavy work, or set up a company-level scheme together with the works council. Involve the works council early in that case. The same tax exemption applies to all forms.

If your company does fall under a cao with an RVU scheme, check what it says first. The cao parties target their scheme at jobs with heavy work and submit that definition for review to TNO's Expertise Centre for Heavy Work. Often a shorter period than three years applies, or a minimum number of years of service.

If you set up a scheme yourself, put the following in writing:

• which jobs the scheme applies to and why that work is heavy;
• the amount and duration of the benefit, and whether you use the extra € 300;
• how the employment ends and what happens to pension accrual;
• what you do to keep employees working healthily, because that is part of the RVU agreements.

If you want certainty in advance about whether something counts as an RVU, you can submit the scheme to your tax office. You will then receive a formal decision. A fixed scheme also prevents you from agreeing something different with each employee and later having to explain why one person could stop early and another could not.

How does an employee apply for early retirement with the employer?

An employee who wants to stop early arranges two things separately: the end of their work with you and the early start of their pension with the pension provider.

1. Talk to the employer. Raise the wish well in advance. Look together at whether a cao scheme, an RVU or a pact is possible.
2. Calculation by the provider. The employee asks their pension fund or insurer what their pension will be with an earlier start date. Mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl shows all their pensions in one place.
3. Record the agreements. Put the end date, any RVU benefit and the consequences for pension accrual in writing.
4. Apply for the pension. The employee applies for the pension with the provider, within the period the provider uses.

As an employer you do not have to make the calculation yourself. It does help if, from around age sixty, you point employees to their pension overview and to what your organisation does and does not offer. Then the questions do not arrive only three months before the desired stop date.

Frequently asked questions

This article provides general information and is not advice for your situation. Amounts and percentages apply to 2026 unless stated otherwise.

Figures checked on 4 November 2026. Sources: Dutch Tax Administration, Handboek Loonheffingen 2026 (March 2026 version), sections 21.3.1 and 21.4.1; Dutch Tax Administration, Tarieven, bedragen en percentages loonheffingen vanaf 1 januari 2026 (3 March 2026), table 14; Dutch government, Wat betekent de RVU-drempelvrijstelling voor werkgevers en werknemers? (last modified 14 August 2026); Stichting van de Arbeid, Handreiking uitvoering RVU (March 2026); Dutch government, AOW-leeftijd (table up to and including 2031, consulted 4 November 2026); Dutch Tax Administration, Belastingberekening 2026 (box 1 rates).

Read next: Retirement age and state pension age · Future Pensions Act: what you need to arrange before 2028