Can the Dutch payroll tax form be signed digitally?

What is the payroll tax form?

The official form is called Model opgaaf gegevens voor de loonheffingen. A new employee uses it to give you the details you need for the payroll tax return. The employee provides them before the first working day, or on the first working day before work starts if you hire them that day. It covers:

• name and initials
• citizen service number (BSN)
• address, postcode and town
• country and region of residence, if the employee does not live in the Netherlands
• date of birth
• whether you should apply the payroll tax credit (loonheffingskorting)

Where do you find the 2026 form?

Download the current model from belastingdienst.nl (in Dutch). You do not have to use that model: your own form with the same details is also allowed. There is a separate version for students and pupils who want to use the student and pupil scheme.

What does the Dutch Tax Administration say about signing digitally?

The model assumes you print it and sign by hand. But according to the Payroll Tax Handbook 2026 (sections 2.3.1 and 2.3.2), the employee may also provide the details digitally, with date and signature. There are two routes for the electronic signature:

• An advanced (AES) or qualified (QES) electronic signature. According to the Tax Administration, that technology already ensures the employee signed personally and the details were not changed afterwards.
• Any other electronic signature. Then it depends on your organisational and technical measures. They must offer the same level of reliability as an AES, so you can show and reconstruct the intent of the identified employee.

What BuiltSign provides, and what it does not

BuiltSign creates a simple electronic signature (SES). With SES+, the signer first checks a passport or ID card with a selfie before the document is shown. The audit certificate records who signed, when, how the identity was checked and the hash of the document. How that check works is explained in verifying identity when signing online.

That is not an AES or QES. Whether your process fits the second route above is your call: the Tax Administration leaves that assessment to the employer. If in doubt, ask your payroll administrator or the Tax Administration.

Note: you also have to keep a copy of a valid identity document of the employee (section 2.2 of the handbook). BuiltSign does not give you that copy, because the photos from the ID check are not visible to anyone. Arrange the copy separately. You may establish the identity remotely, as long as you can show you acted with due care.

How to arrange it digitally

With BuiltSign it works like this, just as for the employment contract:

1. Download the Tax Administration's model as a PDF, or create your own form with the same details.
2. Upload it to BuiltSign and add fields for the employee: text fields for name, BSN, address, postcode, town and date of birth, a checkbox for the payroll tax credit, a date field and a signature field.
3. Save it as a template so you only place the fields once.
4. Send it to the new employee, preferably with an ID check, so it is recorded who signed.
5. Download the signed PDF and the audit certificate and keep them with your payroll records.

Retention, and what if the form is missing?

Keep the details for at least 5 calendar years after the year in which the employment ends, with your payroll records. Do not rely on a signing platform for that: download the documents and keep them yourself.

If the name, address, town or BSN is missing, or you did not establish the identity, you apply the anonymous rate (anoniementarief): 52% wage tax and national insurance contributions, without the payroll tax credit. If you receive the details later in the year, you apply the normal rate from then on and may correct earlier withholdings from that year.

As an employer you may ask for the BSN because the law requires it. The employee does not have to give these details to anyone other than the employer, so send the form from your own organisation or payroll administration.

More about signing digitally for HR teams and staffing agencies.

Source: Handboek Loonheffingen 2026 (in Dutch), March 2026 version, sections 2.2, 2.3 and 2.6. This article is general information and not tax or legal advice.

Frequently asked questions

Does the payroll tax form have to be signed by hand?

No. The model assumes printing and signing, but according to the Payroll Tax Handbook 2026 the employee may also provide the details digitally, with date and signature. An AES or QES always meets the requirements. With other electronic signatures it depends on your measures.

Is there a 2026 payroll tax form?

You use the current Model opgaaf gegevens voor de loonheffingen from belastingdienst.nl. Your own form with all required details is also allowed.

When does the employee have to hand in the form?

Before the first working day. If you hire someone on the day work starts, then on that day before they start.

What happens if the form is missing?

If the name, address, town or BSN is missing, you apply the anonymous rate: 52% wage tax and national insurance contributions, without the payroll tax credit.

How long do I keep the payroll tax form?

At least 5 calendar years after the year in which the employment ends, with your payroll records.

Read also

• How do you verify the identity of someone who signs online?
• How do you check whether a document was really signed digitally?
• How do you make a contract legally binding?