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Understand · Payroll glossary

What is payment in lieu of notice?

Updated on

Payment in lieu of notice is the sum the employer pays instead of a worked notice period: the pay you would have received during that notice. In 2026: monthly pay × 3 ÷ 13 (one week’s pay for calculating the payment: monthly pay × 3 ÷ 13). In Dutch: opzeggingsvergoeding.

Definition of payment in lieu of notice

It covers current pay (fixed salary, average of variable parts) and acquired benefits, including double holiday pay and the year-end bonus for a white-collar worker. It is subject to social security contributions, then taxed separately, at the average rate of your previous year’s income, unless global taxation is more favourable.

On tax form 281.10 (fiche 281.10), it appears in code 308.

The key figure in 2026

monthly pay × 3 ÷ 13One week’s pay for calculating the payment: monthly pay × 3 ÷ 13

Source: Comment calculer l’indemnité de rupture ?, Securex (secondary source). Value in force on 1 October 2026.

Worked example

A white-collar worker dismissed after 5 years, paid €3,000 gross a month: one week is worth 3,000 × 3 ÷ 13 = €692.31. For 18 weeks, the basic payment reaches €12,461.58 gross, before the share of holiday pay, bonus and benefits.

In Dutch: opzeggingsvergoeding

In a Dutch-language contract or letter from the employer or the National Employment Office (NEO), payment in lieu of notice is called ‘opzeggingsvergoeding’, ‘opzegvergoeding’ or ‘verbrekingsvergoeding’; in French-language ones, ‘indemnité compensatoire de préavis’. In English: payment in lieu of notice.

Dutch term taken from: FPS Finance, Securex (secondary source).

Not to be confused with…

  • Notice period: the period between the announcement that an employment contract will end and its actual end; its length, in weeks, depends on your seniority.
  • Departure holiday pay: the holiday pay a white-collar worker receives on leaving their employer, for the months already worked in the year.

Calculate it for your situation

Your notice period in 2026, the payment in lieu of notice in gross and net, and what you receive when you leave.

Notice and dismissal

Related terms

Sources

Parameters in force on 1 October 2026. Each parameter links to its source, the official one where it exists; a secondary source is flagged as such.