Overtime: premium pay, tax advantage and net overtime

Overtime legally yields 50 percent premium pay (100 percent on Sundays and public holidays) plus compensatory rest. Since 1 April 2026 you may additionally work up to 360 voluntary overtime hours per year, of which 240 are gross equals net: no social security, tax or premium. And on overtime with a supplement you get a tax reduction for an annual quota rising from 130 to 180 hours.

Three regimes side by side

The classic overtime hour arises when you work above the normal limit at your employer's request (9 hours per day or 40 per week, or the lower sector limit): you receive a 50 percent premium, 100 percent on Sundays and public holidays, and you must take the hours as compensatory rest afterwards. Alongside exists the voluntary overtime regime: hours you accept yourself in writing, without compensatory rest. And finally the tax advantage: on overtime with a supplement you pay less withholding tax and your employer keeps part of it. The three stack, and precisely that stacking makes overtime in industry so attractive.

The 240 net overtime hours since 1 April 2026

The new regime (published in the Official Gazette, retroactive to 1 April 2026) raises the voluntary overtime quota to 360 per calendar year. Of those, 240 hours are fully exempt from social security contributions and tax and carry no premium: what you earn gross, you receive net. The remaining 120 hours are paid as ordinary overtime, with premium. The condition is a prior written agreement valid for six months and renewable, and your employer remains bound by the daily limit of 11 and the weekly limit of 50 hours. At an hourly wage of 20 euros, 240 net hours mean over 4,800 euros net extra per year, without tax on it. The old 120 recovery hours have merged into this regime.

The tax advantage on overtime with a supplement

For overtime on which premium pay is due, a separate favourable scheme applies: you get a withholding tax reduction (66.81 percent of the gross pay of those hours at a 20 percent supplement, 57.75 percent at 50 or 100 percent) and your employer an exemption from remittance. The law of 9 July 2026 reforming personal income tax raises the annual quota for all sectors from 130 to 180 hours, retroactive to 1 January 2026; Parliament approved it, but at our last check it had not yet appeared in the Official Gazette, so payroll providers apply 130 hours for now and regularise afterwards. Road and railway works keep 280 hours, hospitality 360.

What does this mean for technicians?

In shift systems and standby schemes, overtime occurs structurally: standstills, maintenance stops, peak periods. Count them consciously: an intervention hour with a 50 percent supplement and tax advantage often yields double a normal hour net, and the 240 net hours make a summer stop or a major overhaul financially very attractive. Do mind your rest times and the 50-hour weekly limit: they protect you, and your employer may not circumvent them with voluntary hours. Check with the gross-to-net calculator what your normal pay yields net, and compare that with what an overtime hour really brings you.