If you or your partner move into a care home, you pay a personal contribution (eigen bijdrage) to the CAK. Your assets are taken into account. Your home equity counts as assets.
The CAK always works with your income and assets from two years earlier. So for 2026, the CAK looks at 2024. If you sell your home in 2026, that home equity only affects your personal contribution in 2028. That is not a trick, it is simply how the scheme works. But it does determine when you notice what.
There are two variants: a low and a high personal contribution. If you live in a care home, you usually pay the low contribution for the first four months and the high one after that. If you receive long-term care at home, you always pay the low contribution.
| Situation | Personal contribution 2026 per month |
|---|---|
| Low contribution, care home or full package at home | €212.60 to €1,115.80 |
| Low contribution, modular package at home or personal budget (pgb) | €30.40 to €933.60 |
| High contribution | up to €3,061.80 |
The personal contribution is a fixed amount per month and does not depend on how much care you receive. These amounts apply to 2026 and are adjusted every year. The CAK calculates your personal amount; estimating it yourself serves little purpose.
The CAK looks at your income and your assets: savings, investments, a second home.
Assets up to the threshold amount (toetsbedrag) are not counted. In 2026 that threshold is €36,952 if you are single, and €73,904 with a partner. Anything above that does count: the CAK adds 4% of it to your income. That combined amount helps determine the level of your personal contribution.
As long as you own the home, it does not count as assets in this sense. If you sell it, the home equity becomes assets in box 3.
This is the point that is rarely explained properly.
The CAK always calculates the personal contribution using income and assets from two years earlier. Those figures are fixed and can no longer change. So for 2026 the CAK looks at 2024, and the Belastingdienst (Dutch tax authority) supplies those figures.
If you sell the home in 2026, the home equity counts as assets on the 2026 reference date. That affects your personal contribution in 2028. Not earlier. Anyone who thinks the sale will immediately show up in next month's bill is underestimating what they can afford. And anyone who is suddenly faced with a much higher contribution in 2028 without knowing why has forgotten this.
Is your income now much lower than two years ago and are you unable to pay the personal contribution? Then you can apply for an adjustment. The CAK will then recalculate using your current income. The contribution often goes down as a result.
Selling or keeping is not a tax trick but a trade-off. Keeping the home means ongoing costs: mortgage, insurance, municipal taxes, maintenance on a house nobody lives in. Selling produces assets that will count two years later.
What makes sense in your case depends on amounts we do not know. The CAK has an online calculator you can use to make a trial calculation. Do that before you decide.
We are estate agents, not care advisers. What we can do: tell you what the home is worth and what it costs to keep it. The rest is a conversation with the CAK and possibly a financial adviser.
Yes, as soon as you sell. The home equity then becomes assets. 4% of the part above the threshold is added to your income.
Two years later. The CAK always works with income and assets from two years earlier. A sale in 2026 affects the personal contribution in 2028.
€36,952 if you are single and €73,904 with a partner. Assets below that are not counted.
The low contribution for living in a care home or a full package at home ranges from €212.60 to €1,115.80 per month. The high contribution is a maximum of €3,061.80 per month. Your personal amount depends on income, assets, age and household situation.
Usually not. If you live in a care home, you pay the low contribution for the first four months. With care at home you always pay the low contribution.
Yes. You can apply to the CAK for an adjustment of the personal contribution. They will then recalculate using your current income.
That depends on your situation. Keeping it means ongoing costs. Selling produces assets that will count two years later. Make a trial calculation with the CAK's calculator before you decide.
No. The personal contribution is a fixed amount per month and does not depend on the amount of care.
We are the estate agent of Helmond and we do things just a little differently. We take a look with you, run the numbers and tell you honestly what we would do. Even if that means you should hold off for now.
Your language. We speak English, German and French. Write to us in Polish by WhatsApp and we reply in Polish.
No surprises in the contract. The purchase agreement is in Dutch and comes with an English translation, so you understand every clause.
Selling from abroad. We guide the whole sale remotely and arrange the paperwork with the notary.
