The 30% ruling in the Netherlands (2026)

What is the 30% ruling?

The 30% ruling lets your employer pay up to 30% of your salary tax-free.¹ The allowance covers the extra costs of moving to and living in the Netherlands, the so-called extraterritorial costs. The Belastingdienst now officially calls it the expat scheme (in Dutch: expatregeling). The rate drops to 27% from 2027 for rulings that started in or after 2024.⁴ Instead of the percentage, your employer can also reimburse your actual extraterritorial costs tax-free.³

This guide is for you, the employee. Are you the employer in this story? Our 30% ruling service for employers handles the application side. Our guide to hiring highly skilled migrants covers the permits around it.

Meet Chiara, a data engineer from Italy. She starts in Eindhoven this year and earns €80,000.

Who qualifies for the 30% ruling?

You qualify if you meet four conditions set by the Belastingdienst.¹ First, you are in paid employment. Second, you have a specific expertise. You prove that with your salary. In 2026 your salary without the allowance must top €48,013. Are you under 30 with a master's degree? Then €36,497 is enough. Scientific researchers at designated institutions skip the salary test entirely.¹ Our salary norms guide covers the exact floors, the cap and the 2027 rise.

Third, your employer recruited you outside the Netherlands. You must have lived more than 150 km from the Dutch border. That must hold for more than 16 of the 24 months before your first working day.¹

Fourth, you hold a valid decision (beschikking) from the Belastingdienst. Its end date is on the document.¹

Your employer must also be a Dutch withholding agent for wage tax. Is your employer based abroad? Then ask whether it withholds Dutch wage tax.

Two exceptions to the 150 km rule. The Belastingdienst makes an exception for PhD graduates. The same applies if you return to a Dutch job within 5 years of an earlier ruling.¹

How long does the 30% ruling last?

The ruling runs for up to 5 years, and earlier Dutch periods shorten it.¹ The Belastingdienst deducts previous work or residence in the Netherlands from your term. Some periods stay outside that count. Holidays up to 6 weeks a year do not count, nor does a one-off stay of up to 3 months. The same goes for occasional work under 20 days a year and anything more than 25 years ago.¹

You can keep the ruling when you change jobs. Start with your new employer within 3 months of leaving the old one. Then file the new application within 4 months of starting.¹ Within the same group of companies your decision simply stays valid.¹

What is it worth and how do you apply?

The allowance reaches 30% of your salary, and you apply for it with your employer.¹ The percentage applies to your salary including the allowance itself. A cap applies above a salary of €262,000. The tax-free part then stops at €78,600 in 2026.¹ Your employer may add international school fees on top, tax-free.¹

You both complete and sign the form, the Application Expat Scheme (30% facility).² Send it to the Belastingdienst in Heerlen by post. File within 4 months of your first working day and the ruling counts from that day. You can still apply after 4 months. Your ruling then starts later, not from your first working day. The Belastingdienst replies within 8 weeks.¹ Your employer arranges the ruling, so agree the allowance before you sign your contract.¹

How much do you keep with the 30% ruling?

At a salary of €80,000 you keep €24,000 tax-free in 2026. Chiara's employer applies the full 30%. She pays tax only on the remaining €56,000. That is still above the €48,013 floor, so the full 30% fits. In euros, the ruling is worth the tax you would otherwise pay on that €24,000. Your bracket decides the size of the gain. Earn closer to the salary norm and the tax-free part shrinks. Your taxable salary must stay above it.¹ The salary norms guide shows exactly how that works.

From 2027 her rate becomes 27%. At the same salary that is €21,600 tax-free, €2,400 less per year.⁴ Her taxable salary then comes to €58,400. The salary norm rises in 2027, so test your own figure against that year's norm in our salary norms guide. Her ruling started after 1 January 2024, so the new rate applies to her. A colleague whose ruling started in 2023 keeps 30% for the full 5 years.⁴

Our advisors work through that difference with clients every week.

What changed in 2025 and what changes in 2027?

Two dates matter: 2025 ended one benefit and 2027 lowers the rate to 27%. Until 2025 you could choose partial foreign tax liability. You then paid tax on shareholdings in Box 2 and on savings in Box 3. You did that as a non-resident taxpayer. That choice ended on 1 January 2025. Did you already use the ruling in 2023 or earlier? Then transitional law lets you keep it through your 2026 tax return and no longer.¹

From 1 January 2027 the rate drops from 30% to 27% and the salary floors rise.⁴ This is now law. Parliament adopted it in the Belastingplan 2025 in December 2024. It stands in the Staatsblad, the official Dutch law gazette.⁵ Which rate you get depends on when your ruling started. The table below shows both tracks.

What happens when the 30% ruling ends?

Your net salary drops, and the arrangements that hung on the ruling fall away. Did your ruling start in or after 2024? Then your worldwide savings are already in Box 3. Started it before 2024? Then partial foreign tax liability runs through your 2026 return.¹ The end date is on your decision, and you see the change in your first pay slip after it. Start planning a year ahead. The guide to the end of the 30% ruling covers your Box 3 wealth, your tax credits and your options. Are you leaving the Netherlands before your end date? Book your free call and we check what your last Dutch return needs.

What does this mean for you?

Your next step depends on where you are in the ruling. Just arriving? Confirm the four conditions before you sign and agree the allowance with your employer. Holding the ruling? Note which track you are on for 2027 and what 27% does to your net pay. Nearing the end date? Read our guide to the end of the 30% ruling. Chiara started in 2026, so she is on the 2027 track. She checks her four conditions before she signs, and notes what 27% does to her pay from January.