30% Ruling Eligibility Criteria in the Netherlands for Expats

Introduction to Eligibility for the 30% Ruling

The 30% ruling is a facility granted by the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration (Belastingdienst) to employees who come to the Netherlands from another country to work. It is not automatically applied and requires a joint application from both the employee and the employer. The key objective is to compensate for the extraterritorial costs (additional expenses) often incurred by foreign employees.

Meeting all criteria is essential, and failure to do so can result in rejection or withdrawal of the ruling.

1. Recruitment from Abroad (Inducement Criterion)

You must have been recruited or assigned from outside of the Netherlands by a Dutch employer. This means there must have been an "inducement" to move to the Netherlands specifically for the job.

• Prior Residence: You generally must have lived more than 150 kilometres from the Dutch border, measured in a straight line, for more than 16 of the 24 months before your first working day in the Netherlands.
• Special Cases: Specific rules apply to some returning employees and PhD graduates. Having recently lived in the Netherlands does not by itself settle eligibility in those cases; check the Belastingdienst conditions.

2. Specific Expertise / Salary Norm

The Dutch tax authorities deem that you possess "specific expertise" that is scarce in the Dutch labor market if your taxable salary (after applying the 30% ruling) meets a certain minimum threshold. This threshold is adjusted annually.

• 2026 Standard Salary Norm: Your annual taxable salary, excluding the tax-free allowance, must be more than €48,013.
• 2026 Reduced Norm: Employees under 30 with a Dutch academic master's degree or an equivalent foreign qualification must earn more than €36,497, excluding the allowance.
• Research and Medical Training: No salary norm applies to scientific researchers at designated institutions or doctors training to become specialists.

3. The 150-Kilometer Rule

This is a strict geographical requirement and is often misunderstood. For more than 16 months in the 24 months immediately prior to your first working day in the Netherlands, you must have lived more than 150 kilometers from the Dutch border. This means that living just across the border (e.g., in parts of Belgium or Germany) prior to your move would typically disqualify you, unless a specific exception applies.

4. Valid Employment Contract

You must be employed by a Dutch employer who has an income withholding obligation (i.e., they are required to withhold wage tax). This typically means a formal employment contract. The ruling is specifically tied to the employment relationship.

Timeline and Duration

• Maximum Duration: The 30% ruling is granted for a maximum period of 5 years. Any periods of prior employment or residence in the Netherlands within the last 25 years can reduce this maximum duration.
• Application Deadline: The application for the 30% ruling must be submitted within 4 months of your first working day in the Netherlands. If submitted later, the ruling will only apply from the first day of the month following the application.
• Changing Employers: A decision may continue if you start with a new employer within three months and still satisfy the conditions. For an employer outside the same connected group of withholding agents, apply with the new employer within four months of starting to secure application from the first working day.

Allowance Limits and Upcoming Changes

The 2026 allowance is up to 30%, not a guaranteed payment of 30%. For a full year it is capped at €78,600, calculated on salary of at most €262,000. A lower allowance may be needed to keep your taxable salary above the norm.

From 2027 the maximum is 27% for employees who started using the scheme in 2024 or later. The 30% rate remains for qualifying pre-2024 users. A higher salary norm applies from 2027 to those who first used the scheme from 1 January 2025.

Official Sources

Eligibility, salary norms and transition checked on 27 September 2026:

• Belastingdienst: Expat Scheme conditions, exceptions and changing employers
• Rijksoverheid: 2027 percentage and salary-norm transition