30% ruling

This is an explainer, not a calculator. The rules for this arrangement are changing across 2025–2027, so this page deliberately states no fixed percentage or salary threshold as current fact — for your own year, always check the Belastingdienst (Dutch tax office).

What the arrangement is for

The 30% ruling (30%-regeling) is a tax facility for employees who are recruited from abroad to work in the Netherlands and who bring skills that are scarce on the Dutch labour market. The idea is to offset the extra costs of moving to and living in another country (the “extraterritorial costs”): instead of reimbursing those costs one receipt at a time, an employer may pay out part of the gross salary as a tax-free allowance. Because that slice is untaxed, an employee with the ruling keeps more of the same gross than a colleague without it.

Who can qualify, in broad terms

Eligibility is not automatic. In outline, you must be recruited or seconded from outside the Netherlands, not have lived close to the Dutch border for a defined run of years before starting, earn above a minimum salary norm (with a lower norm for younger employees holding a master’s degree), and receive a decision from the Belastingdienst granting the ruling. The facility runs for a maximum number of years, and it is the employer and employee together who apply. The precise conditions, the exact salary norms and the maximum duration are set in law and indexed — this page does not quote them because they are moving.

Why we do not put a number on it

For years the shorthand was simply “30% tax-free”, but that headline is exactly what is in flux. Legislation passed since 2024 has set out a stepped reduction of the tax-free percentage and changes to the salary norm that phase in over several years, and details have been revisited more than once. Publishing a single percentage or cap as “the current figure” would risk being wrong for your situation. So no specific percentage or threshold enters this site — not the text, not the calculator, not the artwork.

How it would affect net pay

Conceptually the ruling lowers the taxable part of your salary, so the wage tax is calculated on a smaller base and your net is higher than the standard calculation shows. Our calculator models the standard case only and does not apply the 30% ruling — if you hold it, your actual net will be higher than the figure shown. For an authoritative check of whether you qualify and of the percentage and salary norm that apply in your year, consult the Belastingdienst or a tax adviser.