30% Ruling

If you come to work in the Netherlands, you are possibly confronted with extra costs, so-called extraterritorial costs. The employer may grant you a free (untaxed) reimbursement for the extraterritorial costs that you incur. Your employer may also provide you with 30% of your wage, including reimbursement, tax-free. This facility is known as the 30%-facility. For this, it is not necessary to prove that expenses have been incurred.

Conditions

The 30% facility applies to you if you were recruited outside of the Netherlands or seconded from a country other than the Netherlands to work in the Netherlands. Conditions including the following will apply to making use of the 30% facility with effect from 1 January 2012:

  • You have an employment relationship.
  • You have specific expertise that is not or is only barely available on the Dutch employment market.
  • Of the 2 years before your 1st working day in the Netherlands, you lived outside the Netherlands for more than 16 months, at a distance of more than 150 kilometres from the Dutch border.

What is meant with specific expertise?

You can use the 30%-facility if you have a specific field of expertise that is not or is only barely available on the Dutch employment market. You are deemed to possess that expertise if your salary not including the tax-free allowance in the Netherlands is at least € 37.743,- (salary threshold for 2019).
Are you under the age of 30 and did you obtain a Dutch university Master’s degree or an equivalent degree in a country other than the Netherlands? If so, you can use the 30% facility if your salary not including the tax-free allowance in the Netherlands is at least € 28.690,- (salary threshold for 2019).
Does your work in the Netherlands involve conducting scientific research at a designated research institution? In that case, you can always make use of the 30% facility. The amount of your salary is not important for this purpose.

Duration

The 30% tax benefit can be granted to you for a maximum of 5 years.

Please note: The Dutch government has decided as per January 2019 to reduce the term length of the 30% ruling from 8 to 5 years. A transitional scheme will apply for the coming 2 years. This means: If the end date of an existing ruling is in 2019 or 2020, this end date will remain unchanged, if it falls in 2021, 2022 or 2023, then the new end date will be 31 December 2020. All later end dates will be shortened by three years.

Please contact us for a free eligibility check!