Known formally as the 30%-regeling, or expatregeling, the scheme lets an employer pay 30% of gross salary as a tax-free allowance to staff hired from outside the country who meet a defined set of conditions. Officially it covers extraterritorial costs, the extra expense of running two households, paying international school fees and generally uprooting a life. Functionally it is a large tax cut, and it is why the Netherlands competes for international staff far more effectively than its published rates would suggest.

What changed in 2024 is that the 30% no longer holds steady for the whole term. It now steps down across 60 months. The change caused an outcry at the time and still rankles, since it binds everyone whose ruling was approved on or after 1 January 2024.

The basics: what the ruling actually does

Qualify, and your employer can label 30% of gross pay as a reimbursement of extraterritorial costs. That slice escapes Dutch income tax and social premiums entirely. The other 70% goes through Box 1 as ordinary employment income.

Applied to €85,000, the taxable figure falls to €59,500. With Box 1 charging 36.97% up to €75,518 and 49.50% beyond, shrinking the base like that produces a considerable saving.

What the 2024 phasing means in practice

Rulings approved before 2024 paid a flat 30% for the full 60 months. The current schedule looks like this:

• First 20 months: 30% of gross is tax-free
• Months 21-40: 20% of gross is tax-free
• Months 41-60: 10% of gross is tax-free
• After 60 months: ruling expires, full Dutch tax rates apply

Five years of relief remain on the table, but the value is packed into the beginning. Years one and two carry almost all of it, and by the fourth and fifth the benefit has thinned out considerably.

Who qualifies

The conditions as they stand for 2026:

• Recruited from abroad: You must have been living more than 150km from the Dutch border before being hired by your Dutch employer. This rules out people already living in Belgium or Germany who simply cross the border for a job.
• Minimum salary: Your taxable salary (the 70% portion) must be at least €46,107 gross in 2026. This means your total salary must be at least €65,867 to qualify at the 30% rate. There's a lower threshold for researchers (€35,048 taxable) - primarily for academic and R&D roles.
• Specific expertise: You must have skills that are scarce on the Dutch labour market. In practice, this is interpreted broadly and most professional roles in tech, finance, life sciences, and engineering qualify without difficulty.
• Employment by a Dutch employer: You must have a Dutch employment contract. Freelancers and ZZP'ers cannot claim the ruling.

The numbers: take-home comparison at €85,000

Here is how monthly net pay moves across the three phases against the no-ruling baseline, for a single person on €85,000 gross:

Phase 1 is worth €958 a month against no ruling at all. By Phase 3 that has shrunk to €295. Across all 60 months the saving on an €85,000 salary comes to roughly €43,000, a serious sum, though clearly short of what a flat 30% across five years used to deliver.

Can you combine the ruling with other Dutch tax breaks?

You can, and this is where a little planning pays. Holding the ruling does not shut you out of:

• Hypotheekrenteaftrek (mortgage interest deduction): If you buy property in the Netherlands, mortgage interest is deductible from Box 1 income. This stacks with the 30% ruling to reduce your taxable base further.
• Zorgtoeslag (healthcare allowance): A government subsidy towards health insurance premiums. This is income-tested, so many 30% ruling recipients at higher salaries won't qualify, but it's worth checking.
• Pension contributions: Third-pillar pension contributions (lijfrente) are deductible from taxable income in Box 1. This is an effective additional tool for 30% ruling holders given their already-reduced taxable base.
• Partial non-residency status: 30% ruling holders can elect to be treated as partial non-residents, which means savings and investments held outside the Netherlands are not subject to Box 3 (wealth tax). This is particularly relevant for professionals with investment portfolios or property in their home country.

That last option exists purely for ruling holders and can be worth a great deal to anyone with assets abroad, provided the filings are done properly so nothing gets counted twice across two tax authorities.

When it's not worth the administration

There is paperwork attached. The application goes to the Belastingdienst through your employer on the prescribed form, accompanied by evidence of where you lived before, what you are qualified in and what your contract says. Expect a wait of eight to sixteen weeks for a decision.

Sitting barely above the €65,867 threshold, the money involved may not repay the effort, especially on a posting likely to end inside two years, where only Phase 1 ever applies. Higher up the scale the case becomes obvious: someone on €130,000 gains roughly €1,400 a month during Phase 1, and at that level nobody argues about the forms.

One trap catches people repeatedly. Move from Company A to Company B and the ruling follows you, but the clock keeps running from the original grant date. Thirty months in when you switch jobs means thirty months remaining, not a fresh sixty.