The 30% ruling (expat scheme): 2026 conditions and the change to 27% in 2027

• 2024: a tapered scheme applied to new users: 30% for the first 20 months, 20% for the next 20 months and 10% for the last 20 months.
• From 1 January 2025: the Tax Plan 2025 (Staatsblad 2024, 434) replaced the taper with a flat maximum of 30% of the relevant salary.
• 2026: up to 30%. The tax-free allowance is capped at €78,600 per year, which you reach at a salary of €262,000 if you use the scheme for the whole year. The cap is linked to the public-sector top-income standard (Wet normering topinkomens) and is reduced pro rata if you use the scheme for part of a year.
• From 1 January 2027: the maximum falls to 27%, and the cap becomes 27% of the top-income standard. This change is already in the law (Wet op de loonbelasting 1964, version from 1 January 2027).

The tax bills presented on Budget Day, 15 September 2026, do not contain further changes to the scheme, as far as HomiStart could verify. Parliament can still amend tax bills before they are adopted, so check the Tax Administration's page before relying on figures for 2027.

Earlier users: the government states that employees who used the 30% facility in 2023 keep 30% for their full five years, and that the salary cap applies to some earlier users from 1 January 2026. How these transitional rules interact with the 2027 change depends on your start date; check with your employer or the Tax Administration.

You must meet all of these conditions:

• Employment: you are in paid employment with an employer that withholds Dutch wage tax.
• Recruited from abroad: you were recruited or seconded from outside the Netherlands. In the 24 months before your first working day you must have lived more than 150 km (as the crow flies) from the Dutch border for more than 16 months. People moving from places close to the Netherlands, such as most of Belgium or nearby parts of Germany, often do not qualify.
• Specific expertise that is scarce on the Dutch labour market, which in practice is tested through a salary norm. In 2026 your taxable annual salary must exceed €48,013, or €36,497 if you are under 30 and hold a Dutch master's degree or an equivalent foreign degree. The norm applies to the salary on which you pay tax, so after the tax-free allowance. Scientific researchers at designated institutions and doctors training as medical specialists can qualify without meeting the salary norm.
• A valid decision (beschikking) from the Tax Administration.

For comparison, the norms were €46,107 (and €35,048) in 2024 and €46,660 (and €35,468) in 2025. They are indexed every year.

A decision lasts at most five years. The term is shortened by earlier periods in which you worked or stayed in the Netherlands in the 25 years before, with limited exceptions for short work visits and holidays. It also ends early if you no longer meet the conditions, for example if your salary falls below the norm.

Changing employer: if you start with a new employer within three months of leaving the previous one, the scheme can continue for the remaining term if you and the new employer make a new joint request. Within a group of connected companies the decision can remain valid. Check this with your new employer before you sign.

1. Agree with your employer that it will apply the scheme, and ask how the tax-free allowance will be reflected in your pay slip and contract.
2. Complete the application together: the employer and the employee sign the Tax Administration's application form for the Expat Scheme.
3. Apply within four months of your first working day. Then the scheme can apply from the start of your employment. If you apply later, it only starts later and the five-year term is shortened.
4. Wait for the decision: the Tax Administration aims to decide within eight weeks. Employers may, under conditions, already apply the scheme in payroll while the application is pending, and correct earlier pay periods once the decision arrives.
5. Keep the decision: you will need it if you change jobs or if questions arise in your tax return.

• School fees: alongside the 30% allowance, an employer can reimburse fees for an international school tax-free.
• Partial non-resident taxpayer status: until 2024, users could choose to be treated as non-resident for box 2 and box 3 (savings and investments). From the 2025 tax return this option no longer exists. Users who already had it before 2024 can keep it up to and including the 2026 tax return.
• Lower taxable salary: because part of your pay is tax-free, figures based on taxable income are lower. Ask your employer or adviser how this affects things such as pension build-up and income-related allowances.