What changes in the 30% ruling for employers in 2027?

The 30% ruling, which the Dutch Tax Administration now calls the expat scheme, lets you as an employer cover the extra costs of an employee who moves to the Netherlands for the job. Think of double housing, trips home, a higher cost of living and residence papers. Instead of proving every one of those costs, you may pay up to 30 per cent of the salary, allowance included, without wage tax. On a salary of 70,000 euros including the allowance, that is at most 21,000 euros tax-free.

You are not obliged to pay the full 30 per cent. The allowance can be lower, and it is something you agree with the candidate before you apply. That makes it a real part of the offer, alongside salary and the other employment terms that count for a candidate weighing a move.

The ruling has four conditions. The person is employed by you. They have a specific expertise, which in practice means they earn above a salary threshold. They were recruited from abroad: in the 24 months before their first working day in the Netherlands, they lived more than 150 kilometres from the Dutch border for more than 16 months. And you have a decision from the tax authority. That border condition excludes candidates from Belgium and Luxembourg, and from large parts of Germany, northern France and a small part of the United Kingdom.

In 2026 the taxable annual salary, not counting the tax-free allowance, must be more than 48,013 euros. For an employee younger than 30 with a Dutch academic master's degree or an equivalent foreign one, the threshold is 36,497 euros. Researchers at designated institutions and doctors training to become specialists do not have to meet a salary threshold at all.

The threshold is indexed every year: it was 46,107 euros in 2024 and 46,660 euros in 2025. And it is tested every year. If the salary drops below the threshold in a given year, the ruling lapses with retroactive effect to 1 January of that year and you correct your earlier payroll returns. It does not come back if the salary rises again later. Parental, maternity and birth leave do not count against the employee: you then use the salary they would have earned without the leave.

Mind the birthday of a young graduate: the lower threshold applies up to and including the month in which they turn 30, and the higher one from the month after.

Two things change on 1 January 2027. The maximum tax-free allowance becomes 27 per cent of the salary; that percentage is already in the version of the Dutch Wage Tax Act that applies from that date. And the salary threshold goes up. When the government proposed the change in the 2025 tax plan, it put the new threshold at 50,436 euros, and at 38,338 euros for under-30s with a master's degree, both in 2024 prices. Because the thresholds are indexed every year, the 2027 amounts will be higher. On 26 October 2026 the Tax Administration had not yet published them.

Not everyone moves to 27 per cent. According to the Dutch government, it depends on when the employee started using the ruling. Anyone who started on or before 31 December 2023 keeps 30 per cent and the current threshold, also after 2027. Anyone who started in 2024 goes to 27 per cent in 2027 but keeps the current threshold. Anyone who started from 1 January 2025 gets both: 27 per cent and the new, higher threshold.

For the 70,000 euro example, 27 per cent means 18,900 euros tax-free instead of 21,000. A second limit has applied to everyone since 1 January 2026: the allowance is calculated on a salary of at most 262,000 euros, the Dutch cap for top public sector pay. In 2026 the maximum tax-free amount is therefore 78,600 euros.

First check whether a candidate qualifies, before you discuss net salary. The 150-kilometre rule and the salary threshold decide that, not the job title. Then decide how much of the allowance you pass on and put that in writing. If you are hiring in 2027 for specialist and office roles where the salary sits just above today's threshold, check the new threshold as soon as it is published: an offer that qualifies in 2026 may fall just short in 2027.

You apply with the form for the expat scheme, together with the employee. The decision lasts at most five years, minus earlier stays or work in the Netherlands in the 25 years before arrival.

What is the 30% rule in the Netherlands?

It is a tax scheme that lets an employer pay a recruit from abroad part of their salary tax-free, for the extra costs of working away from home. In 2025 and 2026 that is at most 30 per cent, from 2027 at most 27 per cent for most new users. The employer applies for it.

How long does the application take?

According to the Dutch Tax Administration, it informs you within eight weeks. Apply as soon as the contract is signed, because the ruling depends on the decision. If the employee changes jobs, the new employer has to submit a new request together with them. That works if they start within three months of leaving the old job, and if you apply within four months of their start.

Does the ruling also apply if we recruit through an agency?

The ruling belongs to the employer who has the person on its payroll, so it is your application and your administration, also when an agency or an RPO partner found the candidate. Make sure the agency checks the 150-kilometre rule and the salary threshold before an offer is made, so you do not promise a net salary you cannot deliver.

What is an extraterritorial cost?

It is a cost that arises because someone works outside their home country: double housing, trips home, residence papers, language lessons, the higher cost of living. Bonuses, losses on the sale of a house and compensation for higher tax rates do not count. Terms like this and the rest of hiring jargon are explained in our glossary.

SocialFind wrote this article from the pages of the Dutch Tax Administration, the Dutch government and the Dutch Wage Tax Act, checked on 26 October 2026. This is not tax advice. Other questions about working with us are answered in our FAQ. To get articles like this by email, sign up for our newsletter.