The Dutch 30% ruling:
2026 thresholds explained.

What the 30% ruling actually does

The ruling lets your employer pay part of your salary as an untaxed allowance for the extra costs of moving to the Netherlands. You do not have to prove those costs. In 2026 the allowance can be up to 30% of your salary, including the allowance itself.

3 points people often get wrong:

• 30% is a ceiling, not an entitlement. You and your employer agree the percentage before you apply.
• Your employer applies with you. It is a joint request to the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration (Belastingdienst), which answers within 8 weeks.
• It is capped. The 30% applies to salary up to €262,000 in 2026, so the largest untaxed allowance is €78,600 for a full year.

The 4 tests you must pass

1. You are employed and on a Dutch payroll. Self-employed people and freelancers cannot use it.
2. You were recruited from abroad. Your employer hired you from outside the Netherlands.
3. The 150 km rule. For more than 16 of the 24 months before your first working day, you lived more than 150 km in a straight line from the Dutch border. This rules out all of Belgium and Luxembourg and parts of Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
4. Specific expertise, measured by salary. Your taxable salary, after the untaxed allowance is taken off, must be above the threshold for the year.

Researchers at designated research institutions and doctors in specialist training skip the salary test.

2026 salary thresholds and the maths

The thresholds are indexed every year. The Belastingdienst figures for the last 3 years:

*Under 30 with a Dutch master's degree or an equivalent foreign one. The salary cap for the allowance rose from €246,000 in 2025 to €262,000 in 2026.

Because the test uses salary after the allowance, you need a higher gross salary to take the full 30%. Divide the threshold by 0.7:

• Standard: €48,013 ÷ 0.7 = €68,590 gross for the full 30% in 2026.
• Under 30 with a master's: €36,497 ÷ 0.7 = €52,139 gross.

Earn less and you can still use the scheme with a smaller allowance. On €60,000 gross, the taxable part must stay above €48,013, so the allowance can be at most €11,987, which is about 20%. Below €48,013 gross you do not qualify at all.

Worked examples at 4 salaries

All figures are for a full year in 2026 with the standard €48,013 threshold. The allowance shown is the largest that keeps taxable salary at or above the threshold.

The saving is the income tax you would have paid on the allowance. Because Dutch rates rise with income, the ruling is worth most at higher salaries. Ask your employer for a net pay calculation on both the 30% and 27% rates before you accept an offer.

What changes on 1 January 2027

• The maximum drops to 27% for people who started using the ruling in 2024 or later.
• Pre-2024 users keep 30% for the rest of their 60 months, and they are also exempt from the higher 2027 salary threshold.
• The salary cap rises to €273,000, so the largest untaxed allowance at 27% becomes €73,710.
• The 2027 thresholds will rise. Figures announced in 2024 were €50,436 and €38,338, before indexation. The final 2027 amounts had not been published when we last checked in October 2026.

If you sign a Dutch contract now, budget your net pay on 30% for 2026 and 27% from 2027.

Duration, timing and changing jobs

The ruling lasts a maximum of 60 months. Earlier periods of living or working in the Netherlands are deducted, unless they ended more than 25 years ago or were very short.

Apply within 4 months of your first working day. A request filed in that window applies from your start date. File later and it only starts on the first day of the month after you apply. The months you missed still count against your 60.

If you change employer, you keep the ruling as long as you start the new job within 3 months of leaving the old one. You and the new employer then have 4 months from the new start date to file.

Watch your salary during the term. A pay cut, part-time hours or unpaid leave can take your taxable salary below the threshold. If you hold a highly skilled migrant permit, the immigration service runs its own separate salary test. See skilled worker visas and the 2026 Blue Card salary guide.

What the ruling no longer covers

Until 2024, users could also choose partial non-resident tax status. That let them leave most savings and investments outside Dutch box 3 tax. You cannot choose it from the 2025 tax return onwards. People who used the ruling before 2024 can keep it under transitional rules up to and including the 2026 tax return.

As an alternative to the ruling, an employer can reimburse your actual extra costs of living abroad tax free. This is called extraterritorial costs. The employer makes that choice once a year, in the first pay period, and it applies for the whole year.

Your checklist before you sign

1. Check the 150 km rule against every address you had in the past 24 months.
2. Get the gross salary in writing and test it against €48,013 (or €36,497) after the allowance.
3. Agree the allowance percentage in your contract, and say what happens in 2027.
4. Diary the 4-month filing deadline from your first working day.
5. Register your address and get your BSN early, because payroll needs it. See registration and tax numbers.

Moving to Amsterdam? Our Amsterdam guide covers housing and registration timelines. For a check of your offer against both the immigration and the 30% ruling thresholds, book a free evaluation.