To attract talented employees from abroad to The Netherlands, the government implemented the 30%-ruling. This compensates the costs the employee has to make to come to The Netherlands.

What does the 30%-ruling include?

An employee coming to The Netherlands for work, will have extra expenses. The employer is allowed to compensate these costs tax free. For instance expenses for:

• living when these are more expensive in The Netherlands than in the homecountry
• introductory trip
• documentation or inspections
• double housingcosts
• family visits
• Dutch language education

The employer can choose to compensate the actual expenses or they can choose to pay the employers a 30% tax free salary. Usually the latter option is chosen because it’s much easier in administration.

Conditions 30% regulation

Not every employee coming from abroad can profit from the 30% ruling. They must meet certain conditions. The posed conditions are:

• The employee is attracted from abroad. This means the job contract must have been signed when the employee was still living abroad.
• There must be an employment. This means you can’t use the ruling if you have a sole proprietorship (eenmanszaak). But you are allowed to use it when you are participating in a so called bv (you can compare this with a Limited). In that case you will be an employee of your own bv.
• You lived outside The Netherlands for more than 16 months and more than 150 kilometres from the Dutch border.You need a valid ordination to apply the 30% ruling.
• You have a specific expertise that is hard to find in the Dutch job market. Your salary is the measure used to determine if you meet this condition:
  • When you’re younger than 30 years old your salary needs to be at least €38.347.Are you younger than 30 then your salary has to be at least €29.149 with the condition you have a master degree that’s comparable to a master degree in the Netherlands.
  • You also meet the specific expertise condition if you do scientific research in The Netherlands.