Expat scheme (30% ruling)
The Dutch expat scheme lets an employer pay part of your salary free of tax for up to five years. In 2026 the maximum is 30%; from 1 January 2027 it drops to 27% for anyone hired on or after 1 January 2024.
- How much income is tax-exempt under the Expat scheme (30% ruling) in the Netherlands?
- 30% of income is exempt from tax (2026).
- How long does the Expat scheme (30% ruling) in the Netherlands last?
- 5 years.
Parameters by year
| Year | Tax-free share | Max tax-free amount | Income cap | Minimum income | Reduced minimum | Maximum duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 30% | €78,600 | €262,000 | €48,013 | €36,497 | 5 years |
| 2027 | 27% | Not published yet | Not published yet | €50,436 | €38,388 | 5 years |
What does the regime actually save?
Both figures below come from data published on this site: the ordinary Netherlands scale and the regime's own parameters. The arithmetic is shown so you can check it, not asserted.
| Gross salary | Ordinary scale | Under the regime | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| €40,000 | €14,320 (35.8%) | €10,010 (25.0%) | −€4,310 |
| €60,000 | €21,832 (36.4%) | €15,071 (25.1%) | −€6,761 |
| €80,000 | €29,532 (36.9%) | €20,330 (25.4%) | −€9,202 |
| €120,000 | €49,332 (41.1%) | €31,512 (26.3%) | −€17,820 |
| €200,000 | €88,932 (44.5%) | €59,232 (29.6%) | −€29,700 |
| €262,000 | €119,622 (45.7%) | €80,715 (30.8%) | −€38,907 |
This compares two ways of taxing the same income and nothing else. Personal allowances, deductions and social contributions are not in either column, so neither is what lands in your account — it is the gap between the two regimes, which is what the choice turns on.
What changes, and when?
- 2026
The threshold applies to taxable annual wages, excluding the exemption itself. The reduced threshold of €36,497 is for employees under 30 holding a Dutch master's degree or a recognised foreign equivalent; it applies until the end of the month in which they turn 30, after which the general threshold applies. The threshold is indexed once a year. The tax authority now calls this the expatregeling rather than the 30% ruling. The 30% is taken from pay including the allowance itself, not from base pay: on €70,000 of pay including the allowance, the tax-free part is €21,000. The cap works on the allowance, not on the salary. Above €262,000 the ruling still applies, but no further tax-free amount accrues, and the ceiling is apportioned by time if the ruling runs for only part of the year.
- 2027
From 1 January 2027 the maximum tax-free share drops from 30% to 27% for anyone hired on or after 1 January 2024. Those hired before that date keep 30%. The phase-down to 30/20/10 that was discussed earlier has been cancelled. The thresholds rise at the same time: €50,436 in general and €38,388 for employees under 30 with a master's degree, both indexed yearly thereafter. These figures are announced, not enacted: the Netherlands Enterprise Agency states the commencement date is not final and the measure still has to pass both houses of parliament before publication in the Staatsblad.
Who qualifies?
- Salaried employment with an employer that withholds Dutch payroll tax.
- Recruited from abroad, or transferred within a multinational.
- Lived more than 150 km from the Dutch border for at least 16 of the 24 months before the first working day.
- Taxable annual wages above the income standard for the year, excluding the exemption itself.
- The employer and employee apply jointly; applying within four months of the start date makes the scheme retroactive to day one.
More about Netherlands
- Moving to the Netherlands from the US: the number that decides it
For an American the Dutch route turns on one salary figure and one fact about who applies. In 2026 that figure is €5,942 a month — about 1.42 times what a full-time worker in the Netherlands actually earns.
- Netherlands income tax brackets: 2024, 2025 and 2026 compared
In 2024 there were two bands; in 2025 there were three. And the falling headline rate is not a tax cut — the national insurance half has not moved since 2024.
- The Dutch 30% ruling in 2027: what changes and who keeps 30%
The maximum tax-free share drops to 27% — but not for everybody, and not on the schedule that was announced first. Two details decide which rate applies to you.
- Moving from the Netherlands to Germany
- Moving from the United Kingdom to the Netherlands
- Moving from Germany to the Netherlands
- Moving from the Netherlands to Spain
- Moving from the Netherlands to Portugal
Sources
- 01Expertise requirement (30% facility)Belastingdienst — Netherlands Tax Administration ·
- 0230% ruling: compensation for expats down to 27%Business.gov.nl — Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) ·
Every figure here comes from an official source and carries the date we checked it. How we work with data.
This page is information, not advice. We are not an employer, a recruitment agency, a visa centre or an immigration adviser, and we are not affiliated with any government body. Rules change — confirm against the official source before you act.