Quick answer
What it does: if the 30% facility applies, your employer can pay part of your salary as a tax-free allowance, which can increase your net pay.
2026 salary test: taxable salary after the allowance must be higher than €48,013, or €36,497 for qualifying employees under 30 with a relevant master's degree.
Eligibility: the recruitment-from-abroad and distance conditions still matter, alongside the salary test and the other statutory requirements.
Not always a full 30%: the allowance can be partial when the salary threshold limits it. Our calculator estimates the salary effect; it does not establish eligibility.
2026 maximum: the 30% percentage is applied to remuneration up to €262,000. For a full year, the maximum tax-free allowance is therefore €78,600.
Who is this guide for?
- You have been recruited from outside the Netherlands.
- You want to know if you meet the minimum salary requirements.
- You want to understand the latest political changes to the ruling for 2026.
What is the 30% ruling?
Moving to a new country involves extra costs, known as extraterritorial expenses. To compensate for this, the Dutch government allows employers to grant a tax-free allowance to highly skilled migrants.
If you meet the conditions, your employer may pay a tax-free allowance under the expat scheme, up to the applicable maximum. In 2026 the percentage remains at most 30%, but the actual allowance can be lower and the employer is not required to use the full percentage. The 2026 salary base is capped at €262,000, so the maximum tax-free allowance is €78,600 for someone using the scheme for the full year; for part-year use, the maximum is reduced proportionately.
Want to see the exact numbers?
We built an interactive tool that automatically calculates your net salary for 2026, including all complex minimum threshold and partial allowance logic.
The Conditions (Who qualifies?)
To qualify for the facility, you must meet several strict requirements set by the Dutch Tax Authority (Belastingdienst):
- 1. Recruited from abroadYou must have been recruited from outside the Netherlands. Furthermore, you must have lived more than 150 kilometers from the Dutch border for more than 16 months out of the 24 months prior to your first day of work in the Netherlands.
2. Minimum Salary Thresholds (2026)
The salary test is used to establish specific expertise for most applicants. The amounts below refer to taxable salary after any tax-free allowance. A partial exemption means taxable salary can be more than 70% of your gross pay.
Standard Threshold
For most applicants to the expat scheme
Your taxable salary must be higher than this amount in 2026.
Master's Exception
Under 30 years old + qualifying Master's degree
If you meet these age and education requirements, your taxable salary must be higher than this reduced threshold.
The 2026 Rules: What happened to the phase-out?
In late 2023, the Dutch government passed a law to slowly phase out the ruling (30% for the first 20 months, 20% for the next 20 months, and 10% for the final 20 months).
The 20%/10% phase-down does not apply in 2025 or 2026. The maximum remains 30% in those years.
In 2026, the maximum allowance remains 30%. From 2027, transitional rules depend on when the ruling first applied: those already using it by 31 December 2023 retain a maximum of 30% under the existing salary-norm regime; 2024 starters move to 27% under that regime; starters from 2025 move to 27% with the new salary-norm regime. These are maximum percentages, subject to eligibility and the remaining award period. See the official transition table.
The End of the Box 3 Tax Exemption
Until the rule change, eligible users of the expat scheme could choose partial non-resident taxpayer status. For box 3, that meant being treated as a non-resident taxpayer and generally reporting only specified Dutch assets, such as certain Dutch real estate interests, rather than the normal resident box 3 scope.
The option was abolished from the 2025 return, with transitional protection for a limited group through the 2026 return.
If you do not qualify for the transition, you cannot choose partial non-resident taxpayer status for the 2025 return onward. A person who is Dutch tax resident is then generally subject to the normal resident box 3 rules, subject to the usual exemptions, treaty rules and the method for calculating box 3 income. For 2026, the box 3 tax rate is 36% and the tax-free allowance is €59,357 per person.
Transition: the Belastingdienst says people who used the expat scheme before 2024 can, if they meet the transition conditions, still choose partial non-resident taxpayer status through their 2026 income-tax return. From 2027 that transition ends. What you then report in box 3 depends on your tax residence, assets and any applicable treaty or exemption.