Dutch 30% ruling drops to 27% in 2027: who is affected

In brief

• From 2027 no more than 27% of salary can be paid tax-free, instead of 30%. The law has been adopted and takes effect on 1 January 2027.
• Ruling started by the end of 2023: 30% stays. Started in 2024: 27% with the current salary norm. From 2025 onwards: 27% and a higher norm.
• The 2026 salary norm is EUR 48,013 a year, or EUR 36,497 for specialists under 30 with a master's degree. The ruling applies to salary up to EUR 262,000.
• From 2027 even pre-2024 participants lose the special treatment of foreign savings and investments.

What the 30% ruling is and what changes

The 30% ruling, now officially called the expat scheme, compensates incoming specialists for the extra cost of living in the Netherlands: the move, housing, trips home. The employer can reimburse actual costs against receipts or pay a fixed share of salary tax-free, and most choose the second option. The ruling lasts up to five years and is granted by the Dutch Tax Administration on a joint application by employee and employer.

The government first planned a stepped cut to 20% and 10%, but opted for a single rate. In 2025 and 2026 it stays at 30%, and from 1 January 2027 it becomes 27% for the rest of the term. At the same time the salary norm that new participants must meet goes up.

The employer is not obliged to pay the maximum: the actual amount depends on your contract. So the rate cut affects both your tax and your pay terms.

What this means for you. If your ruling started in 2024 or later, from January 2027 part of the salary you now receive tax-free becomes taxable. Your net income will fall even if your gross salary stays the same.

Who is affected: three groups by start date

What changes depends on the date from which the ruling applies to your salary. The Dutch government splits participants into three groups.

The first group is fully protected: anyone who applied the ruling to salary for the last pay period of 2023 keeps 30% until the end of the five-year term. For them something else changes in 2027, covered below in the section on savings and investments. The second group gets a compromise: the rate falls to 27% but the salary norm stays the same. The third group faces both changes.

When you change employer, you file a new request together with the new employer, and the new job must start no later than three months after the old one ended. The five-year term does not restart. After a gap of more than three months the ruling cannot continue, and a new one is out of reach: you already live in the Netherlands and fail the 150-kilometre condition.

What this means for you. Check the start date in your Tax Administration decision. That date, not the date you moved or signed the contract, determines your group.

What it costs in euros

Three percentage points move part of your salary into taxable income at high rates. In 2026 Dutch income tax is 37.56% on income from EUR 38,883 to EUR 78,426 and 49.5% above that. Below is a simplified estimate without tax credits or contributions.

On a salary of EUR 100,000 a year you can now receive EUR 30,000 tax-free, and from 2027 EUR 27,000. The taxable part grows by EUR 3,000, and at 37.56% the tax rises by about EUR 1,127 a year. On EUR 150,000 the taxable part grows by EUR 4,500 and the tax by about EUR 2,228, because this income is taxed at 49.5%.

Those earning EUR 262,000 or more lose the most. Since 1 January 2026 the ruling for everyone applies only up to that amount, the cap on public-sector executive pay. Today up to EUR 78,600 a year can be paid tax-free, from 2027 up to EUR 70,740, and tax rises by about EUR 3,891 a year.

What this means for you. For most specialists the cut costs between EUR 800 and EUR 3,900 a year. It is not a reason to change plans, but it is a reason to review your contract and net pay for 2027.

Salary norm in 2026 and 2027

The ruling is available only to specialists whose skills are scarce on the Dutch labour market. The Tax Administration tests this by salary, not by diploma. In 2026 taxable salary, excluding the tax-free part, must exceed EUR 48,013 a year. For specialists under 30 with a Dutch master's degree or an equivalent foreign one, the norm is lower at EUR 36,497. Researchers at designated institutions have no salary norm.

From 2027 the norm for new participants goes up. The government quotes EUR 50,436 instead of the 2024 level of EUR 46,107, and EUR 38,388 instead of EUR 35,048 for young specialists. Both amounts are indexed every year, so the exact 2027 figure will be published towards the end of 2026. According to the government, for those whose ruling started in 2024 the norm stays as it is.

The norm is tested against salary after the tax-free part is deducted. On a salary of EUR 70,000 with a 27% ruling the taxable part is EUR 51,100: it passes the current norm but may fail the new one after indexation. The employer will then pay less than 27% tax-free to keep salary above the norm.

What this means for you. If your salary is close to the norm, run the 2027 numbers now. You may keep the ruling, but at a lower percentage.

Savings and investments: the end of a special option

For people with capital, another change matters more than the rate. Previously a ruling holder living in the Netherlands could opt for partial non-resident status: for tax on savings, investments and substantial shareholdings they were treated as a non-resident. Foreign accounts, portfolios and shares in foreign companies were not taxed in the Netherlands.

That option was abolished from the 2025 tax return. Only those who used the ruling before 2024 can keep it until the end of 2026. From 1 January 2027 they too must report worldwide savings and investments, as well as income from substantial shareholdings, in their Dutch return.

For a family with a portfolio abroad this can cost more than the rate cut: the tax is largely based on a deemed return on assets rather than actual profit. It is worth reviewing your asset structure before 1 January 2027, and our tax coordination service can help.

What this means for you. If your ruling started before 2024, you keep 30%. But 2027 still changes your taxes: foreign assets enter your Dutch return for the first time.

How the ruling is written into the employment contract

The rate cut hits net pay differently depending on the wording of the contract. Three versions are common. In the first, salary is stated before tax and the ruling as a percentage of it. In the second, a net amount is agreed and the employer sets the tax-free part. In the third, the ruling is not mentioned at all and is applied under internal company policy.

Under the first version the employee takes home less from 2027 without any change to the contract. Under the second the employer usually bears the difference, because it must keep the promised net amount. Under the third everything depends on company policy, which is worth requesting in writing. Below is what a salary of EUR 100,000 looks like at 27%.

The taxable part of EUR 73,000 clears the current norm comfortably. At a salary of EUR 65,000, though, the taxable part at 27% is EUR 47,450, below the 2026 norm. The employer will then pay less than 27% tax-free so that taxable salary stays above the norm. For new participants from 2027 the norm will be higher, and the margin has to be checked against the new figure.

If you are moving to the Netherlands with your family or your own company, the terms of employment and the ownership structure are best agreed before signing. This is where structure and status planning helps: how to combine employee status, tax residence and a share in a business.

What this means for you. Find the ruling clause in your contract. One sentence decides who loses 3% of salary from January 2027: you or the employer.

Who can get the ruling

The conditions themselves do not change. You must meet all of them at once.

• You are employed. Self-employed people and business owners without an employment contract do not qualify.
• Your employer recruited you from abroad or transferred you within an international group.
• For 16 of the 24 months before starting work you lived more than 150 kilometres from the Dutch border. Belgium, Luxembourg and border areas of Germany, France and the UK do not qualify.
• Your salary is above the norm, or you work at a designated research institution.
• You hold a Tax Administration decision. The request must be filed within four months of your first working day for the ruling to apply from the start. A reply comes within eight weeks.

The ruling lasts up to five years, shortened by any earlier time you lived or worked in the Netherlands, except short trips.

The ruling is a tax measure, not an immigration status. The right to live and work in the Netherlands comes from a separate residence permit, usually the one for highly skilled migrants. For EU countries that grant residence through work and talent, see our section on residence for specialists.

Duration of the ruling: how the five years are counted

The ruling is granted for up to five years, and this period is reduced by all earlier periods of living and working in the Netherlands. Only the 25 years before the current job are counted: anything earlier does not affect the period.

Short visits do not reduce it. Occasional work in the Netherlands of less than 20 days a year in total, for example business trips from abroad, is not counted. The same applies to holidays and family visits of no more than six weeks a year or a single period of up to three consecutive months.

The period does not restart when you change jobs. If the new employer belongs to the same group of companies, the Tax Administration decision remains valid. In other cases it has to be checked together with the new employer, and the new job must start within three months of the old one ending.

One more detail concerns part of a year. The maximum tax-free amount of EUR 78,600 applies to a full year at a salary of EUR 262,000 or more. If the ruling applies for only part of the year, for example in the year of the move, the cap is reduced pro rata.

What this means for you. Before applying, collect the dates of every earlier period in the Netherlands: work, residence, long stays. A mistake here shortens the ruling for years ahead.

International school and other tax-free payments

Besides the ruling, the employer can pay international school fees for your children tax-free. This is a separate payment: it is not part of the 27% and does not reduce it. There is one condition: the school or its department is mainly intended for children of expatriate employees.

For a family with two children this is a noticeable amount, so school fees are worth negotiating together with salary. If the employer is ready to offset the lower rate, paying school fees can be easier than revising salary, because it does not affect the salary norm or the taxable part.

For young specialists the diploma matters. The lower norm for those under 30 applies only with a Dutch master's degree or an equivalent foreign one. A foreign diploma has to be translated and confirmed in advance, which is covered by our document services.

What this means for you. Discuss with your employer not only the ruling percentage but also school fees. These are two different tax-free payments.

What to do before the end of 2026

1. Find your Tax Administration decision and check the start date. Identify your group using the table above.
2. Check your employment contract: is the ruling written as a percentage, an amount or a guaranteed net salary? This decides who absorbs the loss from 2027, you or your employer.
3. If your ruling started in 2025 or later, compare your taxable salary with the new norm after indexation.
4. If you used partial non-resident status, prepare a list of foreign accounts, portfolios and shareholdings for your 2027 return.
5. If you are moving to the Netherlands in 2027, negotiate your salary on the basis of 27%, not 30%.

Why moving alone does not make you tax resident is explained in our article on tax residence. If you are choosing a country for its incoming-specialist regime, compare the Netherlands with the Portuguese regime for specialists.

If you are relocating with a business, see business relocation and company registration in the Netherlands. Days spent in each country still matter for residence, as our piece on the 183-day rule shows.

Common mistakes

• "It does not affect me, I arrived before 2027." The 27% rate applies to everyone whose ruling started from 2024.
• "My employer must make up the difference." Only if your contract guarantees net pay. If the ruling is written as a percentage, the employee bears the loss.
• "My foreign portfolio is not taxed in the Netherlands." For new participants it has been taxed since 2025, for pre-2024 participants it will be from 2027.

How this article was prepared

Sources: the Dutch Tax Administration (expat scheme page of 13 May 2026, 2026 tax rates), the Dutch government (expat scheme section of 6 January 2026) and the government business portal (checked on 18 October 2026). The estimates are simplified, without tax credits or contributions. The BRIDGES team can prepare an exact calculation from your documents. This is not tax advice on your specific situation.