Netherlands 30% Ruling Checker & Calculator

Allowance mechanics: for a total gross salary G at rate r (30% or 27%), the maximum tax-free allowance is r × G. The salary norm tests the REMAINING taxable salary, so if G − rG would fall below the norm, the allowance is reduced to G − norm exactly (the partial zone, which runs from the norm up to norm ÷ (1 − r)); if G is below the norm the ruling cannot apply at all. Finally the allowance is capped at r × the WNT norm: min(allowance, r × €262,000) — €78,600 at 30% in 2026. This is the standard Belastingdienst framing; employers may implement the split slightly differently in payroll, but the maximum untaxed amount is the same.

The three-cohort transition (rate): everyone has 30% through 2026. From 1 January 2027, rulings first granted on or before 31 December 2023 keep 30% for their full remaining term; rulings first granted in 2024 or later drop to 27%. Models that say simply "it’s 30%" or "it’s being cut" are each wrong for at least one cohort.

The three-cohort transition (norms): 2026 salary norms are €48,013 general and €36,497 for under-30 master’s holders (indexed annually). From 2027, ONLY 2025-and-later starters move to the higher new-starter norms — €50,436 / €38,338, published in 2024 euros with the indexed figures not yet out (the €38,338 masters figure has a one-source €38,388 variant; we follow PwC and the majority of sources on €38,338). Rulings first granted in 2024 or earlier keep the old (indexed) norm even in 2027; this tool uses the 2026 figures €48,013 / €36,497 as the current stand-in for those cohorts.

The cap: since 2024 (transition ended, so for everyone from 2026) the allowance base is capped at the WNT norm — the Dutch public-sector pay ceiling, €262,000 in 2026, indexed annually. Maximum untaxed allowance in 2026: 30% × €262,000 = €78,600. The 2027 WNT norm is not yet published; this tool applies the 2026 figure to 2027 as a stand-in.

The 150km condition (hard gate): you must have lived more than 150km in a straight line from the Dutch border for more than 16 of the 24 months before your Dutch employment began. This excludes residents of Belgium and Luxembourg and of border regions of Germany, and no other factor overrides it.

Duration: at most 60 months, reduced by any months you previously lived or worked in the Netherlands within the past 25 years. If the deduction consumes all 60 months, no ruling remains to grant.

Partial non-resident taxpayer status (electing to be treated as non-resident for box 2 and box 3) was abolished from 2025; only employees whose ruling was first granted on or before 31 December 2023 may still use it, through tax year 2026.

The actual-costs alternative: instead of the flat 30%/27% allowance, the employer may reimburse the employee’s actual extraterritorial costs tax-free. The choice between the flat ruling and actual costs is made per calendar year — for high actual costs (e.g. expensive double housing) the actual-costs route can beat the ruling.

Scope: this tool checks the published salary norm, 150km, and duration conditions and computes the allowance. It cannot check the conditions that require judgment — specific expertise, being recruited from abroad, employer registration — and it is not advice. The Belastingdienst decides on a joint employer-employee application.