# How to apply for the 30% ruling in NL

Canonical: https://howtoin.nl/apply-for-the-30-percent-ruling  
Last reviewed: 2026-09-01  
Themes: Work, Money and taxes  
Time: About an hour to gather the documents and complete the form with your employer, then up to 8 weeks for the Belastingdienst decision.  
Time-sensitive figures registered through: 2026-12-31  
Source: How to in NL (https://howtoin.nl)

## Summary

Apply jointly with your employer for the expat scheme (30%-regeling), which covers extraterritorial costs untaxed. Covers the 150 km condition, the 2026 salary norms and the 4-month application window.

## Overview

The expat scheme (expatregeling), also known as the 30% ruling (30%-regeling), lets your employer pay part of your salary to you without payroll tax as a flat-rate allowance for the extra costs of working outside your home country, the extraterritorial costs. It is granted by the Belastingdienst (the Dutch Tax Administration) in a decision that you and your employer apply for together, and it is not something you can claim on your own.

## Before you start

You need to be in paid employment with a Dutch employer who withholds payroll tax; the scheme does not exist for freelancers working for their own account. You must have been recruited from outside the Netherlands, and you must have lived more than 150 kilometres as the crow flies from the Dutch border for more than 16 of the 24 months before your first working day. The Belastingdienst sets no nationality condition, but the distance test is measured from the Dutch border, so living close to it in a neighbouring country can rule you out. Your employer must be willing to co-sign: without the employer there is no application.

## Which salary condition applies to you?

The scheme requires specific expertise, and the Belastingdienst tests that through a minimum taxable salary that differs by category.

- **Standard employee** Your annual salary, not including the tax-free allowance itself, must be more than €48,013 (2026). The equivalent figure was €46,660 (2025). Because the test is on taxable salary excluding the allowance, a gross package that looks comfortably above the norm can still fail once the 30% is carved out.
- **Under 30 with an academic master's degree** If you are younger than 30 and hold a Dutch academic master's degree or an equivalent title obtained in another country, the threshold is €36,497 (2026), against €35,468 (2025). The Belastingdienst does not publish on this page how the norm changes in the year you turn 30, so ask payroll or the Belastingdienst to confirm which figure applies to you from that point.
- **Scientific researcher or doctor training to be a specialist** If you conduct scientific research at a designated research facility, or you are a doctor training to become a specialist, no salary condition applies. The Belastingdienst states that in this case the amount of your salary is not important. All the other conditions, including the 150 km condition and the application deadline, still apply.

## Deadlines

**Apply within 4 months of your first working day**

Send the joint application to the Belastingdienst within 4 months of your first working day. The Belastingdienst states that an application made within that window lets you use the scheme from the first working day. Neither the Belastingdienst nor Business.gov.nl publishes the start date that applies to a later application, so if the window has passed, ask the Belastingdienst what date your decision will run from before you budget on the allowance. A fresh 4-month window applies each time you start with a new employer outside your employer's connected group; within a connected group the existing decision stays valid and no new application is needed.

## Steps

### 1. Check that you were recruited from abroad and meet the 150 km condition

The scheme is for employees recruited from outside the Netherlands. The Belastingdienst also treats you as recruited from abroad if you live on Aruba, the BES islands, Curacao or Sint Maarten. On top of that, you must have lived more than 150 kilometres as the crow flies from the Dutch border for more than 16 of the 24 months before your first working day. There are exceptions to the distance condition during and after PhD research, and for people who previously used the scheme where the earlier work period started at most 5 years ago.

**Do this:** Map where you actually lived in each of the 24 months before your first working day and check the distance from the Dutch border, not from your workplace.

**Documents needed:**
- Tenancy agreements, registration records or employer letters covering the 24 months before your first working day

**Timing:** Under an hour if you have your address history to hand.

> **Common mistake:** The 150 km is measured from the Dutch border, in a straight line, not from the city you will work in. Addresses in neighbouring countries can sit inside the 150 km line even when they feel far away, so measure each address rather than assuming.

**Source:** [Belastingdienst: Coming to work in the Netherlands: the Expat Scheme (30% facility)](https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/en/individuals/content/coming-to-work-in-the-netherlands-30-percent-facility)

Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/apply-for-the-30-percent-ruling#step-1

### 2. Work out which salary condition you have to meet

Specific expertise is tested through a minimum taxable salary. For 2026 the general norm is more than €48,013, and for people younger than 30 with a Dutch academic master's degree or an equivalent foreign title it is €36,497. If you conduct scientific research at a designated research facility, or you are a doctor training to become a specialist, no salary condition applies at all. The figure is measured on salary excluding the tax-free allowance, so check the number your contract produces after the allowance is carved out.

**Do this:** Compare your contractual taxable salary, excluding the tax-free allowance, against the norm for your category.

**Documents needed:**
- Employment contract
- Master's diploma and evidence of equivalence, if you are using the reduced norm

**Timing:** Same day, once your employer confirms how the salary will be split.

> **Common mistake:** Testing the norm against your full gross package is the classic error. A salary that clears €48,013 (2026) gross can fall below it once 30% is paid as an untaxed allowance, which puts the whole decision at risk.

**Source:** [Belastingdienst: Coming to work in the Netherlands: the Expat Scheme (30% facility)](https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/en/individuals/content/coming-to-work-in-the-netherlands-30-percent-facility)

Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/apply-for-the-30-percent-ruling#step-2

### 3. Agree with your employer which method will be used

There are two ways to cover extraterritorial costs without payroll tax. Your employer can reimburse the actual costs, which must be reasonable and plausible and have to be evidenced, or pay the flat percentage of salary untaxed. Business.gov.nl states that the employer must choose between the two in the first payroll period of each year. Extraterritorial costs include items such as double housing, travel to your home country, language training and visa fees.

**Do this:** Ask your employer, before the first payroll run, whether they will apply the flat percentage or reimburse actual costs, and get the choice recorded.

**Timing:** Settle it before the first pay period of the year.

> **Common mistake:** People assume the flat percentage is automatic. It is not: the employer decides and is not obliged to pass on the full amount, so agree the split in writing before you sign the contract rather than after.

**Source:** [Business.gov.nl: The expat scheme (30% ruling) in the Netherlands](https://business.gov.nl/staff/employing-staff/the-expat-scheme-30-percent-ruling-in-the-netherlands/)

Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/apply-for-the-30-percent-ruling#step-3

### 4. Complete and send the joint application to the Belastingdienst

The application is made by you and your employer together, using the Belastingdienst application form for the year concerned. Neither party can do it alone. Send it within 4 months of your first working day so that the decision runs from that first working day. The Belastingdienst states that you will be informed of the outcome within 8 weeks.

**Do this:** Fill in the Expat Scheme application form together with your employer, both sign it, and send it to the Belastingdienst within 4 months of your first working day.

**Documents needed:**
- Completed Expat Scheme application form for the relevant year
- Employment contract
- Passport or ID and your BSN
- Employer's payroll tax number

**Timing:** Within 4 months of the first working day; a decision within 8 weeks.

> **Common mistake:** Waiting for the employer's tax adviser to get round to it is how the 4-month window is missed. Only an application inside that window is confirmed by the Belastingdienst to run from your first working day; the start date for a late application is not published, so chase the co-signature rather than assume it can be repaired later.

**Source:** [Belastingdienst: Application form: Expat Scheme (30% facility)](https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/bldcontenten/themaoverstijgend/applications_and_forms/application-income-tax-and-national-insurance-30-facility)

Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/apply-for-the-30-percent-ruling#step-4

### 5. Read the duration on your decision and check the cap

A decision runs for up to 5 years and the end date is printed on it. The Belastingdienst reduces that duration by periods you previously worked or lived in the Netherlands. Three situations are not deducted: a period that ended more than 25 years before the start of your current work; occasional work in the Netherlands during the past 25 years of less than 20 days a year in total; and occasional personal stays in the past 25 years, for example holidays or family visits, that did not exceed 6 weeks a year or a one-off period of 3 consecutive months. A maximum salary also applies, based on the norm in the Standards for Remuneration Act, the Balkenende norm. As of 2026 the maximum untaxed allowance is €78,600, reached at a salary of €262,000 or more.

**Do this:** Check the start and end dates on the decision, and whether your salary is at or above the level where the cap bites.

**Documents needed:**
- The Belastingdienst decision

**Timing:** Do this as soon as the decision arrives.

> **Common mistake:** Earlier time in the Netherlands, including a study period followed by work, shortens the decision. If you assume a full 5 years and budget on it, the allowance can stop earlier than you expect.

**Source:** [Belastingdienst: Coming to work in the Netherlands: the Expat Scheme (30% facility)](https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/en/individuals/content/coming-to-work-in-the-netherlands-30-percent-facility)

Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/apply-for-the-30-percent-ruling#step-5

### 6. Plan around the scheduled changes to the scheme

The Belastingdienst transition rules have three cohorts. If the expat scheme was applied no later than the last payroll period of 2023, the maximum remains 30% and the indexed 2024 salary norm continues for the remaining decision period. If the scheme was first applied in 2024, the maximum becomes 27% from 1 January 2027 but the indexed 2024 salary norm continues. If the scheme was first applied from 1 January 2025, the maximum becomes 27% from 1 January 2027 and the new 2027 salary norm applies. Separately, the maximum remuneration cap has applied since 1 January 2026 to the older group that previously had transitional relief from that cap.

**Do this:** Identify the year in which the expat scheme was first applied for you, then ask payroll to confirm in writing which percentage and which salary norm will apply from 1 January 2027.

**Timing:** Check before the first pay period of 2027.

> **Common mistake:** Do not treat everyone who started after 1 January 2024 as one cohort. A 2024 start moves to 27% in 2027 but keeps the indexed 2024 salary norm; the higher 2027 salary norm applies to starts from 1 January 2025.

**Source:** [Belastingdienst: Nieuwsbrief Loonheffingen 2026: expat scheme transition rules](https://download.belastingdienst.nl/belastingdienst/docs/nieuwsbrief-loonheffingen-2026-lh2091t62fd.pdf)

Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/apply-for-the-30-percent-ruling#step-6

### 7. Reapply if you change employer, and drop partial foreign taxpayer status

The decision does not transfer automatically to a new employer. If your previous decision has not expired, you and your new employer submit a new joint request, and you must start with the new employer within 3 months of leaving the old job. Within a connected group of withholding agents the existing decision remains valid and no new application is needed. Separately, from 1 January 2025 you can no longer choose partial foreign taxpayer status (partiële buitenlandse belastingplicht) in your return; if you were already using the expat scheme before 2024, transitional law lets you use it up to and including 2026.

**Do this:** When you move to a new employer outside the group, submit a new joint application within 4 months of your first working day there.

**Documents needed:**
- The existing Belastingdienst decision
- New employment contract

**Timing:** Start with the new employer within 3 months of leaving the old job; apply within 4 months of the new first working day.

> **Common mistake:** Taking a long break between jobs puts the scheme at risk. The Belastingdienst allows the remaining term to continue with a new employer only if you start there within 3 months of leaving the old job, so check the gap before you accept a later start date.

**Source:** [Belastingdienst: Partiële buitenlandse belastingplicht (Dutch)](https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/bldcontentnl/belastingdienst/prive/vermogen_en_aanmerkelijk_belang/vermogen/wat_is_uw_vermogen/partiele_buitenlandse_belastingplicht_30_bewijsregel)

Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/apply-for-the-30-percent-ruling#step-7

## Documents

- Your employment contract, showing the first working day and the agreed salary
- Your passport or national ID card, and your BSN once you have one
- Evidence of where you lived during the 24 months before your first working day, such as tenancy agreements, registration records or employer letters
- Your master's diploma and, for a foreign degree, evidence that it is equivalent to a Dutch academic master's, if you are using the reduced salary norm
- Your employer's payroll tax number (loonheffingennummer)

## Costs

- The Belastingdienst publishes no fee for the joint application; the forms are downloaded and sent in free of charge.
- Any charge you pay is to a tax adviser you choose to engage; the Belastingdienst does not set that amount.

## Timing

The Belastingdienst states that you will be informed of the outcome within 8 weeks of the application. A decision runs for up to 5 years, reduced by earlier periods of work or residence in the Netherlands, apart from a period that ended more than 25 years before your current work started, occasional work of less than 20 days a year in total during the past 25 years, and occasional personal stays in that time of no more than 6 weeks a year or one period of 3 consecutive months.

## Time-sensitive facts

Registered claims: 7

Earliest expiry: 2026-12-31

Review owner role: HowToIn editorial and release owner

For a later period, verify the linked official source rather than carrying an older amount forward.

## Common mistakes

- Measuring the 150 km condition from your workplace or from a Dutch city. It is measured from the Dutch border, as the crow flies, and you must have lived beyond it for more than 16 of the 24 months before your first working day.
- Letting the 4-month window pass because the employer is slow to co-sign. Only an application inside that window is confirmed to run from your first working day, and the Belastingdienst does not publish the start date used for a later one.
- Testing your salary against the norm including the tax-free part. The €48,013 (2026) and €36,497 (2026) figures are salary excluding the allowance.
- Assuming partial foreign taxpayer status (partiële buitenlandse belastingplicht) is still on the table. From 1 January 2025 you can no longer choose it in your return, and the transitional arrangement for people who used the expat scheme before 2024 runs only up to and including 2026.
- Assuming the decision travels with you to any new employer. Outside a connected group it does not transfer automatically, and a fresh joint application is needed.

## Next steps

- Check the start and end dates written on the decision and give payroll a copy, so the allowance is applied from the correct month.
- Ask payroll to confirm which method is being used, the flat percentage or reimbursement of actual extraterritorial costs, since that choice is fixed in the first pay period of each year.
- Check which transition cohort you are in before planning for 2027. If the expat scheme was applied no later than the last payroll period of 2023, the 30% rate and the indexed 2024 salary norm continue for the remaining decision period. If it was first applied in 2024, the rate falls to 27% from 2027 but the indexed 2024 salary norm continues. If it was first applied from 1 January 2025, the rate falls to 27% from 2027 and the new 2027 salary norm applies.
- If you change job, agree the new joint application with your new employer and send it within 4 months of your first working day there.

## Related guides

- [find-a-recognised-sponsor](https://howtoin.nl/find-a-recognised-sponsor)
- [change-employer](https://howtoin.nl/change-employer)
- [exchange-your-driving-licence](https://howtoin.nl/exchange-your-driving-licence)
- [file-your-tax-return](https://howtoin.nl/file-your-tax-return)
- [check-your-employment-contract](https://howtoin.nl/check-your-employment-contract)

## Official sources

- [Belastingdienst: Coming to work in the Netherlands: the Expat Scheme (30% facility)](https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/en/individuals/content/coming-to-work-in-the-netherlands-30-percent-facility)
- [Belastingdienst: Nieuwsbrief Loonheffingen 2026: expat scheme transition rules](https://download.belastingdienst.nl/belastingdienst/docs/nieuwsbrief-loonheffingen-2026-lh2091t62fd.pdf)
- [Business.gov.nl: The expat scheme (30% ruling) in the Netherlands](https://business.gov.nl/staff/employing-staff/the-expat-scheme-30-percent-ruling-in-the-netherlands/)
- [Belastingdienst: Partiële buitenlandse belastingplicht (Dutch)](https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/bldcontentnl/belastingdienst/prive/vermogen_en_aanmerkelijk_belang/vermogen/wat_is_uw_vermogen/partiele_buitenlandse_belastingplicht_30_bewijsregel)
- [Belastingdienst: Application form: Expat Scheme (30% facility)](https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/bldcontenten/themaoverstijgend/applications_and_forms/application-income-tax-and-national-insurance-30-facility)

## About this document

This is a machine-readable rendering of https://howtoin.nl/apply-for-the-30-percent-ruling.

Published by How to in NL, part of Flux Forward (https://fluxforward.world).

Last reviewed against its official sources on 2026-09-01.

Canonical JSON: https://howtoin.nl/content/guides/apply-for-the-30-percent-ruling.json

General guidance only. Rules can change and may depend on your situation; verify important steps with the official source before acting.