The 30% ruling is a very advantageous arrangement, but unfortunately it does not apply to everyone who comes to work in the Netherlands. The following mandatory conditions must be met.
Terms
- There is paid work in the Netherlands with a Dutch employer/withholding agent.
- There is specific expertise that is hard or impossible to find in the Dutch labor market.
- The employee was recruited from outside the Netherlands.
- Employer and employee jointly apply for the 30% ruling.
Specific expertise
Specific expertise exists when a salary criterion is met. This salary criterion depends on an employee’s age and education level.
An employee, is eligible if the salary per year, excluding the benefit of the 30% ruling, exceeds the following lower limit:
€46,107 in 2024
€41,954 in 2023
€39,467 in 2022
€38,961 in 2021
Thus, to obtain the maximum benefit of the 30% ruling, a person, over 30 years of age, must receive at least the following gross salary:
€65,868 in 2024
€59,935 in 2023
€56,382 in 2022
€55,659 in 2021
A lower salary criterion applies to someone under the age of 30, with a Dutch master’s degree (or equivalent foreign master’s title). The salary, excluding the benefit of the 30% ruling, should be more than:
€35,048 in 2024
€31,891 in 2023
€30,001 in 2022
€29,616 in 2021
Thus, to obtain the maximum benefit of the 30% ruling, a person, under 30 years of age, must receive at least the following gross salary:
€50,069 in 2024
€45,559 in 2023
€42,859 in 2022
€42,309 in 2021
There is no salary limit for a person conducting scientific research at a designated research institution, or who is a physician in training to become a specialist.
Hired outside the Netherlands
This condition means that in the 24 months preceding the first day of work in the Netherlands, an employee must have lived at a distance of more than 150 kilometers from the Dutch border for more than 16 months. A person who has lived in Belgium or Luxembourg does not meet these conditions, nor do certain parts of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and even Denmark.
If a person lived in the Caribbean part of the Dutch Kingdom (Aruba, Bonaire, St. Eustatius, Saba, Curaçao or St. Maarten) during the recruitment, this is also considered to be recruited from abroad.
The employee must be able to prove with documentary evidence that there has been living abroad.
