When exactly does the 30% ruling expire in the Netherlands?

The 30% ruling lasts a maximum of five years, counted from your first working day in the Netherlands. The exact expiry date is stated in your *beschikking* — the formal approval letter from the Belastingdienst. The expiry date is stated in the decision issued by the tax authority. If you submitted your application within 4 months of starting work, the ruling runs from your first working day. If the application was submitted late, the 5-year clock starts from the first day of the month following submission.

What salary threshold do I need to meet to qualify for the 30% ruling in 2026?

The general salary standard for 2026 requires that your taxable salary must be at least €48,013 on an annual basis. For employees under 30 with a qualifying (foreign) master's degree, a reduced standard of €36,497 applies. Both thresholds are indexed annually. There is no minimum salary standard for employees who carry out scientific research at a designated institution or doctors in training as specialists.

Will the 30% ruling change to 27% and does that affect me?

For the year 2026, the maximum percentage will remain at 30%. However, it has been agreed that from 1 January 2027, the percentage will be reduced for everyone to a fixed rate of 27% for the remaining term. Transitional law applies to employees who have been using the scheme since before 2024; for them, these changes are usually disregarded. If your ruling started before 1 January 2024, you keep the full 30% for your entire remaining term. If it started on or after 1 January 2024, your rate will drop to 27% from January 2027.

Can I transfer my 30% ruling to a new employer if I change jobs?

Yes, but only under strict conditions. The ruling can be transferred to a new Dutch employer within 3 months of the end of the previous employment. If you change jobs within this window, the new employer applies for the ruling using the original start date and remaining months, without restarting the 5-year clock. If you leave employment for more than 3 months (for example, a sabbatical, relocation abroad, or gap between jobs), the ruling terminates and cannot be reinstated on return to Dutch employment. Always apply to the new employer within 4 months of your new start date to protect backdating rights.

What happens to my Box 3 assets when the 30% ruling expires?

Employees who used the ruling before December 2023 keep the partial non-resident status through the end of 2026. From 2027, all holders pay Box 2 and Box 3 tax like regular residents. In practical terms, this means that foreign savings, investments, and property that were previously outside the Dutch tax net will be subject to Box 3 taxation from 1 January 2027. In 2026, Box 3 assets above the €59,357 exemption per person (€118,714 for couples) are taxed on a deemed return. If you have significant foreign assets, this deadline requires urgent attention before 31 December 2026.

Netherlands 2026: The 30% Ruling Expiry That Shocks Most Expats

When the 30% ruling ends, your net salary can drop by €10,000 or more in a single year — and most expats only find out when they open their first payslip after expiry. The effective tax rate increases significantly — typically by 10 to 15 percentage points at higher salary levels the moment the ruling lapses. That is not a planning problem. That is a financial emergency you need to prepare for today.

The Hidden Income Shock Nobody Warns You About

You moved to the Netherlands, landed a great job, got the ruling approved, and spent years enjoying a significantly higher net salary than your Dutch colleagues on the same gross. Life felt good. Here is what most people never find out until it is too late: the ruling ends on a fixed date, there is no grace period, and your employer is not legally required to warn you in advance.

After 5 years (60 months) from the start date on your ruling decision, the benefit simply expires. There is no extension possible under current rules. You will then return to normal taxation on your full income. That means the Belastingdienst — the Dutch Tax Administration — will tax your full gross salary as if the ruling never existed.

Here is where workers get caught out. On a gross salary of €80,000, the 30% ruling was shielding roughly 30% — or €24,000 — from income tax. Since the Netherlands' top income tax rate is 49.5% (Box 1, applied above €75,518), the 30% ruling significantly reduces the effective tax rate on higher salaries. Once the ruling expires, that previously untaxed €24,000 suddenly attracts full Dutch income tax at the top rate. Do not leave this money on the table by failing to plan before the expiry hits.

What the Law Actually Says

The Expat Scheme allows you to receive an untaxed allowance from your employer for extraterritorial costs. Instead of an untaxed allowance, your employer may also pay up to 30% of your salary, including compensation, to you untaxed. This is the mechanism behind the ruling — it is not a tax rate reduction; it is a reclassification of part of your salary as a tax-free reimbursement for the genuine extra costs of living as an international worker in the Netherlands.

The 30% ruling lasts a maximum of five years, counted from your first working day in the Netherlands. The ruling lasted ten years before 2012 and eight years until 2019, when the government reduced it to five for all new applications, as confirmed on Government.nl. The expiry date is written directly into your beschikking — the formal decision letter issued by the Belastingdienst when the ruling was first approved.

The Expat Scheme lapses in any case on the last day of the wage period in which the last day of work fell. When, for example, an employee's last day of work is on 15 February 2026, then you may — for one-month wage periods — continue to apply the Expat Scheme to 31 March 2026 inclusive. This means the end is sharp. One month you have the benefit, the next month you do not.

The Real Numbers for 2026

Every figure below has been verified for the current tax year 2026. These are the numbers that directly affect your take-home pay.

Category	Figure	Source
Statutory minimum wage (from 1 Jan 2026)	€14.71 gross/hour	government.nl
Statutory minimum wage (from 1 Jul 2026)	€14.99 gross/hour	expatica.com (citing rijksoverheid)
30% ruling — general salary threshold 2026	€48,013 taxable/year	belastingdienst.nl
30% ruling — under-30 master's threshold 2026	€36,497 taxable/year	belastingdienst.nl
Maximum annual tax-free allowance under ruling	€78,600	belastingdienst.nl
Box 1 tax rate — first bracket (up to €38,883)	35.75%	government.nl / KVK
Box 1 tax rate — top rate (above €38,883, working age)	49.5%	Deloitte / government.nl
National insurance (volksverzekeringen) total	27.65% (incl. AOW 17.90%, WLZ 9.65%, ANW 0.10%)	belastingdienst.nl
Employer healthcare levy (ZVW bijdrage) 2026	6.10% on income up to €79,409	boundlesshq.com
Ruling maximum % (2026)	30%	belastingdienst.nl
Ruling maximum % from 1 January 2027	27% (for rulings started from 1 Jan 2024)	business.gov.nl
Holiday allowance (vakantiegeld)	8% mandatory on gross salary	rijksoverheid.nl

In 2026, Dutch income tax (Box 1) uses three brackets: income up to €38,883 is taxed at 35.75%, income between €38,883 and €78,426 is taxed at 37.56%, and income above €78,426 is taxed at the top rate of 49.50%. Note that the 37.56% middle bracket applies only to those of state pension age. If you are of working age and your salary crosses €38,883, your next euro goes straight to 49.5%.

What does that mean in practice? The 30% ruling saves roughly €10,000–12,000 per year on an €80,000 salary. On expiry, that saving vanishes overnight. The average expat at that salary level loses roughly €833 to €1,000 per month in net pay from the day the ruling expires. Most financial planners and relocation advisers will not tell you this unprompted.

What Your Employer Will Never Tell You

Your employer applies the 30% ruling on your behalf — but they are under no obligation to remind you when it is about to expire. The Belastingdienst will not send you a countdown letter. The ruling ends on the date in your beschikking, full stop.

Here is the inside knowledge that most expats only discover after the damage is done. First, you should check your beschikking right now and put the exact expiry date in your calendar. The end date is not your hire date — it is the date the Belastingdienst formally approved the ruling, which may be weeks or months after you started work. The application should ideally be submitted within 4 months of the first working day in the Netherlands. If submitted within 4 months, approval is backdated to the first working day. Submissions after 4 months result in the ruling starting from the first day of the month following the application. If your employer applied late, your ruling may have started later than you think — but it will also end later than you expect.

Second, the Box 3 transitional protection is another hidden deadline that matters enormously in 2026. Partial non-resident status ends. This option exempted ruling holders from Dutch tax on foreign substantial interests (Box 2) and savings and investments (Box 3). It was abolished on 1 January 2025. Employees who used the ruling before December 2023 keep it through the end of 2026. From 2027, all holders pay Box 2 and Box 3 tax like regular residents. If you hold foreign investments, a second property, or significant savings abroad, this is an additional tax exposure landing on 1 January 2027 — on top of the ruling's own expiry.

Third, if you are changing jobs, do not assume the ruling transfers automatically. If you change jobs, you must re-apply for the ruling with the new employer (the benefit doesn't automatically transfer). Key conditions: there should be no more than 3 months gap between jobs, and you need to submit the new application within 4 months of starting the new job. Miss that window and you could lose months of benefit that you were legally entitled to keep.

Your three concrete actions right now: locate your original beschikking and note the exact expiry date; contact the Belastingdienst directly at belastingdienst.nl or via the Belastingtelefoon (0800 0543) to verify the end date; and run your numbers using a proper tool — try the free salary calculator at EuroDuty to model exactly what your monthly take-home will look like after expiry.

Netherlands vs The Rest of Europe

The Netherlands is one of Europe's most generous countries for internationally recruited workers — but only while the ruling is active. The Netherlands remains one of the most competitive labor markets in the European Union, currently holding the third-highest minimum wage on the continent. The statutory minimum wage stands at €14.99 gross per hour from 1 July 2026 — above Germany's €13.90 per hour (effective 1 January 2026, as the statutory minimum wage increased from 12.82 euros to 13.90 euros per hour on 1 January 2026). Belgium has no hourly statutory minimum wage in the same format, but operates a monthly guaranteed minimum wage and a top income tax rate of 50 percent on income above €46,440. Belgium's four income tax brackets run at 25% for income up to €15,200, 40% for income up to €26,830, 45% up to €46,440, and 50% for all income over €46,440 per year.

The critical difference for expats is what happens after the ruling ends. Among European OECD countries, the average statutory top personal income tax rate lies at 43.4 percent in 2026. Denmark (60.5 percent), France (55.4 percent), and Austria (55 percent) have the highest top rates. The Netherlands at 49.5 percent is well above the European average. Compare that to Germany, where the top rate of 45% applies above €277,826 — a threshold more than three times higher than the Dutch top-rate trigger of €78,426. For a high-earning expat whose ruling has expired, the Netherlands becomes considerably less competitive than its neighbors on a pure net-salary basis. This is why so many expats re-evaluate their Netherlands plans as the expiry approaches — and why you should use the free salary comparator at EuroDuty to model your specific position against other EU countries before making any decisions.

How to Claim What You Are Owed

Locate and check your beschikking. Find the original formal approval letter from the Belastingdienst. The exact end date of your ruling is written on this document. Do not rely on a date your employer gave you verbally — check the official letter.
Verify your start and end dates directly with the Belastingdienst. Call the Belastingtelefoon on 0800 0543 (free from a Dutch number, weekdays 8am–8pm) or log into Mijn Belastingdienst at belastingdienst.nl to verify your ruling's current status and exact expiry date.
Model your post-expiry salary before it happens. Use the free EuroDuty salary calculator to calculate your exact net salary with and without the 30% ruling. Knowing the monthly difference in advance gives you time to adjust your budget, pension contributions, or mortgage obligations.
Check whether a job change has reset your clock. If you previously held the 30% ruling, took a career break, and have now returned to Dutch employment with a new employer, the remaining duration continues from where it left off — you do not restart the 5-year clock. If you changed employers, confirm that the new beschikking correctly shows the remaining term — not a fresh 5-year period.
Plan your Box 3 exposure before 31 December 2026. If you used the Expat Scheme before 2024, you can still use the partial foreign tax liability until your tax return 2026 due to transitional law. You can opt for partial foreign tax liability in your income tax return, if you live in the Netherlands and make use of the Expat Scheme. This is your last tax year to benefit from partial non-resident status on Box 3. Consult a registered Dutch tax adviser — a belastingadviseur — before the year ends.
Compare your options across Europe. If your ruling expires and the Netherlands becomes financially unviable, do not guess at alternatives. Use the free EuroDuty salary comparator to see verified 2026 net salary figures for all 27 EU countries side by side — including Belgium, Germany, and other countries with their own expat incentive regimes.

Calculate your exact net salary and compare your rights across all 27 EU countries at EuroDuty — completely free.