30% ruling in 2027: what the drop to 27% means for you

What changes on 1 January 2027

The 30% ruling lets your employer pay part of your salary as a tax-free allowance for up to five years if you were recruited from abroad. Until the end of 2026 the maximum is 30%. What happens in 2027 depends on when your employer first applied the ruling to your pay:

"Started by the end of 2023" means your employer applied the ruling in your last pay period of 2023, and you have not since started again as a new incoming employee after a break; moving to a new employer within three months does not count as a break. "During 2024" means your ruling was valid in 2024 and applied by your last pay period of 2024. The five-year maximum does not change, so many people in the first group reach the end of their ruling during 2027 or 2028 anyway.

What the cut costs at different salaries

Take-home pay per year in 2027 under the proposed 2027 tax rules, for a salary including the 8% holiday allowance. The last column shows what the ruling is still worth compared with having none.

Single employee, no pension contribution, 2027 Tax Plan proposal. The thresholds for 2027 are explained below.

The salary threshold

To use the ruling, your taxable salary after the tax-free allowance must stay above a salary norm. In 2026 that is €48,013 a year, or €36,497 if you are under 30 and have a master's degree. If your salary is close to the norm, the allowance is reduced so that your taxable salary does not fall below it.

For rulings that started from 2025, a higher norm applies from 2027. The law sets it at €50,436 (€38,338 for under-30s with a master's) in 2024 prices, indexed up to 2027. The Belastingdienst's 2026 payroll handbook gives €51,899 (€39,450) and says it will be indexed again, so the final 2027 figure will be somewhat higher. It is normally published in late December. Until then our calculator uses €51,899 as a minimum, and the 2026 norm for the other two groups, whose 2027 norm is also indexed in December.

The effect: up to about €71,500 a year, someone whose ruling started in 2025 or later gets a smaller allowance than someone whose ruling started in 2024, and just above the threshold they can lose the ruling altogether.

The cap on the allowance

Since 2026 the allowance is only calculated on salary up to the public-sector pay cap (WNT norm): €262,000 in 2026 and €273,000 in 2027. The maximum tax-free allowance is therefore €78,600 in 2026, and in 2027 €73,710 at 27% or €81,900 if you keep 30%. The cap is reduced in proportion if the ruling only covers part of the year.

Why 27%, not 30-20-10

Older articles say the ruling would fall to 30% for 20 months, 20% for 20 months and 10% for the last 20 months. That taper was added to the 2024 Tax Plan, but it was largely reversed before it could bite: an amendment to the 2025 Tax Plan kept 30% for 2025 and 2026 and replaced the taper with a flat 27% from 2027. The 2027 Tax Plan proposal does not change the ruling again.

Partial non-resident status ends after 2026

With the ruling you could also choose to be treated as a non-resident for box 2 and box 3, so that most investments outside the Netherlands were not taxed there. That option was abolished from 2025. People who used the ruling before 2024 could keep it through the 2026 tax year, so from 2027 nobody has it any more. If you have significant savings or investments, check your box 3 position for 2027.

Other rules worth knowing

• Changing jobs. Within the same group of companies the ruling simply continues. With an unrelated new employer it can continue if you start within three months of your old job ending; you and the new employer apply together, within four months of starting.
• Earlier time in the Netherlands. The five years are shortened by any time you worked or lived in the Netherlands in the 25 years before you arrived. Short stays do not count: up to 20 working days a year, private visits of up to six weeks a year, and one single period of up to three months.
• International school fees. On top of the ruling, your employer can reimburse fees for an international school tax-free, if the school follows a foreign curriculum and is mainly for children of employees from abroad.
• Actual costs instead. Your employer can instead reimburse the actual extra costs of working abroad tax-free, with proof, for up to five years, choosing each year between that and the ruling. Since 2026 higher living costs and private phone costs no longer count.
• Leaving your job. The ruling ends at the latest on the last day of the pay period after the one in which your last working day falls.

What to do now

1. Find out when your ruling started. Your ruling decision (beschikking) from the Belastingdienst and your payslips show when your employer first applied it.
2. Check when it ends. The ruling lasts at most five years, so it may end before or during 2027 anyway.
3. Check your January 2027 payslip. If your ruling started by the end of 2023, your employer should still apply 30%.
4. Talk to your employer if your salary is close to the threshold, or if your contract mentions the ruling, so you know how the change is handled.

Sources

• Rijksoverheid: tax benefit for foreign employees and the 2027 transition
• Belastingdienst: the 30% facility
• Belastingdienst: Handboek Loonheffingen 2026, section 19.4
• Belastingdienst: partial non-resident status (transition to 2026)
• Belastingdienst: applying for the 30% ruling (new employer, earlier stays)
• Kamerstuk 36602 nr. 41: flat 27% from 2027 and the higher salary norm
• Kamerstuk 36418 nr. 63: the 30-20-10 amendment to the 2024 Tax Plan
• Staatscourant 2026, 29611: WNT norm 2027 (€273,000)
• Our methodology and the full list of sources for the calculator

Frequently asked questions

This guide explains the general rules for employees and is not personal tax advice. Rules change and individual situations differ, so check with the tax authority or a tax adviser before making decisions. Spotted something out of date? Email [email protected].