30% Ruling Calculator Netherlands 2026: How Much You Save

The 30% ruling calculator question most expats ask me is not “do I qualify?” — it is “how much does it actually save me?” The honest answer is that on a €60,000 gross salary, the 30% ruling saves approximately €6,000–€8,000 per year in net income. On €100,000, that figure rises to €14,000–€17,000 per year. If you have been in the Netherlands for a year and have not done this calculation for your own salary, you may well be underestimating one of the most valuable tax benefits available to expats anywhere in Europe.

This guide walks through the exact calculation, the 2026 salary thresholds, three full worked examples, and every common mistake that causes people to lose the ruling or apply it incorrectly. I also cover what actually happened to the much-reported 30/20/10 step-down (it was scrapped before it took effect), the drop to 27% from 2027, what became of the Box 3 advantage, and what to plan for when the ruling eventually ends.

If you just want the numbers fast, try our 30% ruling calculator — it runs the comparison instantly for your salary. If you want to understand what is happening behind the calculation, read on.

💡 Looking for a complete banking comparison? Read Best banking for expats in the Netherlands 2026 — covers ABN, ING, Bunq, Wise, Revolut & 5 others by expat use case.

What Is the 30 Ruling? (Short Answer)

What is the 30 ruling? The 30 ruling, normally written as the 30% ruling (30%-regeling), is a Dutch tax benefit for highly skilled migrants recruited from abroad. It allows your employer to pay up to 30% of your agreed gross salary as a tax-free allowance, on top of your regular salary — officially as compensation for the extra costs of relocating and living in the Netherlands. The practical effect is that 30% of your gross salary is not taxed and you pay Dutch income tax only on the remaining 70%, for a maximum of 5 years and provided your salary stays above the minimum threshold set out below.

I have a full guide on eligibility, the application process, and the 2024 rule changes in The 30% Ruling in the Netherlands 2026: Complete Guide. If you are still checking whether you qualify, start there. This article assumes you are eligible and focuses on the financial calculation.

2026 Salary Thresholds

Before calculating savings, you need to confirm your salary meets the minimum. The thresholds below apply to the taxable salary — that is, the salary after the 30% exemption has been applied.

Why the gross figures are higher: To find the minimum gross salary you need, divide the taxable threshold by 0.7. So for standard applicants: €48,013 ÷ 0.7 = €68,590 gross. The taxable minimum is set at this level because after the 30% ruling reduces your salary by 30%, you need to still be earning at least the threshold amount.

These thresholds are updated by the Belastingdienst each year. The figures above are the 2026 values. Check the Dutch tax return guide for expats for how these thresholds interact with your annual tax filing.

The cap on the allowance: Since 1 January 2024, the 30% ruling is capped at the “Balkenende norm” — the maximum salary for public sector executives — which is €262,000 in 2026. The allowance is calculated on salary up to that amount, giving a maximum tax-free allowance of €78,600 per year. If you earn above the cap, the exemption applies only up to it, not on the full salary. For most expats, this cap does not affect the calculation.

How to Calculate Your 30% Ruling Savings

It is not complicated, but it requires comparing two tax scenarios side by side.

Step 1: Establish Your Gross Salary

Start with your agreed annual gross salary. This is the figure before tax, pension contributions, and any other deductions. Find it on your employment contract or your most recent payslip under “bruto jaarsalaris.”

Step 2: Calculate the 30% Tax-Free Allowance

Multiply your gross salary by 0.30. This is the portion that will not be taxed under the ruling.

Example on €75,000 gross: €75,000 × 0.30 = €22,500 tax-free

Step 3: Identify Your Taxable Income Under the Ruling

Subtract the tax-free allowance from your gross salary.

Example: €75,000 − €22,500 = €52,500 taxable income

Step 4: Apply the 2026 Box 1 Rates and Tax Credits

For people below AOW age, the 2026 bands are:

• Up to €38,883: 35.75%
• €38,883 to €78,426: 37.56%
• Above €78,426: 49.50%

Apply each percentage only to the part of taxable income in that band. Then subtract the applicable general and labour tax credits. A single-rate multiplication is not a valid gross-to-net calculation.

Step 5: Compare Like with Like

Calculate both scenarios with the same salary, pension assumptions and tax-credit rules. Under the ruling, the eligible reimbursement is tax free, subject to the statutory percentage, salary condition, duration and reimbursement cap. The difference between the two estimated net amounts is the estimated benefit.

The calculator uses the 2026 bands and tax-credit formulas. It remains a planning estimate: payroll treatment, pension contributions, other income and personal circumstances can change the result.

Run the 30% ruling calculator and confirm eligibility or consequential decisions with the Belastingdienst or a qualified adviser.

To understand where your salary sits in the broader Dutch labour market, check the average salary Netherlands guide.

The Percentage: Flat 30% Now, 27% From 2027

This is where most 30% ruling calculators — and most articles about them — still get it wrong, so it is worth being precise.

The 30/20/10 Step-Down Was Scrapped Before It Ever Applied

The 2024 Tax Plan introduced a step-down in which the allowance would fall from 30% for months 1–20 to 20% for months 21–40 and 10% for months 41–60. That structure was withdrawn again by the 2025 Tax Plan (Stb. 2024, 434) before it ever took effect. It never reduced anyone’s allowance, it is not Dutch law, and you should not build it into any calculation. Rijksoverheid’s own wording: in 2025 and 2026 the tax-free allowance remains a maximum of 30%.

So for the whole of 2026, the calculation in this guide holds for every month of your ruling: a flat 30%, no month-21 cliff.

What Does Change: 27% From 1 January 2027

From 1 January 2027 the maximum allowance drops from 30% to 27%. Which version applies to you depends on when the ruling was first applied to your salary — not when you applied, and not when your employment started (full detail in our 2027 guide to the 30% ruling):

Two things to note. First, the grandfathering in the top row lapses if your status as an ingekomen werknemer is interrupted after 31 December 2023 and then restarts; a job gap of up to three months does not count as an interruption. Second, the higher 2027 salary norm has been announced but not yet enacted — it has to be set by decree, normally published in the December before it applies. The figures circulating online (€50,436 and €38,338) are in 2024 price levels and the norms are indexed annually, so treat them as indicative only.

What the Drop to 27% Costs

Using the €100,000 example above and the same 2026 rate assumptions, the difference is smaller than the headline suggests:

Roughly €1,000 a year at that salary level — noticeable in your January payslip, but not the cliff that the cancelled step-down would have been.

The 30% ruling: is it still worth it in 2026? article goes deeper on whether the ruling still makes financial sense for applicants starting now.

Common Mistakes That Cost Expats the Ruling

These are the errors I see most often. Several of them result in losing the ruling entirely — not just reducing the benefit.

Mistake 1: Not Applying Within 4 Months

The application window is strict. Your employer must submit the request to the Belastingdienst within 4 months of your first working day in the Netherlands. Miss this window and you lose the ruling from the start date — you cannot backdate the application later.

If you started a job recently and have not yet applied, check the date immediately. Four months passes faster than most people expect.

Mistake 2: Not Meeting the 150km Distance Rule

To qualify, you must have been living more than 150 kilometres from the Dutch border for at least 16 of the 24 months before your Dutch employment began. The Belastingdienst checks this strictly. If you were living in Belgium, Luxembourg, or parts of Germany that fall within 150km of the border, you likely do not qualify — even if you were officially resident in another country.

Distance is measured in a straight line from your former home address to the nearest point on the Dutch border.

Mistake 3: Switching Jobs Without Reapplying

The 30% ruling is tied to your specific employment contract, not to you personally. When you change employers, your ruling does not automatically follow you. Your new employer must submit a fresh application within 4 months of your new start date, and there must be no more than a 3-month gap between your old and new job.

If you took a sabbatical, were between jobs for longer than 3 months, or started a new role without telling your new employer about the ruling, you may have lost it without realising.

Mistake 4: Part-Time Work and the Salary Threshold

The salary thresholds are based on full-time equivalents in terms of the calculation — but the actual salary you receive must still meet the threshold. If you work part-time and your annualised salary falls below €48,013 taxable (for standard applicants), the ruling lapses even if a full-time version of your role would easily qualify.

This catches expats who reduce their hours after the birth of a child or for caregiving reasons. The ruling does not flex with your working hours.

Mistake 5: Forgetting the Ruling Affects Your Tax Return

The 30% ruling changes what you report on your Dutch income tax return (aangifte). Your employer applies the ruling through payroll, but you still need to verify it is applied correctly on your annual return. Check your jaaropgave (annual income statement) from your employer to confirm the taxable salary figure matches expectations. The Dutch tax return checklist for expats covers this in detail.

The 30% Ruling and Box 3: The Advantage That Has Been Abolished

For years this was the underrated part of the ruling: holders could elect partial non-resident taxpayer status (partieel buitenlandse belastingplicht), which kept foreign savings and investments out of Dutch Box 3 wealth tax. If you are reading older articles or older versions of calculators, this is often still presented as a live benefit. It is not.

Partial non-resident status was abolished with effect from 1 January 2025. The Belastingdienst puts it plainly: as of your tax return 2025, you can no longer opt for partial foreign tax liability.

There is one transitional group. If you were already using the 30% ruling before 2024, you may still claim the status up to and including your 2026 tax return — the return you file in the spring of 2027. After that it is gone for everyone. If your ruling started in 2024 or later, the option was never available to you at all.

What that means for your calculation: outside the transitional group, Dutch residents with the 30% ruling pay Box 3 tax on worldwide savings and investments above the exemption (approximately €57,000 per person in 2026), at the 2026 Box 3 rate of 36%. For an expat with €100,000 in foreign savings and investments, the loss of the old exemption is worth in the region of €1,500–€3,000 per year — a real cost to factor in alongside the income tax saving above, not a bonus on top of it.

See Box 3 tax and savings for expats for the full picture, and discuss the transition with a tax adviser before your first affected return rather than after it.

For context on how the Netherlands compares as a destination for expat wealth-building, the Netherlands vs Germany expats comparison covers the tax treatment side by side.

What Happens When the 30% Ruling Ends?

The transition off the 30% ruling hits harder than most expats expect. I call it the “tax cliff.” One month you are paying tax on 70% of your salary; the next month you are paying tax on 100%.

Here is what changes simultaneously when the ruling expires:

Income tax: Your full gross salary becomes taxable. On a €75,000 salary, this adds roughly €8,000–€10,000 in annual income tax. Your monthly net pay drops accordingly.

Box 3 wealth tax: For most people this no longer changes at the moment the ruling ends, because partial non-resident status was abolished from 1 January 2025 — worldwide savings and investments are already in your Dutch Box 3 base. The exception is the transitional group (ruling in use before 2024), for whom the option disappears after the 2026 tax return regardless of when the ruling itself expires.

Practical planning steps:

• Start planning 12–18 months before the ruling expires
• Review your pension contributions — increasing employer pension contributions can reduce your Box 1 taxable income
• Consider whether building assets in a Dutch pension structure (lijfrente) makes sense at this point
• If you are considering leaving the Netherlands, the timing relative to the ruling’s expiry matters significantly

The Dutch pension system for expats guide covers how pension structures interact with taxable income. For a broader view of post-ruling financial planning, cost of living in the Netherlands 2026 helps calibrate how much income you actually need.

Sending Savings Abroad During the Ruling

One reason the 30% ruling is so valuable is that it leaves more money in your pocket each month. Many expats use this period to build savings and investments back in their home country or in international accounts.

See the Wise review for expats for a full breakdown of what Wise costs versus bank transfers on common currency pairs including EUR/GBP, EUR/USD, and EUR/INR.

How to Apply for the 30% Ruling

The application process involves four steps. It is relatively straightforward — most of the complexity is in meeting the eligibility requirements, not in the paperwork itself.

Step 1: Confirm eligibility with your employer

Your employer must agree to participate and will need to confirm your role meets the “specific expertise” requirement — that your skills are scarce on the Dutch labour market. In practice, most professional roles in technology, finance, engineering, and similar fields qualify without difficulty.

Step 2: Gather your documents

You will need:

• A copy of your employment contract
• Proof of your previous address abroad (utility bills, tax documents, or official correspondence showing you lived more than 150km from the Dutch border)
• Your DigiD and BSN number
• Your diplomas or qualifications (especially for the under-30 MSc route)
• Payroll details from your employer

Step 3: Submit the application jointly

The application (Form “Beschikking loonheffingskorting voor de loonheffingen”) is submitted by your employer to the Belastingdienst. You provide information; your employer files it. Confirm with your HR or payroll department that they have done this within the 4-month window.

Step 4: Receive the ruling

The Belastingdienst typically responds within 10–12 weeks. Once approved, the ruling is applied through payroll retroactively to your start date (if filed within the 4-month window). You will receive a formal decision letter specifying the start and end dates.

For eligibility questions — particularly the 150km rule and the specific expertise requirement — the 30% ruling eligibility guide covers the detail. If you are freelancing through a ZZP structure, the ZZP freelancer guide Netherlands covers whether and how the ruling can be accessed through that route.

Comparing the 30% Ruling Across Different Salary Levels

At salaries close to the threshold (€55,000–€70,000), you save a significant chunk but much of it comes from pushing income down through the first bracket. At higher salaries (€90,000+), a meaningful portion of your non-exempt income is already in the 49.50% bracket, so the saving there is larger in absolute euros per percentage point.

There is also a floor effect worth noting: if your salary sits close to the minimum threshold, a pay cut or change to part-time hours can cause the ruling to lapse entirely. Someone on €72,000 gross has a comfortable margin above €68,590. Someone on €69,000 has almost no margin — any reduction in salary puts them below the threshold.

For expats evaluating job offers and salary negotiations, the 30% ruling is relevant context. A Dutch employer offering €70,000 gross with the ruling active is effectively offering a very different package from a foreign employer offering the same nominal salary. The average salary Netherlands guide helps with benchmarking what to expect in different industries.

Using the 30% Ruling Netherlands Calculator

The calculation above is accurate but simplified, which is why it is worth running a 30 ruling calculator alongside it. Real-world Dutch taxes also include:

• General tax credit (algemene heffingskorting): A credit that reduces your tax bill, scaled to income level
• Labour tax credit (arbeidskorting): An additional credit for employment income
• Social insurance contributions: AOW, ANW, and WLZ contributions (collectively “volksverzekeringen”) which are built into the 35.75% rate but interact with income levels
• Holiday allowance: Most Dutch salaries include 8% holiday allowance (vakantiegeld), which is taxed in the month it is paid

The combination of these elements means the net saving is always slightly different from the straight tax calculation above. Our 30% ruling calculator accounts for all of these variables and produces a monthly and annual net income comparison you can put directly in a spreadsheet.

You can also cross-check your salary against Dutch benchmarks using the salary comparison tool and browse all our tax and finance tools at /tools/.

For those building a longer-term financial picture in the Netherlands, investing in the Netherlands as an expat covers what happens to savings and investment returns under the Dutch system both during and after the ruling period.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the 30 ruling?

The 30 ruling, normally written as the 30% ruling, is a Dutch tax benefit for highly skilled migrants recruited from abroad. Your employer may pay up to 30% of your agreed gross salary as a tax-free allowance, so you pay Dutch income tax on the remaining 70% instead of on the full amount. It runs for a maximum of 5 years, your salary has to stay above the minimum threshold, and the allowance is a flat 30% throughout 2026. Eligibility is covered in The 30% Ruling in the Netherlands 2026.

What is a 30 ruling calculator and what does it show?

A 30 ruling calculator compares two scenarios for the same gross salary — your estimated net income with the tax-free allowance applied and without it — using the current Box 1 bands and tax credits. The difference is your estimated benefit per year and per month. It stays an estimate: payroll treatment, pension contributions, other income and personal circumstances all move the result, so confirm eligibility and any consequential decision with the Belastingdienst or a qualified adviser. Run the 30% ruling Netherlands calculator for your own salary.

How much does the 30% ruling save me in 2026?

The exact amount depends on your gross salary. On a €60,000 gross salary, the 30% ruling saves approximately €6,000–€8,000 per year in net income. On €75,000 gross, you save roughly €8,000–€10,000 per year. On €100,000 gross, the saving is around €11,000–€13,000 per year based on 2026 tax rates. Those figures hold for every month of 2026, because the allowance is a flat 30% — the 30/20/10 step-down was scrapped before it took effect. From January 2027 most holders move to 27%, which trims the saving by roughly €1,000 a year at a €100,000 salary. Try our calculator for your specific salary.

What is the minimum salary for the 30% ruling in 2026?

In 2026, the minimum taxable salary after the 30% reduction is €48,013 per year for standard applicants aged 30 and over. This translates to a gross salary of approximately €68,590. For employees under 30 with a qualifying master’s degree, the minimum is €36,497 taxable, or roughly €52,138 gross. Scientific researchers at designated institutions face no minimum threshold.

Not through the standard route. The ruling requires a formal employment relationship. As a ZZP freelancer, you do not qualify unless you are employed through a payroll or umbrella company. The ZZP guide covers the options available to freelancers in the Netherlands.

What happens if I switch jobs?

Your 30% ruling does not transfer automatically. Your new employer must submit a fresh application within 4 months of your start date, and there must be no gap longer than 3 months between your old and new roles. The remaining duration of your original 5-year period carries over. See the complete 30% ruling guide for the transfer process in detail.

How long does the 30% ruling last?

The ruling runs for a maximum of 5 years. The percentage is a flat 30% for every month in 2025 and 2026: the 30/20/10 step-down announced in the 2024 Tax Plan was scrapped by the 2025 Tax Plan before it ever applied. From 1 January 2027 the maximum drops to 27%, unless the ruling was already applied to your salary on or before 31 December 2023 — those holders keep 30% for their remaining duration.

What is the Box 3 advantage of the 30% ruling?

There is no longer one. Partial non-resident taxpayer status, which used to keep foreign savings and investments out of Dutch Box 3, was abolished with effect from 1 January 2025 and cannot be elected from the 2025 tax return onwards. Only one transitional group is left: if you were already using the ruling before 2024, you can still claim it up to and including your 2026 return (filed in spring 2027). If your ruling started in 2024 or later, your worldwide savings and investments are in Dutch Box 3, taxed at 36% in 2026.

Can my employer refuse to apply for the 30% ruling?

Technically yes, since the application is a joint submission and requires employer participation. In practice, most employers encourage it because it can also reduce employer-side costs in some structures. If your employer refuses without justification, get independent tax advice — the financial stakes are high enough to warrant it.

What happens after the 30% ruling expires?

Your full gross salary becomes taxable at standard Dutch rates. The effect on net income can be €8,000–€17,000 per year on typical expat salaries. Box 3 no longer changes at that moment for most people, since partial non-resident status was abolished from 1 January 2025 and worldwide assets are already in the Dutch base. Planning 12–18 months ahead — reviewing pension structures, savings arrangements, and whether to remain in the Netherlands — helps manage the transition.

Final Thoughts

The 30% ruling is one of the most financially significant benefits available to skilled workers anywhere in Europe. On a mid-range expat salary of €75,000, it puts roughly €700 extra per month in your pocket for up to five years at the flat 30% rate that applies in 2026. What it no longer comes with is the old Box 3 exemption on foreign assets, so budget for Dutch wealth tax on savings and investments held abroad.

The mechanics are not complicated once you run through the calculation once. The critical points are: check the salary threshold before assuming you qualify, apply within the 4-month window without exception, and plan the transition off the ruling well in advance.

Run your personalised calculation in our 30% ruling calculator — it takes under a minute and gives you the monthly and annual net income difference for your specific salary and situation.