When do I have to apply for the 30% ruling?

Within four months of your first working day, if you want it backdated to that day. If you apply later, it starts from the month after you applied, and the months in between are lost rather than delayed.

Do I apply for the 30% ruling myself?

You and your employer apply together, and the employer sends it in. Ask about it in your first week rather than when you see your first payslip, because the deadline is counted from your first working day.

What happens to the 30% ruling if I change jobs?

It does not move with you on its own. Your new employer applies again, within a limited time after the old job ended. A long gap between the two jobs can end the ruling for good.

Guide

The 30% ruling

It is the best known thing about moving here for work. What goes wrong is almost always the timing rather than whether you qualify.

Who this page is for

For people who were hired from abroad, whether you are from the EU or not. It depends on where you lived before you started rather than on your passport.

What it is

The 30% ruling lets your employer pay part of your salary as an allowance with no tax on it. It is meant to cover the costs of moving to another country.

You and your employer apply for it together. It is given for a fixed number of years, counted from the day your job starts.

The size of the allowance and the salary conditions are set every year, and both have changed more than once recently. The app holds the current numbers. This page does not, so that it cannot quietly go out of date.

The four-month deadline

Apply within four months of your first working day and the ruling is backdated to that day.

Apply later and it starts from the month after you applied. The months in between are lost for good rather than delayed. Put this one date in your calendar in the week you arrive.

It runs for a fixed number of years

The period is counted from the start. Any time you spent living or working in the Netherlands before can be taken off it.

What matters day to day is knowing the end date early. If your household budget depends on the ruling, you want warning before it stops.

What happens when you change employer

The ruling belongs to you and your employer together, rather than to you alone.

Moving jobs means a new application, made within a limited time after the old job ends. A long gap between the two jobs can end the ruling for good. Arrange the new application before you resign rather than afterwards.

One extra benefit: your driving licence

If you have the ruling, you can exchange a driving licence from any country for a Dutch one as paperwork, without taking the Dutch tests.

Licences from outside the EU are otherwise only valid here for a limited time after you register. So this is worth using while it applies to you.

The app does the dates for you

Everything on this page depends on where you are from, which permit you have and when you arrived. settlme asks you once, then counts your deadlines down in the order they come.

Download for iPhone Waiting list for Android

Questions people ask about this

When do I have to apply for the 30% ruling?: Within four months of your first working day, if you want it backdated to that day. If you apply later, it starts from the month after you applied, and the months in between are lost rather than delayed.
Do I apply for the 30% ruling myself?: You and your employer apply together, and the employer sends it in. Ask about it in your first week rather than when you see your first payslip, because the deadline is counted from your first working day.
What happens to the 30% ruling if I change jobs?: It does not move with you on its own. Your new employer applies again, within a limited time after the old job ended. A long gap between the two jobs can end the ruling for good.