Maximum salary proposed for the 30% ruling
In the Spring Memorandum 2022, the government proposes to adjust the 30% ruling. As of 2024, the regulation will be limited to a salary of a maximum of the Balkenende norm. In 2022 this was € 216,000. This new measure has a transition period of three years.
Employees who come to the Netherlands from another country to work here, can, under certain conditions, receive up to 30% of their salary untaxed, thanks to the 30% ruling. The ruling was under discussion during the cabinet’s search for fiscal space. Fortunately, it is not proposed to abolish the rule or to shorten its duration (again). Instead, the Spring Memorandum 2022 proposes to limit the scheme to the so-called Balkenende norm. As a result, as of 2024, the scheme will (probably) still apply up to a maximum of the standard of the WNT (Act on the Standardization of Top Income). The maximum salary for the WNT will be € 216,000 in 2022. The adjustment will therefore affect the real big earners. The average expat will not notice anything of this adjustment.
30% ruling for foreign employees
Foreign employees often incur additional costs for their stay in the Netherlands. For the reimbursement of these extraterritorial costs – such as the cost of accommodation – a targeted exemption applies in the work-related costs scheme, as long as the employer keeps track of the actual costs per employee in the payroll records. However, the employer sometimes has the option of reimbursing up to 30% of the salary untaxed, which saves a lot of administrative work. Employers can only opt for this 30% ruling under certain conditions and after granting the ruling by the tax authorities. For this employer and employee will have to file an application.
The maximization of the salary covered by the scheme comes in response to the dissatisfaction of various political parties with the amount of the tax-free allowance which, in the case of large earners, was disproportionate to the actual extraterritorial costs. The tax-free allowance can now be better targeted. But the main reason for the change is that it should save the government € 85 million structurally from 2026.
Update December 2023: the amendment was already approved and there were new amendments in 2023 which will also negatively affect the 30% ruling from 2024 onwards.
