Researched by ExpatMoneyEU Research Team · Last updated 29 October 2026 · Data: Belastingdienst 30% ruling rules 2026 (thresholds €48,013 / €36,497, salary cap €262,000) + Dutch box 1 rates used in our Netherlands net salary calculator. This page answers even before you interact: on an €85,000 gross salary, the ruling is worth about €1,102.73 per month — €13,232.78 per year, €66,163.90 over 5 years.
The short answer: The Dutch 30% ruling lets your employer pay up to 30% of your salary tax-free as a reimbursement for extraterritorial costs, for up to 5 years. Only the remaining 70% is taxed — and because the tax-free part is capped at a €262,000 salary base, the maximum allowance is €78,600 per year. On a typical €85,000 offer, that is worth more than €1,100 extra net per month.
Calculate your 30% ruling saving
| Item | With ruling | Without ruling |
|---|---|---|
| Gross annual salary | €85,000.00 | €85,000.00 |
| Tax-free allowance (30%, capped) | €25,500.00 | €0.00 |
| Taxable salary | €59,500.00 | €85,000.00 |
| Box 1 tax before credits | €21,644.42 | €32,007.15 |
| General + labour tax credits | €5,989.59 | €3,119.54 |
| Income tax payable | €15,654.83 | €28,887.61 |
| Net salary / year | €69,345.17 | €56,112.39 |
| Net salary / month | €5,778.76 | €4,676.03 |
What this calculator does: it turns a Dutch gross salary into the two numbers that matter in a job negotiation — your net pay with the ruling and your net pay without it — and shows the monthly and 5-year value of the ruling itself. If the ruling is worth €1,100 a month to you, that is €13,200 a year of negotiation leverage you should know about before you sign.
How to use the calculator
- Enter your gross annual salary — the full yearly figure in your Dutch contract, before any ruling is applied.
- Pick your category — standard, or under 30 with a qualifying master's degree, which lowers the salary threshold to €36,497.
- Read the two columns — net pay with the ruling against net pay without it, plus the eligibility check against the 2026 threshold.
- Share or save the result — the “Copy link to this result” button encodes your inputs in the URL, handy when comparing two offers side by side.
→rarr; Netherlands Net Salary Calculator 2026 — with the 30% ruling toggle
The formula
The ruling changes only one thing — how much of your salary is taxed — and everything else follows from the normal Dutch tax calculation:
Tax-free allowance = min(30% × Gross salary, €78,600) · Taxable salary = Gross − Allowance · Saving = Tax(without ruling) − Tax(with ruling)
- Eligibility test: your taxable salary after the allowance must clear €48,013 per year (standard) or €36,497 (under 30 with a qualifying master's) in 2026. Because the allowance is 30%, the gross salary you actually need is roughly 1.43 times the threshold — about €68,600 standard, or about €52,100 under-30. An offer at exactly €48,013 gross does not qualify.
- Salary cap: the allowance applies only up to a €262,000 salary base (the WNT/Balkenende norm for 2026), so the maximum tax-free amount is €78,600 per year. Income above the cap is taxed in full.
- Duration and conditions: up to 5 years (60 months), only through a Dutch employer withholding Dutch payroll tax — freelancers and ZZP'ers cannot use it. You must have lived more than 150 km from the Dutch border for at least 16 of the 24 months before your first Dutch work day, and your employer must apply within 4 months of your start date for the ruling to backdate to day one.
- 2027 change: the rate stays at 30% through 2026 and is scheduled to fall to a flat 27% from 1 January 2027 for rulings that started on or after 1 January 2024. The calculator models the 2026 rate; treat the 5-year total as an upper bound if your term runs past 2026.
→rarr; 30% Ruling Netherlands 2026 — thresholds, rules, application
Worked example
Take an expat on €85,000 gross in Amsterdam, standard category. The allowance is 30% × €85,000 = €25,500, so taxable salary falls from €85,000 to €59,500 — comfortably above the €48,013 threshold. Box 1 tax before credits is €21,644.42 with the ruling against €32,007.15 without it; after general and labour tax credits (€5,989.59 with the ruling, €3,119.54 without), tax payable is €15,654.83 against €28,887.61. Result: €69,345.17 net per year with the ruling against €56,112.39 without — a saving of €13,232.78 per year, €1,102.73 per month, €66,163.90 over 5 years. Compare it with our Germany net salary calculator if you are weighing Amsterdam against Berlin.
→rarr; Best Bank Accounts in Netherlands for Expats (2026 Guide)
Saving at a glance: 2026 estimates
| Gross / year | Tax-free allowance | Taxable salary | Net with ruling / year | Net without / year | Saving / month | Saving over 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| €55,000.00 | €16,500.00 | €38,500.00 | €49,337.02 | €41,616.32 | €643.39 | €38,603.50 |
| €70,000.00 | €21,000.00 | €49,000.00 | €59,644.52 | €49,045.82 | €883.23 | €52,993.50 |
| €85,000.00 | €25,500.00 | €59,500.00 | €69,345.17 | €56,112.39 | €1,102.73 | €66,163.90 |
| €120,000.00 | €36,000.00 | €84,000.00 | €91,672.49 | €71,508.89 | €1,680.30 | €100,818.00 |
The pattern to notice: the saving grows with salary because the allowance shelters income that would otherwise be taxed at 37.56% or 49.5% — but the threshold test bites at the bottom. Below roughly €68,600 gross (standard category), the ruling does not apply at all, so a €65,000 offer and a €70,000 offer are not €5,000 apart in net terms — they are more than €10,000 apart. That cliff is the single most valuable thing to know before you negotiate.
→ Netherlands Net Salary Calculator 2026 — with the 30% ruling toggle
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Once you know your net pay, the next step is the account it lands in. Our best bank accounts in Netherlands guide compares the options for newcomers, and our best bank account for Indians in Netherlands guide scores them for the Indian corridor. If you are weighing Amsterdam against Berlin, run the same income through our Germany net salary calculator before you decide.
→rarr; Best Bank Account for Pakistanis in Netherlands — November 2026 Guide
How we calculated: methodology & sources
Methodology
Sources (2026): Belastingdienst 30% ruling rules — taxable-salary thresholds €48,013 (standard) and €36,497 (under 30 with a qualifying master's); salary cap €262,000 (maximum allowance €78,600); 5-year maximum term; 150 km / 16-of-24-months distance rule; 4-month application window; 27% rate scheduled from 1 January 2027. Tax model: the same box 1 model as our Netherlands net salary calculator — 35.75% to €38,883, 37.56% to €78,426, 49.5% above; general tax credit up to €3,115 phased out above €29,736; labour tax credit per the standard formula. Simplifications: no pension contributions, no social insurance, no prior Dutch residence shortening the term; monthly figures are 12-month averages of the annual result. Figures are illustrative estimates — verify with your employer or a tax advisor.
By the numbers
The 30% ruling's salary cap for 2026 is €262,000 — up from €246,000 in 2025 — giving a maximum tax-free allowance of €78,600 per year (Belastingdienst, 2026). The ruling applies for a maximum of five years, and the threshold is tested every year of the term, not just at the start: dropping below it in any year can cost the ruling for that year.
ExpatMoneyEU verdict: on an €85,000 gross salary in the Netherlands, the 30% ruling is worth roughly €1,102.73/month in 2026 — and the threshold cliff means a €70,000 offer can beat a €65,000 offer by far more than €5,000 in net terms. Negotiate the gross, then check the ruling.
Disclosure: the buttons below are affiliate links — they may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. See our affiliate disclosure.
New in the Netherlands? Once your first Dutch salary lands, send part of it home at the real exchange rate instead of your bank's marked-up rate.
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