New Rules and Transitional Law for the 30% Ruling

The Dutch tax authorities issued as so-called kennisgroepstandpunt (knowledge group position of the Dutch tax authorities) about changes to the 30%-ruling, applicable in 2023 and 2024. Per the beginning of 2023 a salary cap was introduced and per 2024 the 30% ruling has been transitioned in a 30%/20%/10% ruling. For rulings already obtained prior to the changes, transitional law applies.

It was unclear whether a 30% ruling that was applied for in time, but granted retroactively can also fall under transitional law. The tax authorities seemed to have the view that retroactive application of the ruling was not sufficient for the transitional law. This new kennisgroepstandpunt clearly ends this discussion by explicitly stating that 30% rulings granted retroactively and applied in payroll retroactively (by way of filing a payroll correction) also fall under transitional law.

In practice this means that:

1. An employee holding the 30% ruling may benefit from an uncapped 30% ruling until 2026 instead of 2024, if the ruling was applied at least in the December 2022 payroll, which now also includes the situation that the ruling is obtained in 2023, but applied with retroactive effect in 2022.
2. An employee holding the 30% ruling may benefit from a 30% ruling instead of a 30%/20%/10% ruling, if the ruling was applied at least in the December 2023 payroll, which now also includes the situation that the ruling is obtained in 2024, but applied with retroactive effect in 2023.

Questions?

If you have any questions with regard to the 30%-ruling, please contact our colleagues of our Employment & Compensation tax team.