30% rule

As an employer, you may reimburse a foreign employee for the additional costs of staying outside their country of origin, the so-called " extraterritorial costs" . You can reimburse the actual extraterritorial costs, but you may also provide 30% of their salary, including the allowance, tax-free. This arrangement is known as the 30% rule. The advantage of the 30% rule is that it is not necessary to prove the actual costs incurred.

Conditions for the 30% rule

To apply the scheme, you must have permission from the Tax and Customs Administration. As an employer, you can submit a request to the Tax and Customs Administration for this. The 30% rule applies to employees who have been recruited outside the Netherlands or who have been seconded from a country other than the Netherlands to work in the Netherlands.

To be eligible for the 30% rule, the following conditions apply:
Your employee has an employment relationship.
- Your employee meets the expertise requirement.
- You have a valid "Request for payroll tax 30% scheme" decision from the Tax and Customs Administration.
- Your employee has lived outside the Netherlands for more than 16 months during the 2 years preceding his first working day in the Netherlands, at a distance of more than 150 km from the Dutch border.
You can make use of the scheme for a maximum of 5 years.