Do you have questions about expat facilities?

Expat facilities

Many countries offer special tax arrangements for individuals living or working there, whether on a temporary or a permanent basis. In essence, most of these facilities offer the possibility of paying tax-free allowances for certain expenses during a limited period of time, or another method of reducing the amount of tax that the employee has to pay.

Contact us

The Netherlands

The Dutch wage tax regime for employees recruited abroad includes a specific facility: the 30% ruling. The 30% ruling allows employers, without being required to provide evidence, to pay up to 30% of the employee’s wages including the remuneration, or else 30/70 of the wages exclusive of the remuneration, as a tax-free wage component. The 30% ruling is also available to some categories of employees posted abroad, namely:

• Employees posted abroad from the Netherlands to countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America and to some Eastern European countries;
• Employees posted abroad from the Netherlands for scientific or teaching purposes;
• Officials representing the Netherlands abroad;
• Officials, members of the judiciary and members of the military who are posted to the BES islands, Curaçao, Sint Maarten or Aruba;
• Members of the military who are posted abroad to countries outside the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
• Another requirement is that the employee must spend at least 45 days abroad within a period of 12 months; foreign postings lasting fewer than 15 days are disregarded for these purposes. However, once the employee has satisfied this 45-days requirement, the calculation of the number of days for which the 30% ruling may be applied then covers all foreign postings of 10 days or longer.