If you moved to the Netherlands on a nice salary package, there is a date you should have in your diary. From 1 January 2027, the tax-free part of the 30% ruling falls to 27%. For plenty of people that works out to a few hundred euros a month. Sometimes more.
The change is not a surprise. It was already written into the 2025 tax plan, which was passed back in December 2024. What catches people out is the second part, the bit that got far less attention in the news.
The 30% ruling, in plain words
The ruling lets your employer pay part of your salary tax-free if you were recruited from abroad and you have a skill the Dutch market is short of. The idea was always simple: cover the extra cost of moving countries. The percentage used to be 30. From January it becomes 27.
There are transitions. If you were already using the ruling in the last payroll period of 2023, you keep the 30% for the rest of your term. If you qualified during 2024, separate rules protect certain salary thresholds. So not everyone feels the same hit on the same day.
The part almost nobody mentions
The bigger money question for some expats is not the 27%. It is the end of partial non-resident tax treatment. In simple terms, that was a break that let people keep a foot in the old system and pay less on certain income for a few years. When it goes, the tax office treats your worldwide assets and income a lot more like everyone else’s.
If you hold shares, savings or a second home back in your home country, run the numbers with an adviser before January. The 3% is easy to explain. This one is not.
What actually changes for you
- Payroll: your net pay drops from the first payslip of 2027, unless your transition period protects you.
- Planning: if your term ends in 2027, renewal or extension is a conversation to have with your employer now, not in February.
- Wealth tax: once the partial non-resident status ends, your worldwide assets count for the Dutch Box 3 calculation.
It is not only the Netherlands
Malta is rewriting its residency tax programs too, with a hard deadline of 31 December 2026 to lock in the old terms, and Japan is tightening its permanent residency rules. If you are weighing up a move, this is a good month to compare, not January when the new rules are already live.
None of this is a reason to panic. It is a reason to read the fine print and get advice on your own situation, not the situation of a forum stranger from 2021.
Related reading
- Best IPTV for expats in 2026: what to look for
- Panama named best country for expats in 2026, again
- How to watch your home country’s TV channels abroad
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