The 30% ruling and your mortgage: 2026 and 2027 rules

How the 30% ruling works in 2026, what changes from 2027 and what it means for your Dutch mortgage. With a worked example and open questions.

Written by: Woningmarkt NL editors. Updated 17 October 2026

What is the 30% ruling?

Under the expat scheme, better known as the 30% ruling, your employer may pay part of your salary tax-free to cover the extra cost of working in the Netherlands. According to the Belastingdienst (Dutch Tax Administration), the 2026 conditions include:

• your annual salary excluding the tax-free allowance is above €48,013, or above €36,497 if you are under 30 with a master's degree (researchers at a designated institution and medical specialists in training have no salary threshold);
• you were recruited from abroad and, in the 24 months before your first working day, lived more than 16 months more than 150 km from the Dutch border;
• the ruling lasts at most 5 years.

Since 2026 the allowance applies to a salary of at most €262,000, so the maximum tax-free allowance for a full year is €78,600.

The phase-down: from 30-20-10 to 27%

A phase-down to 30%, 20% and 10% was agreed earlier but has been reversed. Instead, according to Rijksoverheid.nl:

• ruling started on or before 31 December 2023: still up to 30% from 2027, with the current salary threshold;
• ruling started in 2024: up to 30% in 2025 and 2026, then up to 27% from 2027 with the current threshold;
• ruling started on or after 1 January 2025: up to 30% in 2025 and 2026, then up to 27% from 2027 with a higher salary threshold.

The higher 2027 thresholds are set in law at 2024 price levels (€50,436, and €38,388 for under-30s with a master's) and will be indexed. We have not yet found the indexed 2027 amounts on an official source.

How do lenders treat the 30% ruling?

To be straight with you: no official rule sets how a lender counts the tax-free allowance. The Trhk tables work with your gross test income. Whether the allowance counts, and for how long (for example only for the remaining term of your ruling), is each lender's own policy. We found no verifiable source for it, so we name no percentages or banks. Ask your adviser and get the answer in writing.

What is certain: when the ruling ends (after at most 5 years) or drops to 27%, your net income falls while your mortgage payments stay the same. Check your monthly budget against your net pay without the allowance too.

Worked example

An expat earns €80,000 gross a year and the employer pays 30% tax-free (€24,000). The taxable part is €56,000, above the €48,013 threshold, so the condition is met.

• If a lender counts the full €80,000 as test income, our mortgage calculator gives about €353,300 at 4.0%, fixed for 10 years, energy label E.
• If it counts only the taxable €56,000, it becomes about €220,900. Enter both amounts in the calculator to see the gap.
• If the ruling started in 2024 or later, the tax-free allowance drops to at most 27% from 2027 (€21,600 at this salary). Your gross salary does not change; your net income does.

Brokers vs banks

An independent mortgage adviser can compare the policies of several lenders. A bank advises on its own products. Either way, ask what the advice costs and whether the adviser is paid a fixed fee or commission. We have no deals with advisers or banks.

Read more

• Buying a house as an expat
• How much can I borrow
• Buying costs
• House prices by municipality on the map

Disclaimer

This guide is indicative and not financial or tax advice. Your own situation may work out differently. Talk to an independent mortgage adviser and, for the 30% ruling, a tax adviser or your employer.

This text was written with AI assistance. The editors checked the rules and figures against the sources below (as of 17 October 2026).

Sources

1. Belastingdienst, Applying for the expat scheme (Dutch): https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/nl/buitenland/content/ik-kom-in-nederland-werken-30-procent-regeling-aanvragen
2. Rijksoverheid, Expat scheme for highly skilled foreign employees (Dutch): https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/themas/werk/inkomstenbelasting/belastingvoordeel-buitenlandse-werknemers
3. Business.gov.nl (RVO), 30% ruling: compensation for expats down to 27%: https://business.gov.nl/amendments/30-percent-ruling-compensation-down-to-27-percent/
4. Eerste Kamer, Cost estimate note on the 30% ruling (reversal of 30-20-10, higher thresholds; Dutch): https://www.eerstekamer.nl/overig/20241029/ramingstoelichting_30_regeling_2e/f=y.pdf
5. Temporary Mortgage Credit Regulation 2026 (Dutch): https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0032503/2026-01-01/0

Not financial advice. This guide explains rules; your own situation may work out differently.

All guides