30% tax ruling: Start and validity
If you meet the conditions of the 30% ruling, when does the validity period of the 30% ruling start? What is the validity period of the 30% ruling? If we are able to apply for the 30% ruling within 4 months of the start of your employment, the 30% tax ruling can be applied retroactively until the first day of the employment. It is then valid for 5 years, unless the validity period is shortened. The validity period will be shortened if the application has not been made within the 4 month period. The 30% ruling’s validity will start on the first day of the month following the application. It will then be shortened with the time spent between the start of the employment and the first day of the validity period of the 30% ruling.
For example, if an employee starts working on 1 July and no application is made until 21 October, the 30% ruling is valid starting 1 November. The validity period will be shortened with 4 months (July, August, September and October), because it was not made in time.
Validity period of the 30% ruling: time already spent in the Netherlands
The validity period of the 30% ruling can also be shortened because of time spent or working days in the Netherlands in the last 25 years before starting your employment. If it actually is shortened because of this depends on the nature of your earlier presence here. If the working days in the Netherlands total 20 days per calendar year or less, they will not be deducted. Also if you were in the Holland for private reasons for at maximum 6 weeks per calendar year the validity period will not be shortened. One period of stay for more than 6 weeks in a calendar year but at maximum 3 consecutive months for private reasons is also disregarded. If the validity period of the Netherlands 30% tax ruling is shortened, it is rounded up to full months. Only periods of actual physical stay in the Netherlands are deducted from the validity period of the 30% ruling.
So if for example an employee:
- worked in the Netherlands for 40 days in 2009, the validity period is shortened with one month;
- was on holiday here from 1 June to 10 September 2010, 3 months will be deducted from the validity period as this is longer than 3 consecutive months;
- was in Holland for private reasons from 1 July to 1 August 2011, the validity period will not be shortened as this is less than 6 weeks;
- was on holiday in the Netherlands from 1 June to 1 August 2012, no deduction is made from the validity period as this is the first period spent in the Netherlands for private reasons of more than 6 weeks but less than 3 consecutive months;
- was also in the Netherlands for visiting relatives for 2 consecutive months in 2013 from 1 July to 1 September, these 2 months will be deducted from the validity period as this is the second period spent in the Netherlands of more than 6 weeks and less than 3 consecutive months.
