The 30% Ruling for Americans: DAFT and Your Own BV
The short answer
An American gets the 30% ruling when four things are true at once: you are employed by a Dutch payroll (your own BV counts), you were recruited from abroad, you lived more than 150km from the Dutch border for at least 16 of the 24 months before your first Dutch working day, and your salary is above the threshold. The 150km test is automatic from the United States. The salary is a matter of how you set up the company. The one that trips Americans up is "recruited from abroad," because the obvious DAFT path, arriving as a freelancer and figuring out tax later, fails it.
So the working version is this: come over on the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty (DAFT) with a Dutch BV rather than a one-person business, have the BV sign you to an employment contract while you are still in the US, then apply for the ruling within four months of your first working day here.
DAFT and the 30% ruling are two different things
People blur these together because they often come up in the same conversation, but they are run by different authorities and solve different problems.
DAFT is immigration. The Dutch-American Friendship Treaty lets a US citizen get a Dutch residence permit to run their own business, without the points test that other nationalities face. You keep at least 4,500 euro of equity in the business, the first permit runs two years, and it renews for five. It is handled by the IND.
The 30% ruling is tax. It lets a Dutch employer pay up to 30% of your gross salary as a tax-free allowance for the extra costs of moving countries, for up to five years. It is handled by the Dutch Tax Authority (Belastingdienst), and it has nothing to do with which visa you hold.
You can have DAFT without the ruling, and most DAFT entrepreneurs do. Combining the two is a deliberate setup, not something that happens automatically when you arrive.
| DAFT | 30% ruling | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A residence permit | A payroll tax break |
| Who runs it | IND (immigration) | Belastingdienst (tax) |
| What it gives you | The right to live in NL and run a business | Up to 30% of salary paid tax-free |
| Key number | 4,500 euro equity in the business | ~68,590 euro gross salary (2026) |
Why a DAFT freelancer cannot use the ruling
Under DAFT you can register either as a sole proprietorship (a ZZP or eenmanszaak) or as a BV. The sole proprietorship is simpler and cheaper, so a lot of Americans default to it. It is also a dead end for the 30% ruling.
The 30% ruling is a wage tax facility. It only works where there is an employer running payroll and withholding wage tax on a salary. A sole proprietor has none of that. You are taxed on the profit of your business in Box 1, there is no employer, there is no salary, so there is nothing for the ruling to apply to. No amount of paperwork later turns a ZZP into an eligible employee.
This is the single most expensive mistake in the DAFT world: arriving as a freelancer for the easy setup, then discovering a year in that the tax break everyone talks about was never available to you. If the 30% ruling matters to your numbers, you need the BV from the start.
The BV route: become your own employee
A BV (besloten vennootschap) is a private limited company, a separate legal person from you. You become its director and its shareholder, which in Dutch terms makes you a DGA: a directeur-grootaandeelhouder, a director who also holds the shares.
For wage tax, a DGA is an employee of their own company. The BV runs payroll, pays you a salary, and withholds wage tax, exactly like any other employer. Because there is a real employment relationship and a real Dutch withholding agent, the BV can apply the 30% ruling to your salary. The Belastingdienst accepts the ruling for directors of their own BV, as long as all the normal conditions are met.
DAFT and the BV fit together here too. DAFT is a self-employment permit, so you cannot use it to take a salaried job at someone else's company. Employing yourself through your own BV is different: you are still running your own business, and the salary the BV pays its director is part of that. The BV is exactly the DAFT structure that opens the door to the 30% ruling.
The rule that makes or breaks it: recruited from abroad
Here is where almost every American DAFT-plus-ruling plan lives or dies. The 30% ruling is only for an employee who was "recruited or seconded from abroad." When the employer is a normal company, that is obvious: they hired you while you lived overseas. When the employer is your own BV, the Belastingdienst asks the same question in a stricter way: was the employment relationship entered into while you still lived abroad?
In practice that means the BV must be incorporated, and the employment contract between the BV and you signed, while you are still a US resident with a US address, before you de-register in the US and register with a Dutch municipality. It cannot be backdated. If you move first, register in the Netherlands, and only then set up the BV and put yourself on its payroll, you were already living here when the company hired you. That is not recruitment from abroad, and the ruling is refused.
Incorporate the BV and sign your director's employment contract while you still live in the United States, before you register at a Dutch town hall. This is the hinge of the whole structure and it cannot be fixed after the fact. Move first, and you lose the ruling permanently for this job.
Since the 2025 Belastingplan the Belastingdienst has been tougher on the "recruited from abroad" test, and the self-employed-person-who-sets-up-their-own-BV pattern is exactly the kind of case that draws a closer look. The structure is legitimate and widely used, but the timing and the paper trail have to be clean.
The whole of the United States sits far more than 150km from the Dutch border, so the distance test that catches Belgian and German applicants is a non-issue for you. You just need to have actually lived at your US address for at least 16 of the 24 months before your first Dutch working day.
What salary you have to pay yourself
The 30% ruling has a salary floor, and it is checked on the salary that is left after the 30% is taken off. For 2026 your taxable salary after the deduction has to be at least 48,013 euro, which means paying yourself roughly 68,590 euro gross. If you are under 30 with a recognised master's degree, the floor drops to 36,497 euro taxable, about 52,139 euro gross.
Your BV has to actually earn enough to pay that. A director is also subject to the customary-salary rule (gebruikelijk loon), a separate Dutch requirement that a DGA pay themselves a normal market salary rather than nothing. Between the two, a brand-new DAFT business that bills 30,000 euro in its first year simply cannot support a salary that clears the 30% ruling threshold. The structure works best when the business has real, predictable revenue from day one, for example an established consulting book you are bringing with you.
One more timing point on the rate itself. The deduction is 30% for rulings that start in 2026. New rulings that start from 2027 onwards drop to 27%. If your first working day can realistically fall in 2026, starting this year locks in the higher rate for the full run. See our salary threshold guide for how the floor is calculated.
The order that works, step by step
The sequence matters more than any single step. Done in this order, the recruited-from-abroad condition is satisfied by construction:
- Decide on a BV, not a ZZP, while you are still in the US. If the 30% ruling is part of your plan, the sole proprietorship is off the table.
- Incorporate the Dutch BV through a civil-law notary. This can be done remotely from the US, with your US address on record as the shareholder and director.
- Sign an employment contract between the BV and you as director, dated while you still live in the US, with a defined start date in the Netherlands.
- Apply for the DAFT residence permit based on the BV, and fund the business so its equity stays at or above 4,500 euro.
- Move, register with your municipality, and get your BSN. Your first working day for the BV starts the clock.
- File the 30% ruling request within four months of that first working day. The BV and you apply jointly. Miss the four months and you lose the retroactive part, not the ruling itself.
- Run payroll at or above the threshold salary from the start.
Steps 2 and 3 are the immigration-and-corporate side and usually involve a notary and an immigration advisor. Step 6 is the tax form, and it is the part we handle: see how the application works.
Worked example: Sarah from Austin
Sarah is a UX consultant in Austin with a steady book of US and European clients. She wants to move to Amsterdam.
The version that works
While still in Texas, Sarah has a Dutch BV incorporated and signs a director's employment contract with it, dated February 2026, with a start date of May 11, 2026. She applies for DAFT based on the BV, keeps 5,000 euro of equity in it, and moves in May. Her BV pays her 70,000 euro gross. Within four months she and the BV file the 30% ruling.
Result: roughly 21,000 euro of her salary is paid as a tax-free allowance each year, for up to five years. Because her ruling starts in 2026, the rate is the full 30%.
Now take her friend Mark, same profession, same city. Mark moves to Amsterdam first, registers as a ZZP'er, and freelances for eight months. He likes it, decides to stay, and sets up a BV to employ himself so he can claim the 30% ruling.
The version that fails
By the time Mark's BV hired him, he was already living in Amsterdam and registered with the municipality. His own company did not recruit him from abroad, it recruited a Dutch resident. The 30% ruling is refused, and there is no way to backdate it. Same career, same salary, very different tax bill, decided entirely by the order of two steps.
Where Americans get this wrong
- Coming as a ZZP'er and planning to "switch later." There is no switch. A sole proprietor is not an employee, and you cannot retro-fit recruitment from abroad once you live here.
- Incorporating the BV or signing the contract after registering in a Dutch municipality. That single ordering mistake is the most common reason these applications fail.
- Paying yourself below the threshold to save cash early. Drop under the floor and you break eligibility, not just for that month but for the ruling.
- Treating the DAFT approval as the 30% ruling. Two authorities, two separate applications. A residence permit says nothing about your tax position.
- Missing the four-month application window. File late and you keep the ruling going forward but lose the months between your start date and the application.
BV set up and contract signed? The ruling itself is a form.
Once your Dutch BV employs you and the timing is right, the 30% ruling application is a single form to the Belastingdienst. For 49 euro incl. VAT we pre-fill the official form from the details you enter, you download it instantly, and you submit it yourself. We do not set up your BV or your DAFT permit (that is a notary and immigration matter), and this is general information, not personalized tax advice. See our pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get the 30% ruling as a DAFT freelancer (ZZP)?
No. The ruling is only for employees on a Dutch payroll. A DAFT sole proprietorship makes you self-employed, with no employer and no wage tax, so there is nothing for the ruling to apply to. You need a Dutch BV that employs you as its director.
Do I have to set up the BV before I move?
In practice, yes. The employment relationship has to start while you still live in the US, or you fail the recruited-from-abroad test, and it cannot be backdated. Incorporate the BV and sign the contract before you register with a Dutch municipality.
Does the United States automatically meet the 150km rule?
Yes. The whole country is far more than 150km from the Dutch border, so the distance test is met, as long as you lived at your US address for at least 16 of the 24 months before your first Dutch working day. The eligibility checker walks through this.
How much salary must my BV pay me?
Enough that 70% of it clears the 2026 threshold: about 68,590 euro gross for the standard rate, or about 52,139 euro gross if you are under 30 with a recognised master's degree. Your business has to generate enough to pay that, and a director is also subject to the customary-salary rule.
Is the deduction still 30%?
For rulings that start in 2026, yes. New rulings from 2027 onwards drop to 27%, so starting before the end of 2026 locks in the higher rate. More on the 2027 changes.
Is this tax advice?
No. This is general information to help you understand how the pieces fit. DAFT is an IND matter, the BV needs a civil-law notary, and the customary-salary and recruited-from-abroad tests turn on your exact facts. We pre-fill the 30% ruling form once you are eligible; we do not give advice or file on your behalf. For the official rules, see business.gov.nl on the expat scheme.