30% Ruling Calculation Examples: What You Actually Keep at €60k, €80k and €100k

How the 30% ruling changes your payslip

The mechanic is simple once you see it laid out. Your employer splits your gross salary into two parts: up to 30% is paid as a tax-free reimbursement of "extraterritorial costs" (the theoretical extra cost of living and working outside your home country), and the remaining 70% or more is your normal taxable wage, taxed at the regular Dutch box 1 rates. You do not pay tax on the 30% portion at all. You pay tax on the rest, same as any other employee.

That taxable remainder has to clear the Belastingdienst's minimum threshold for the ruling to apply in the first place. For 2026 that minimum is €48,013 in taxable wage for the standard category, or €36,497 for employees under 30 with a recognised Master's degree. See the full 2026 threshold breakdown for how that number is set.

The figures below use the official 2026 box 1 rates: 35.75% up to €38,883, 37.56% from €38,883 to €78,426, and 49.50% above €78,426. They exclude the general tax credit and labour tax credit (heffingskortingen), which lower your actual tax bill further and depend on your total income and personal situation. Treat these as close estimates of the mechanic, not a final payslip number. For your exact figure, use our 30% ruling calculator, which runs the same rates and shows the estimate instantly for any gross salary you enter.

Example: €60,000 gross

This is the case where the threshold decides everything. At €60,000 gross, 70% (the taxable portion if the ruling applied) is €42,000. That clears the reduced under-30 threshold of €36,497, but it does not clear the standard threshold of €48,013.

The gap is roughly €6,760 a year, about €560 a month, entirely attributable to the ruling, and it only exists because this employee qualifies under the under-30 Master's route. Someone the same age without a recognised Master's degree, or someone 30 or older, gets no 30% ruling at €60,000 gross at all; the salary simply falls short of the standard gross threshold of roughly €68,590. That is not a partial or reduced version of the ruling. Below the qualifying gross figure for your category, the ruling does not apply, full stop.

Example: €80,000 gross

This is comfortably above the standard threshold (taxable wage would be €56,000, well past €48,013), so the full 30% applies without any category restriction.

Example: €100,000 gross

At this level, a meaningful chunk of income would otherwise sit in the top 49.50% bracket, which is exactly where the ruling's tax-free 30% does the most work.

The gap here is roughly €13,840 a year, about €1,150 a month. Notice that this is proportionally larger than the €80,000 case: without the ruling, €21,574 of the €100,000 would be taxed at 49.50%. With the ruling, none of it reaches that bracket at all, since the taxable wage of €70,000 stays under the €78,426 top-bracket line.

Side-by-side summary

*€60,000 figures assume the under-30 Master's route. Standard-category employees at this gross salary do not qualify.

Why the threshold matters more at lower salaries

The three examples show an asymmetry worth understanding before you assume the ruling is "worth 30% of your salary." It never is, exactly, and at the lower end of the qualifying range it is an all-or-nothing gate rather than a sliding scale.

• Below the gross threshold for your category, there is no partial ruling. A salary that produces a taxable wage even €1 under €48,013 (standard) or €36,497 (under-30 Master's) does not qualify at all. There is no reduced percentage for being close.
• Just above the threshold, the euro value of the ruling is smaller in absolute terms, simply because 30% of a smaller number is a smaller number, even though the relative tax saving can still be meaningful.
• Well above the threshold, the ruling's value grows faster than salary, because it increasingly shields income from the 49.50% top bracket rather than the 35.75% or 37.56% brackets.

If your offer is close to the threshold, run the exact numbers rather than estimating from these examples. Our salary threshold edge cases post covers part-time work, variable bonuses, and other situations that shift the calculation.

What happens above €262,000

There is also a ceiling. The 30% exemption only applies to gross salary up to the Balkenende norm, which is €262,000 for 2026. Above that, the excess is taxed at the normal rate with no exemption. Someone earning €350,000 gross gets the 30% treatment on the first €262,000 only; the remaining €88,000 is fully taxable. This rarely affects the salary range in this article's examples, but it matters for senior hires and executives.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does the 30% ruling actually save me per month?

It depends on your gross salary. In the 2026 estimates above, it is roughly €560/month at €60,000 (under-30 Master's route only), €767/month at €80,000, and €1,150/month at €100,000. The saving grows faster than salary because higher earners would otherwise pay more of their income at the 49.50% top rate.

Is the 30% ruling calculated on gross or net salary?

On gross salary. Your employer takes 30% of your gross pay as a tax-free reimbursement and taxes the remaining 70% (or more, if you choose a lower percentage) at normal box 1 rates. The salary threshold test is then applied to that remaining taxable portion, not to your gross figure.

Do these examples include the general tax credit and labour tax credit?

No. The estimates exclude heffingskortingen (the general tax credit and labour tax credit), which reduce your actual tax bill further and depend on your total income and personal circumstances. They will make your real net figure somewhat higher than shown here. Use the calculator for a personalised estimate.

Does a €60,000 salary qualify for the 30% ruling?

Only under the reduced under-30 threshold, which requires being under 30 at the start of Dutch employment and holding a recognised Master's degree. For the standard category, the required gross salary is approximately €68,590 in 2026; €60,000 gross falls short and does not qualify at all.

Why is the gain bigger at €100,000 than at €80,000, even though both are well above the threshold?

Because without the ruling, a larger share of the €100,000 salary would be taxed at the top 49.50% bracket. The 30% ruling shields exactly the income that would otherwise sit in that bracket, so the euro benefit grows faster than the salary itself once you are well clear of the threshold.