Changing employers with the Dutch 30% ruling: deadlines and the handover

You can continue the Dutch 30% ruling after changing employers if the conditions remain satisfied, usually by applying jointly with the new employer. The existing end date does not restart. The key checks are when the new employment agreement is concluded, when the application is received and whether the new pay qualifies.

The 30% ruling, officially the expat scheme, allows a qualifying employer to pay an eligible employee a tax-free allowance for specified extra costs of working abroad. It is a tax arrangement, not a residence permit and not a benefit that moves automatically from one payroll system to another. Our overview of the 30% ruling explains the wider scheme; this guide concerns employees already using it.

A new offer therefore needs two conversations: one about the job and salary, and one about continuing the ruling. They belong together because an attractive net-pay illustration is only useful if the employer can explain the assumptions behind it.

What do you need for your 30% ruling when discussing a new offer?

Give the new employer your current decision letter, called a beschikking, and check its end date together. That establishes how much of the existing period remains. Ask who will review eligibility in the new role and coordinate the application: HR, payroll or an appointed adviser. Naming that person early helps prevent a completed recruitment process from being mistaken for a completed tax handover.

Clarify whether the offer states gross pay, an agreed tax-free allowance or an estimated net amount. The employer and employee must agree how the scheme will be applied; an approval letter alone does not replace that agreement. Discuss what happens while the decision is pending and if the permitted allowance is lower than the maximum. These points affect the payslip, so they should be settled before the first payroll run.

What are the two important 30% ruling deadlines when switching employers?

Three months: concluding the new employment agreement

The 2026 application form, question 1a, asks whether the new employment agreement was concluded within the existing ruling’s term and within three months after the last working day with the previous employer. If it was signed later, the form requires evidence that the agreement was nevertheless concluded within the relevant period.

The date of agreement, signature date, last day actually worked and first day in the new job are therefore separate facts. Keep the supporting correspondence where the signatures do not tell the whole story. A general intention to hire someone is not a substitute for checking whether a binding employment agreement was reached.

Non-active status needs particular attention. The form states that, if the previous employer placed the employee on non-active status, the three-month period starts on its first day. The employee might still receive salary and remain formally employed after that point. Using only the contract-end date could therefore start the calculation too late. Have garden-leave or settlement arrangements reviewed on their actual terms; ordinary holiday should not automatically be treated as non-active status.

Consider a hypothetical employee who remains on salary but is placed on non-active status six weeks before the contract ends. A coordinator, such as a payroll provider or an Employer of Record (EOR), comparing the settlement agreement with the planned new contract would flag the two different dates, request the record of the non-active period and refer any uncertainty for specialist assessment. The useful intervention is catching that discrepancy before everyone works from the later contract-end date, not promising that the application will succeed.

Short public summaries sometimes describe the rule as starting the next job within three months. Where the agreement date and first working day differ, have the detailed rule assessed before agreeing the gap. The current form makes the agreement and its evidence central to this part of the application.

Four months: receipt of the application

To request that the ruling apply from the first working day with the new employer, the Belastingdienst, the Dutch tax authority, must receive the request within four months of that day. This clock concerns the application, not the agreement with the new employer. Satisfying one deadline does not satisfy the other.

Use the current submission instructions and agree who sends the complete request and retains proof of delivery. “HR is preparing it” is not a submission date. Missing attachments can also delay a decision, so the application owner should check the file against the form before it leaves.

Who supplies the information for the 30% ruling handover?

The employee supplies the existing ruling and personal information requested in the form, together with the new employment agreement and relevant records from the previous employment. If there was non-active status, include the documents establishing that period. Where the agreement was concluded before it was signed, preserve the evidence of the earlier agreement too.

The previous employer supplies relevant work and payroll records. Establish both the last actual working day and the formal employment-end date, rather than assuming they are identical. Those records explain the transition, but the previous employer is not a joint applicant for the new request.

The new employer checks the role and remuneration, provides its employer details and coordinates the joint application with the employee. Payroll needs the first working day, the existing ruling’s end date, the agreement dates and the application’s receipt date in the same file. Keeping these facts together makes the two timing tests easier to assess without turning them into one deadline.

How can a payroll provider or EOR support your 30% ruling handover?

A payroll provider can coordinate the handover alongside the new employer’s HR team. If an Employer of Record (EOR) is the legal employer under the new arrangement, it also has the employer’s role in the application. These are different service arrangements; confirm who employs you and what support is included. Neither changes the conditions for continuing the ruling.

The practical benefit is one coordinated file rather than separate requests moving between teams. The provider can identify missing records, follow up with the responsible person and make clear what still prevents submission. That might mean recording the ruling’s end date, obtaining evidence of an earlier agreement or reconciling salary figures based on different assumptions.

Before submission and the first payroll run, the coordinator checks that the application and payroll instructions use the same employment dates, remaining term and salary assumptions. A short status record shows what is collected, what remains outstanding and who acts next. Share tax and identity records through an access-controlled process. The Belastingdienst decides the request; support does not guarantee approval.

Does the new salary still qualify for the 30% ruling?

The taxable salary after the tax-free allowance must meet the applicable income requirement. The total package shown in an offer is not necessarily that taxable amount. Changes in hours, bonus assumptions or allowances can alter the calculation even when the headline package increases.

The Belastingdienst’s expertise requirements are updated annually, and specific categories have different rules. Payroll must also apply the correct calculation where employment covers only part of a year. An existing ruling does not remove the need to check the new salary; in some cases the allowance must be below the maximum to keep taxable pay above the relevant threshold.

Check whether the offer’s net-pay illustration assumes the ruling, at what percentage and for how much of the remaining term. Agree how the first payslip will be calculated while the decision is pending. If the employer will not apply the allowance yet, an illustration without it shows the possible difference before payday. Record those assumptions with the allowance agreement; an estimate is not guaranteed net pay.

A payroll provider or EOR can make this easier to follow by connecting the salary calculation to the application’s status and explaining the temporary payslip treatment. Agree who checks the decision and authorises any permitted adjustments. Corrections depend on that decision, the rules and the employment arrangements—not every difference is automatically refunded.

What happens to a job-linked residence permit when changing employers?

Run the immigration assessment alongside the tax handover, but keep their conditions separate. The 30% ruling is not restricted to holders of a highly skilled migrant permit. Conversely, holding that permit does not establish entitlement to the tax scheme.

If you do hold a job-dependent permit, check the rules for your particular route, the new employer and any reporting duties. The IND guidance for highly skilled migrants is relevant to that route, not every foreign employee. An immigration job-search period does not extend a tax deadline. Our immigration-support information explains the related service area.

Prepare your 30% ruling handover to the new employer

Before the move, confirm the remaining term, establish the relevant dates and appoint the person coordinating the application. Then connect that file to the salary assessment and the first payroll run. This gives the employee, employer and adviser a shared account of what has been checked and what is still outstanding.

Unusual Payroll’s employee-benefits support includes information preparation, employer–employee coordination and application follow-up. If you are changing jobs, or preparing to receive an employee with an existing ruling, discuss the handover with the team. Use that conversation to agree who will gather the outstanding records, coordinate the salary assumptions and follow the application through to payroll. Confirm the service scope for your situation; the decision remains with the Belastingdienst.