After much discussion and back and forth, the Dutch government has decided to postpone the cuts to the 30% ruling for two years. This means that those receiving the tax benefit, who would have lost it in 2019, will continue to receive it until 2021, when the duration of the benefit will be cut to five years.
The news of delaying the shortening of the 30% ruling comes after the decision not to scrap dividend tax and thus redistribute the money that this measure saves to improve the business climate. In a letter detailing the revised tax plans, State Secretary of Finance Menno Snel states, “the government has decided to implement a transition period for the group whose 30% ruling benefits would have terminated in 2019 or 2020.”
This is huge news for the thousands of expats currently receiving the 30% ruling tax break. Especially those who were faced with losing it per January 2019, when the maximum duration of the ruling would have been cut from eight years to five without a transition period.
In addition to the decision to postpone the cuts to the 30% ruling and not to get rid of dividend tax, the government has also decided to establish cuts to corporation tax per 2021. For large firms, corporation tax will decrease from 22,5 percent to 20,5 percent. For small businesses, this tax will decrease from 16 percent to 15 percent.