150 KM RULE
The conditions for the 30%-ruling have been changed on January 1, 2012. One of the new restrictions was the 150-kilometer requirement. In order to qualify for the 30%-ruling the employee should have lived, prior to the employment in the Netherlands, for at least 16 of the 24-months period at a distance of more than 150 km from the Dutch border.
The Dutch Supreme Court ruled earlier that the 150-kilometer requirement is in accordance with international law.
5 YEAR PERIOD
On the basis of the transitional law the employees to whom the 30% ruling was granted before 2012 could keep it for 5 years after grant date despite that they were living within 150 kilometer from the Dutch border. The employees to whom the 30% ruling was granted before 2012 received it however initially for 10 years.
SUPREME COURT
The pending question was therefore whether employees who were already under the 30%-ruling application on January 1, 2012 should meet the 150 kilometer border criteria after 5 years.
The Dutch supreme Court ruled that employees, who had on January 1, 2012 the 30% ruling application granted, should meet the 150 kilometer criteria.
The employee will therefore after 5 years no longer be eligible for the 30%-ruling if he was, prior to the employment in the Netherlands, living less than 16 months of the 24 months at a distance of less than 150 kilometers from the Dutch border.
CONCLUSION
It is therefore important to stop processing the 30%-ruling after 5 years if the employee would not be eligible anymore.
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