During the parliamentary debate on the tax plan 2012 ("belastingplan") various questions were asked regarding the proposed amendments of the 30%-ruling.
On 25 October 2011 the State Secretary of Finance replied by letter to these questions.
Criteria ‘ specific experience ands skills’
Albeit that a lot of employers (and the municipality of Amsterdam) requested not to substantiate the criteria ‘specific experience or skills’ by a salary standard, it appears that the salary standard will nonetheless be introduced as of 1 January 2012. This means that the total agreed upon gross salary to apply for the ruling should amount to € 72,313 on a yearly basis. In practice this will mean that less employees will be eligible to the Ruling. This results in the Netherlands having a less interesting business climate for companies to invest, while the positive effect of an increase of the tax revenue will be small.
Hired from abroad
The State Secretary of Finance takes the position that the amendment of the definition of "hired from abroad" (employees living within 150 kilometers from the Dutch borders are not entitled to the 30%-ruling) is not in breach of EU-law. Based on the answers, we still are not convinced that the underlying amendments are EU-proof.
Finally the State Secretary of Finance also clarified that Rulings already applicable for more than 5 years will continue for the remaining term. However Rulings applicable for less than 5 years will be assessed after the end of the 5 years. If the criteria (i.e. salary standard, living within 150 km’s form the Dutch border) are not met, the employee will no longer be eligible for the 30%-Ruling.
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