As chairman of the Brainport foundation, Eindhoven mayor John Jorritsma went to The Hague on Tuesday to argue for the maintenance of the tax benefit that expats have in the Netherlands.
The government is considering reducing the 30% ruling from eight to five years. Now, employers can pay out thirty percent of the expats’ salary tax-free for eight years. Because employees from abroad often incur extra costs to live and work in the Netherlands. That is at least the philosophy behind it.
Jorritsma pleaded that we at least require a transitional arrangement for international knowledge workers who have been hired and contracted on the 30% regulation. For this group, the right to the full eight-year period should be maintained. If the government wants to abolish or reduce the current 30% ruling as of 1 January 2019 retrospectively, it will affect at least a thousand valuable employees who now work in our region.
Pamphlet
Some 35 organizations have offered a pamphlet to Menno Snel, the State Secretary for Finance. Brainport Eindhoven, employers union VNO-NCW and MKB Nederland (SME), among others, believe that the government is acting unreliable by adapting the scheme.
The initiators of the pamphlet say: “This affects hundreds of companies and institutions and about 60,000 foreign employees,” By tinkering with the 30% ruling, it would also become less attractive for expats to come and work here. While, according to Jorritsma, about 7,000 vacancies are to be filled this year in the high tech sector.
Source: Studio040
Thank you John Jorritsma for your continued and very strong support !!
Our group United Expats of The Netherlands submitted its petition to Parliament in reference to proposed term limit changes to 30% tax rule earlier this week. With nearly 30,000 signatures, the petition requests that any term length changes to the 30% tax rule apply to future expats, not to current recipients. Our petition, along with submitted statements from John Jorritsma, the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), Stichting Brainport Eindhoven, the Dutch-German Chamber of Commerce (DNHK), VCP, VNO-NCW, and VSNU make the clear point that changing the 30% tax rule for current expats will have significant and dramatic consequences for recipients of this rule, the universities and businesses that employ highly skilled expats, the reputation of the Netherlands throughout the international business community, and the financial well-being of the Netherlands.
Please join us in our effort to encourage the Dutch government to stand by the deal they made with current recipients of the 30% tax ruling so that any changes apply to future expats, not to those already here.
How would this affect international students who will be looking for jobs in a year or two?