The 150 kilometers regulation means that persons living within 150 km of the Dutch border will not be eligible for the 30% ruling. Assuming that the other conditions have also been met, of course. The reason for the regulation is that the Dutch government believes that people who live close to the Dutch border don’t need compensation for extra costs.
The Court of Justice of the European Union decided in February 2015 that the 150 kilometers criterion is no obstacle to the free movement of employees, despite the roughness of the regulation. It would be different if the limits, as meant by the 150 kilometers regulation, would over-compensate the actual extraterritorial costs systematically. This required further investigation by the Dutch Supreme Court.
Supreme Court decision
The Supreme Court of the Netherlands has now decided that the 150 kilometers regulation in the 30%-ruling is not in contradiction with EU law. This means that the current practice of the 30%-ruling stays in tact. The ruling is only applicable if the employee lived more than 150 kilometers from the Dutch border during a period exceeding two-thirds of the 24 months period before the start of the employment.
150 kilometers from Dutch border
Now you may ask how to measure this distance. It is the vast distance from the living place to the nearest Dutch city. There are special programmes for this, such as www.afstandmeten.nl and www.distance.to. Note: The Tax Authorities have decided that all places in the UK are more than 150 kilometers away from the Duch border.
Check out our 30% survey tool to check if you are eligible for the 30% ruling.