Dutch Expat

Which permits does an EU national need?
When you wish to stay in the Netherlands for less than 3 months, you will not need a visa or permit.
When you wish to stay in the Netherlands for more than 3 months, you first need to register with the Municipal Administration. After three months you will also have to register with the IND. You do not need a MVV (provisional residence permit) to enter the Netherlands.

Which permits does a non-EU national need?
When you wish to stay in the Netherlands less than 3 months, you will need to apply for a visa in most cases. You can apply for a short stay visa at the Dutch embassy or the consulate in your country of residence. For the following non-EU nationals no visa is needed: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, San Marino, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, United States of America, Uruguay, Vatican City and Venezuela.

When you wish to stay in the Netherlands for more than 3 months, you need a residence permit and in most cases a MVV (provisional residence permit). The MVV is a special visa that you must have to enter the Netherlands. The MVV should be applied for before you enter the Netherlands. Some people (such as nationals of Australia, Canada, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, South Korea, Switzerland , the United States of America and Vatican City) do not need the MVV to enter the Netherlands. The residence permit can be obtained with the IND after you have entered the Netherlands (it is recommended to submit your application within eight days after your arrival).

Applicable Taxes
When you are planning to live and work in the Netherlands it is inevitable that you will have to deal with Dutch taxation. As a resident of the Netherlands you will be a resident taxpayer for Dutch tax purposes, which means that your worldwide income will be subject to tax in the Netherlands.

In most cases you will only be subject to payroll tax and personal income tax on your wage. The Dutch payroll tax is an advance levy to the Dutch personal income tax. This means that any payroll tax levied on your wage will reduce the amount of personal income tax you have to pay. As a result, when your wage is subject to payroll tax, no or only very little Dutch personal income tax has to be paid.

When you live in the Netherlands your savings and investments will also be subject to Dutch personal income tax. The personal income tax on savings and investments is levied over the fair market value of such savings and investments at a rate of 1.2% per year (for 2009).

As an expat you will in most cases be able to reduce the amount of Dutch personal income tax due via applying for a so-called 30% tax ruling.

30% Tax Ruling
The Netherlands 30% tax ruling is an incentive introduced by the Dutch government to attract skilled expats to the Netherlands. When the Netherlands 30% tax ruling applies, 30% of your wage will be exempt from Dutch tax (i.e. payroll tax and personal income tax). In addition, your savings and investments will also be exempt. The 30% ruling applies for a period of 10 years.

The Netherlands 30% tax ruling can be obtained when the employee is acquired from a foreign country and the employee has specific skills that are rare on the labour market in the Netherlands. The latter is in general the case when the employee is well educated or has sufficient working experience.
The 30% tax ruling is a very attractive incentive for expats and can be relatively easy obtained from the Dutch tax authorities. Therefore, we recommend that every expat has it investigated whether or not he or she can apply for the 30% tax ruling.