30% Ruling - emigrating due to COVID before obtaining a job offer

Please do not post the same post multiple times, you will be get banned. Give it time and members will respond.

SimcityAT
Expat Team

imoconno wrote:

Background:

My wife and I moved here so that she could attend her Master’s program with a long term intent to continue into a PhD program after.
I moved here with her with the intent of working in the Netherlands to support our cost of living here (which is the intent of the 30% ruling: moving here for work). I had been searching since the early summer of 2020 for a position in the Netherlands. Our original goal was to stay in Canada and emigrate once I found job here (meeting full conditions of ruling 30%); in the meantime she could attend classes online. Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 travel restrictions, Canadians were only allowed to travel/emigrate to the Netherlands between the months of July to October 2020; so we recognized our opportunity in August and had to take it. Being here since August allowed us to pre-emptively integrate into the Netherlands (setup a BSN, bank account, find an apartment, etc.) which enabled a smooth transition and allowed me actively search for a job/attend in person interviews. I also didn’t want to abandon my wife to resolve all of this herself while I waited in Canada to benefit from the 30% with an offer before moving myself. Given the unprecedented times that we live in with Covid-19, my hope was that I can still qualify for the 30% ruling as I meet all other conditions; including having lived more than 16 of the last 24 months outside of the Netherlands.

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I recently applied for the 30% ruling with support from my company through a third party that would assess my eligibility. Unfortunately they came back stating that they would close my application because the IND would reject my application since I was living here for over 4 months at the time of my job offer (therefore I would be considered "a local hire"). Is there no way to make a legal case against the decision, especially considering the COVID times we live in?

The IND website clearly states that the purpose of the 30% ruling is to support extraterritorial costs for those who move to the Netherlands for work. Again the intention was that I would work here, we can't support my wife's education or my cost of living long term without a job/income. We paid extraterritorial costs to move here and get established. I'm providing a skillset to the Dutch market. Should I not receive the same kind of support even if I moved here before the offer?

I've talked to my new colleagues in my work and they've said the government makes very generic rules for this and they were told the same thing. You have to fight for your right to it. Does anyone know if this is the case and if so how to go successfully about it?

One final odd note about all of this too. My workplace required me to provide a BSN, Dutch bank account and local address for mail before the offer letter could be sent to me. It took us nearly two months to schedule and coordinate all of those items once we moved here. I don't understand how anyone could meet this condition of the 30% ruling if you need to be here to set these up before you'll get the job offer signed...

Any help on this subject would be greatly appreciated!

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

Thanks for your earlier message; it looks like somebody has sorted out the multiple posts.  First off, there are my opinions, I'm not a Tax adviser.  To answer your question.  The 30% tax rule is a qualification based tax allowance, in other words you get it if you qualify - from what you've said, I don't think you qualify because:

a. You weren't recruited from abroad (the law is quite specific on that).
b. Your place of residence at the time of applying  was less that the required minimum of at least 150 km from the nearest border to the Netherlands and was so for more than 16 out of the last 24 months before you start working.
c. Your employer does not agree that the 30% rule applies.

However, all very interesting, but you can't apply for it, only your Employer can (it's actually an allowance they get to deduct less income tax and do something with social taxes/pensions related to your salary).  So, as you can't apply, it follows that you can't appeal.  Your employer can appeal, but only if it gets officially denied and it looks like your company have decided they're not willing to force the issue.  So, it looks like you need to have a conversation with your employer if you wish to fight it, but before you do, you need to work out your way around the 3 points I've raised above.  But that's lawyer talk, not a reliable subject for an internet forum.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but if you have any further specific questions, by all means come back to us.

Hope this helps a bit.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thank you for the reply Cynic.

I think only the first point you mentioned above is a concern.

2. Prior to August my place of residence was in Canada. The time I applied was November which was within the Dutch border. But because August was only 6 months ago, I have resided more than 150km outside of the Dutch border for more than 16 out of the last 24 months.
3. Perhaps I wasn't clear with my previous question. My employer agreed to submit the 30% ruling request. They already signed the application and submitted it on my behalf. The third party agency (example: a company like PWC) reviewed my application before passing it on to the IND. The third party is the one who is doesn't agree. Clearly my employer agrees given that my employer signed and submitted the form.

In this case can my employer force this issue to challenge the decision? Or is there no way around that first ruling? Again at the end of the day I experienced the extraterritorial costs in moving here with the intention to find a job. It's just unforunate because of the challenges of Covid/not knowing the restrictions has resulted in me missing out on this support given that at the end of the day I've ended up in the same place as someone who was recruited from abroad (same costs, etc.). Of course I would have liked to have waited to emigrate here if I knew it meant I wouldn't lose out on this.

1 is the thing that killed this dead in the water, you don't meet the requirements; the semantics about it being unfair, or unjustly affected by Covid, while interesting, are just that, they don't alter the fact that you just don't qualify.

I think 2 matters because you came to the Netherlands on the back of your wife's visa and had an existing Dutch residence permit at the time you applied for your new job; however, as I said at the start, I'm not a tax expert and am always very happy to be proven wrong.

Your company using a 3rd party to deal with it is normal in the Netherlands, I'd go as far as saying 99% do it; it's the fact that they think this won't float is confirming to me my original thoughts based on what you'd originally said.  I should add that none of your clarification changes my thoughts.

You can only appeal something that has been adjudicated, your case hasn't, it never got that far.  You could "appeal" to your boss to let the application go ahead, I wouldn't if I was him/her, so you need to consider how far you're going to push this.

Cynic
Expat Team