30% Ruling and Box 3: Foreign Assets Explained

PublishedMarch 16, 2026

UpdatedMarch 19, 2026

ByJolande Geerts

Short answer

The 30% ruling does not permanently keep all foreign assets outside Dutch taxation. The key distinction now is whether you can still use partial foreign tax liability. Belastingdienst states that, as of the 2025 tax return, new users can no longer opt for that treatment. Only people who already used the Expat Scheme before 2024 can still use the transition arrangement through the 2026 tax return. Once that protection no longer applies, your foreign savings, investments, crypto and some foreign real estate can become relevant for Dutch Box 3.

Who this article is for

This page is for:

expats who currently use the 30% ruling
employees whose ruling started before 2024 and want to understand the transition rules
people whose ruling is ending soon
expats with foreign savings, brokerage accounts, crypto or property abroad
tax partners trying to understand whether foreign assets will soon enter Box 3

The one question that matters first

Do not start with: “I have the 30% ruling, so am I safe?”

Start with this instead:

Can I still use partial foreign tax liability for the tax year I am filing?

That question decides whether Box 2 and Box 3 stay partly outside Dutch resident taxation, or whether you are moving into the normal Dutch framework for savings and investments.

What partial foreign tax liability used to do

Under the old system, some employees using the 30% ruling could choose to be treated as a partial non-resident taxpayer. In practice, that meant they were still resident for much of Dutch income tax, but more favourably treated for Box 2 and Box 3. This often kept foreign investment assets outside the normal Dutch Box 3 base.

That background still matters because a lot of online discussion is outdated. Many old explainers describe partial non-resident treatment as if it still automatically comes with the 30% ruling. It does not.

What changed from tax return 2025 onward

Belastingdienst’s English Expat Scheme page is now very explicit:

as of tax return 2025, you can no longer opt for partial foreign tax liability
if you already used the Expat Scheme before 2024, transitional law lets you keep using it through tax return 2026

That means three groups now exist in practice.

1. People who never fell under the transition rules

If your use of the scheme started too late to benefit from transition law, do not assume foreign assets stay outside scope. For Box 3 planning, your Dutch return should be approached as a normal current-law return.

2. People who are still protected by transition law

If you already used the scheme before 2024, you may still use partial foreign tax liability through the 2026 tax return. That does not mean “ignore Box 3 forever”. It means you need to know exactly which tax years are still protected and which are not.

3. People at the end of the ruling or at the end of the transition window

This is where the biggest practical errors happen. Many expats only discover the Box 3 impact when the return is already due. By then they may still need to collect:

annual statements for foreign bank accounts
investment overviews
crypto values
documents for foreign property
evidence for debts linked to taxable assets

Which assets can become relevant when protection ends

Once normal Box 3 treatment applies, the Dutch focus is not just on Dutch bank accounts. Belastingdienst’s current Box 3 pages and provisional-assessment examples make clear that Box 3 can include a wide range of private assets and debts.

Typical expat examples are:

foreign current and savings accounts
foreign investment or brokerage accounts
privately held cryptocurrency
foreign holiday homes or investment property
debts connected to taxable Box 3 assets

Belastingdienst’s provisional-assessment guidance also lists cryptocurrency and a second or holiday house as examples of Box 3 assets. That is why the end of partial foreign tax liability can change your position very materially even if nothing else in your life changed.

Why timing matters more than many readers expect

The hardest part is often not the legal concept. It is the calendar.

You need to match three dates correctly:

when your 30% ruling started
whether you were already using the scheme before 2024
which tax year you are filing now

If you miss that sequence, you can make the wrong filing assumption for a full year.

A common example is this:

the employee still has the 30% ruling on payroll
they assume foreign investments are still outside Dutch Box 3
but the transition protection for partial foreign tax liability no longer applies for the return they are filing

Payroll treatment and Box 3 treatment are related, but they are not the same question.

The Box 3 system you may enter when protection ends

If partial foreign tax liability is no longer available, you should think in normal Box 3 terms:

the Dutch system still uses a notional-return framework
Belastingdienst says it will continue using that framework until new legislation likely starts on 1 January 2028, unless your actual return is lower
the tax-free allowance in the current 2026 Box 3 calculation examples is €59,357 per person, and €118,714 for tax partners together
the base for savings and investments can be allocated between tax partners as long as the total is 100%

This means the end of partial foreign tax liability is not just a yes/no reporting issue. It also creates planning questions around:

partner allocation
evidence collection
actual-return comparison
the first year in which worldwide assets re-enter your Dutch filing logic

What this page does and does not answer

This page answers the interaction question:

“Does the 30% ruling still keep my foreign assets out of Box 3?”

It does not replace narrower pages on:

how Box 3 works in detail
how to value crypto or foreign accounts
how the actual-return route works
how tax residency affects your full filing position

Keeping those questions separate makes this page clearer and prevents scope drift.

A practical decision path

Use this order.

Step 1 — confirm whether you used the scheme before 2024

That is the first filter for transition law.

Step 2 — map the exact tax year you are filing

Do not talk vaguely about “now” or “this year”. The tax year of the return is what matters.

Step 3 — decide whether partial foreign tax liability still applies for that return

If yes, you can stay in the protected transition lane.

If no, move immediately to normal Box 3 preparation.

Step 4 — gather evidence before filing season pressure gets worse

For readers with foreign assets, the expensive mistake is waiting too long to collect the evidence pack.

Common mistakes

assuming the 30% ruling automatically still includes partial foreign tax liability
using payroll language as if it answers the Box 3 question by itself
not checking whether the transition rules still apply to the specific return year
discovering foreign asset evidence needs too late in the process
mixing the “does it belong in Box 3?” question with the “is my actual return lower?” question

What to do now

Confirm whether you used the Expat Scheme before 2024.
Check which tax year you are filing and whether the transition rule still applies.
If protection is ending or has ended, prepare a full foreign-asset inventory.
Continue to the main Box 3 page for allowance, valuation and partner-allocation logic.
If you have complex migration-year facts, also review the tax-residency and M-form pages before filing.

Official sources

Tags:

Tax