How long does the 30% ruling last? Five years, and here is every other regime's clock beside it
By Skyler Bissell · September 9, 2026 · 9 min read
The Dutch 30% ruling lasts a maximum of 5 years, counted from the start date written on the decision the Belastingdienst issues, and it is worth $25,204 a year to a single person on a $150,000 salary in Amsterdam. Held flat, that is about $126,000 over the term. Until 2012 the same ruling ran for ten years; from 2012 it ran for eight; since 1 January 2019 it has run for five. From 1 January 2027 the tax-free share drops to 27% for anyone whose ruling began in 2024 or later, and the term does not move.
A regime's duration is the number of years, tax years or months over which an inbound tax regime applies, counted the way its own statute counts it. The unit is the trap: the Netherlands counts calendar time from a decision, Spain and Italy count tax years including the year of arrival, Denmark counts 84 months and lets them be split, Ireland starts the count from the year of first entitlement, and Belgium counts five years of employment with a three-year extension on application. Two regimes with "five years" on the label can end a year apart.
TL;DR
- Ten regimes carry a clock, from Portugal's ten years to the United Kingdom's four; three carry none. The ranking.
- Length and value are different lists: Italy's five years are worth more than Sweden's seven on the same salary. What a year is worth.
- Every statute counts differently, and the arrival year is the usual casualty. How each clock is counted.
Every regime's clock, ranked from ten years to four
The table ranks the regimes our engine covers by their maximum term, longest first. "Worth a year" is what the regime adds to take-home for a single person on $150,000 in the named city, converted at the site's build rate, and "over the term" multiplies that by the years, at a flat salary on this year's rules. Regimes the engine carries as notes show no figure, because a calculator cannot see the condition they turn on.
| # | Country, regime (city priced) | Years | How the statute counts | Worth a year on $150,000 | Over the term |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portugal, IFICI (Lisbon) | 10 | Consecutive tax years from first residence | No relief in our model | No relief in our model |
| 2 | Belgium, inbound regime (Brussels) | 5, up to 8 | Years of employment, plus 3 on the employer's request | $28,219 | $141,000 to $226,000 |
| 3 | Greece, article 5C (Athens) | 7 | Consecutive tax years | $29,696 | $208,000 |
| 4 | Sweden, expert tax relief (Stockholm) | 7 | Years from the start of the stay | $18,725 | $131,000 |
| 5 | Denmark, researcher scheme (Copenhagen) | 7 | 84 months, can be split across stays | $10,414 | $73,000 |
| 6 | Spain, Beckham regime (Madrid) | 6 | Year of arrival plus the 5 following tax years | $18,803 | $113,000 |
| 7 | Netherlands, 30% ruling (Amsterdam) | 5 | From the start date on the decision | $25,204 | $126,000 |
| 8 | Italy, impatriati (Milan) | 5 | Year of transfer plus the 4 following tax years | $31,247 | $156,000 |
| 9 | Ireland, SARP (Dublin) | 5 | Consecutive tax years from first entitlement; 4 if certified late | No relief in our model | No relief in our model |
| 10 | United Kingdom, FIG (London) | 4 | First 4 tax years of residence; foreign income only | Nothing on salary | Nothing on salary |
| – | Norway, PAYE (Oslo) | 1 | Elected per year, first year of work, below a ceiling | No relief in our model | No relief in our model |
| – | Poland, B2B lump sum (Warsaw) | None | A standing self-employment option, closed to employees | Nothing on salary | Nothing on salary |
| – | Germany, no regime (Berlin) | None | No inbound regime exists | Nothing | Nothing |
Single filer, no children, renting, 2026 rates. $150,000 is converted to each city's currency at the site's build rate and the value is converted back to dollars. "Over the term" holds salary and rules flat, which no real term does: the Dutch share drops to 27% from 2027 for post-2024 starters, and every other figure moves with the salary.
How each clock is counted, and where the arrival year goes
The Netherlands counts from a date. The Belastingdienst's decision names a start date, usually the first working day, and the five years run from it, so a person who starts in September 2026 finishes in September 2031 and the tax years either side are split. The employer has four months from that first working day to apply; a later application starts the clock later and loses the months in between. From 1 January 2027 the tax-free share becomes 27% for the rest of the term for anyone whose ruling began in 2024 or later, and the salary norm steps up for the same group, which is the subject of the 27% rate from 2027.
Spain and Italy count tax years, and both count the year of arrival as year one. Spain's Beckham regime covers the tax year in which residence is acquired and the five following, six in all, so a person who becomes Spanish-resident in November 2026 spends the first of their six years on a few weeks. Italy's impatriati regime covers the year the residence transfers and the four following. The three-year extension that Italian guides still mention was a transitional door for 2024 arrivals who had bought a home, and it is shut for anyone arriving now. Italy adds the sharpest condition of the set on the way out: leave before four tax years of residence are complete and the relief is repaid with interest.
Denmark counts months. The researcher scheme runs for up to 84 months, and the Danish tax agency's own guidance says the months may be split into several periods, so a researcher who spends three years in Copenhagen, leaves, and returns a decade later can use the remaining four. Sweden counts seven years from the start of the stay in Sweden, from the day work begins rather than the dates on the application, and the extension from five years to seven applies to stays that began after 31 March 2023. Greece counts seven consecutive tax years. Portugal counts ten consecutive tax years from the year the person first becomes Portuguese-resident, whether or not the employer certification arrives in time to use the first of them.
Belgium counts years of employment, and the extension is the only one in Europe that has to be asked for. The regime runs for the duration of the Belgian employment up to five years; the employer may request three more, no later than three months after the first five end, and only if the conditions still hold. Ireland counts from the year of first entitlement, five consecutive tax years when the employer certifies within 90 days of arrival, and four years starting the following tax year when the certification lands between 90 and 180 days. The United Kingdom's four years are the first four tax years of residence, and they relieve foreign income and gains rather than a London salary, which is why the FIG regime sits at the bottom of a ranking it barely belongs in.
Longest is not most valuable
Ranked by years, Portugal leads and Denmark shares third. Ranked by what the years are worth, the order rearranges. Greece's seven years are worth about $208,000 on $150,000, the largest computed total on the page, because the exemption halves a steep base and runs a long time. Italy's five years are worth about $156,000, more than Sweden's seven at about $131,000, because the Italian relief is worth $31,247 a year against Sweden's $18,725. Denmark's seven years are worth the least of any computed regime at about $73,000, since a flat 32.84% is only $10,414 a year better than Copenhagen's ordinary rate of 39.8% on this salary.
Belgium is the odd case. Its five years are worth about $141,000 and its possible eight about $226,000, the second-largest total on the page if the extension is granted, from an annual value of $28,219 that is the third-largest. The reason is the same one that puts Brussels sixth in every expat tax regime ranked by take-home: Belgium's ordinary rate on this salary is 49.9%, the steepest of the seven, so a 35% exclusion clears a great deal of ground and still leaves the person at 31.1%, behind Amsterdam's 24.7% and Athens' 22.2%. A long clock on a large discount of a very high rate is a lot of money and still a high rate.
The Portuguese ten years carry no figure here for the reason set out in IFICI Portugal, explained: the regime turns on the employer holding a certification, which a salary calculator cannot see, so we show the ordinary Lisbon rate and say so. If your employer clears the gate, ten years at a flat 20% is the longest and one of the largest discounts in Europe, and our Lisbon figures understate your position.
When the clock runs out
Every regime on this page ends on the ordinary ladder, and the end is a cliff rather than a slope: the same salary, the same city, and a tax bill that rises in one payslip by the whole of the annual value above. For a Dutch ruling that step is the subject of when the 30% ruling ends, quantified, and for Spain it is the tax jump after Beckham's six years. The regimes that can be paused or split, Denmark's months and the Dutch ruling's transfer to a new employer within the same term, are the exceptions; most clocks run whether or not you are using them.
Which door each regime puts in front of you before the clock starts, from no salary test at all to Ireland's €125,000 and a group transfer, is the ordering in countries with tax breaks for expats, ranked by the door. Why we compute seven of these regimes and carry six as notes is in expat tax breaks, decoded. And the year the clock stops is the year take-home pay by country becomes the only table that matters, so it is worth reading the ordinary rate before the discounted one.
To see the term's value at your own salary rather than on $150,000, put your package into the New York to Amsterdam comparison and switch the regime toggle on and off. The gap between the two runs is one year of the clock; multiply by the years in the table for the term, and remember that the term ends.
FAQ
Was the 30% ruling always five years?
No. The maximum term was ten years until 2012, eight years from 2012, and five years for rulings starting on or after 1 January 2019, with transitional rules for people already inside it at each cut. The current five-year maximum is written into the decision the Belastingdienst issues, and the clock runs from the start date on that decision rather than from the date you apply.
Does the 27% rate from 2027 shorten the 30% ruling?
No. The term stays at five years. From 1 January 2027 the tax-free share falls from 30% to 27% for the remainder of the term, for anyone whose ruling started on or after 1 January 2024. A ruling that started before 2024 keeps 30% for its whole five years under transitional law. The salary norm also rises from 2027 for the same group.
Which expat tax regime lasts the longest?
Portugal's IFICI, at ten consecutive tax years from the year the person first becomes resident. Belgium's regime reaches eight years if the employer requests the three-year extension after the first five. Greece, Sweden and Denmark run seven years; Denmark counts its seven as 84 months and lets them be split across separate stays. The shortest is the United Kingdom's four-year FIG regime, which does not touch a UK salary at all.
Can you extend the Belgian expat regime beyond five years?
Yes, once, by three years, to a maximum of eight. The employer must request the extension no later than three months after the first five-year period ends, and the conditions of the regime must still be met at that point, including the salary floor of more than €70,000. The extension is not automatic, and an employer who lets the three months pass cannot recover it.
Sources. Netherlands, the five-year maximum, the four-month application window and the 2027 change: Business.gov.nl, the expat scheme (30% ruling). Belgium, five years and the three-year extension on the employer's request: FPS Finance circulars 2022/C/47 and 2026/C/51, FPS Finance, inpatriate taxpayers and researchers. Sweden, seven years from the start of the stay: Forskarskattenamnden, About tax relief. Denmark, 84 months that may be split: Skattestyrelsen, tax scheme for researchers. Italy, the year of transfer plus four and the closed three-year extension: Agenzia delle Entrate, lavoratori impatriati. Ireland, five consecutive years from first entitlement and the 90-day and 180-day rule: Revenue, Tax and Duty Manual Part 34-00-10. United Kingdom, the first four tax years: HMRC, RFIG41000. Spain, the year of arrival plus five, and Greece and Portugal, are cited to the statutes recorded in data/_meta.json. All pages retrieved 9 September 2026. Every computed figure is from cityparity's engine, and our price lines split between official and crowdsourced sources as described in the methodology.
Equivalent salaries solve for equal net cash after tax, housing, childcare, healthcare and the cash value of statutory benefits, and they are the salary an offer has to clear rather than a salary any employer is obliged to pay. See the methodology.