News of the ruling shrinking to 27 percent circulates well ahead of the date it takes effect, and it does not reach everyone equally. Whether the reduction applies to a given holder turns on when the ruling first applied rather than when the person arrived, a distinction that is easy to get wrong.
For new arrivals, yes: from 1 January 2027, the tax-free portion of salary under the 30% ruling drops to 27% — but only for people whose ruling first applied on or after 1 January 2024. If your ruling started before that date, you keep the full 30% for the rest of your term (maximum five years total from when it began), as long as you still meet the salary requirement each year. This is worth double-checking against your own award letter rather than assuming, since the start date that matters is when the ruling first applied to you, not when you arrived in the country. On salary thresholds: for 2026, the standard minimum taxable salary to qualify is around €48,013 a year, dropping to about €36,497 for people under 30 with a qualifying Master's degree. Worth remembering the earlier proposal for a gradual 30-20-10% step-down over the ruling's life was scrapped during the legislative process — what actually passed is this flat cut to 27%, not a taper.