One of the conditions to qualify for the 30%-ruling is that the employee has special skills or expertise. That is deemed to be the case if the taxable salary exceeds €35,000 for 2012 and €35,770 for 2013. For certain groups of employees a lower salary norm applies.
The Dutch Tax Authorities actively investigate whether this condition is fulfilled. If the salary does not exceed the threshold the 30%-ruling will be withdrawn with retroactive effect to January 1, 2012 or the later start date of the 30%-ruling.
In many cases this can be avoided by increasing the taxable wage and reducing the 30%-allowance with the same amount. For this change of salary it is, however, required that the application of the 30%-ruling is correctly worded in the employment contract or in the addendum thereto.
