Before you start

A BSN, so your employer can run payroll
A contract with a Dutch withholding agent, or a KVK registration if self-employed
DigiD, to file and to see your provisional assessments
For the expat scheme: recruitment from abroad, having lived more than 150 km from the Dutch border for over 16 of the 24 months before starting, and a taxable salary above the annual norm

Step-by-step

1
Hand the BSN to payroll and let loonheffing run
From your first working day the employer withholds combined wage tax and national insurance premiums and remits them. For a straightforward employee this is close to the final liability, which is why the Dutch system feels lighter-touch than it is.
Via employerWho: Employer runs payroll; you supply BSN and IBANFrom day oneDeducted from gross pay
2
Get the expat scheme filed within four months of your first working day
The employer applies jointly with you to the Belastingdienst, which issues a beschikking. File inside four months and it backdates to your start date; file later and it starts only from the month after approval, permanently losing you those months. Expect roughly eight weeks for a decision. Den Bosch employers are more often public bodies, banks and logistics firms than international tech companies, and some of them file this rarely enough to treat it as low-priority onboarding paperwork.
Via employerWho: Employer, jointly with youApply within 4 months; decision in ≈8 weeksUsually absorbed by the employer
3
Check the current percentage and salary norm rather than assuming
The scheme's headline reimbursement is 30% through 2026 and drops to a maximum of 27% from 1 January 2027, with a higher minimum salary from the same date for people who entered on or after 1 January 2024. Rulings granted before 2024 are on transitional terms. The exact salary norms are published by the Belastingdienst and indexed annually — look them up there rather than relying on a relocation brochure or a forum post, because this is the single most misreported number in Dutch expat finance.
OnlineWho: You, with payrollBefore you sign an offerFree to check
4
Work out your box 3 position before the 1 January snapshot
Box 3 is assessed on your assets on 1 January. Assumed returns are applied per asset class above the tax-free allowance and the resulting notional income is taxed. If your real return was lower, the tegenbewijs counter-proof route lets you be taxed on the actual figure instead — but you have to claim it and evidence it.
OnlineWho: You, or a belastingadviseurPosition fixed on 1 JanuaryFree to claim; advisor fees vary
5
Expect separate bills from the gemeente and Waterschap Aa en Maas
Gemeente 's-Hertogenbosch bills afvalstoffenheffing on a household-size scale and confirmed an increase for 2026 over 2025; Waterschap Aa en Maas adds a watersysteemheffing plus a zuiveringsheffing. Renters pay both; the OZB property tax falls on owners. Confirm the current year's figures on the gemeente's own belastingen pages rather than from a comparison site, because both tariffs are reset each January and the aggregators lag. Kwijtschelding, a full remission, exists for low incomes and has to be applied for.
OnlineWho: You, as the registered occupantAssessed early in the year≈€450-550 a year for a single renter in 2026 — confirm the exact tariffs with the gemeente

Documents you’ll need

BSN and DigiD
Jaaropgaaf annual income statement and monthly payslips
Expat scheme beschikking, if granted
1 January statements for every bank and investment account, for box 3
Municipal and water board assessments

Things most newcomers don’t know

The expat scheme's percentage and its salary norm are moving targets, and almost every published figure is stale.

The reimbursement was 30%, was legislated down in stages, had the steepest version reversed, and now stands at 30% through 2026 with a maximum of 27% from 1 January 2027 plus a raised salary norm for people who entered from 2024 onward. Rulings from before 2024 sit on transitional terms. Anyone quoting you a single number without asking when your ruling started is guessing. Get payroll to confirm the current Belastingdienst figures against your specific start date, in writing, before you sign.

Source: Business.gov.nl; Belastingdienst

The four-month window on the expat scheme is a hard cliff, and a public-sector or regional employer is where it slips.

Apply within four months of your first working day and the ruling backdates to that day. Apply on day 125 and it begins only the month after approval, and the intervening months are gone permanently. Employers who file these constantly get it right; a provincial department, a regional accountancy firm or a logistics operator hiring its first international may not have a process at all. Chase it in week one and put the deadline in writing to HR.

Source: Belastingdienst; Business.gov.nl

Box 3 taxes a return the state assumes you earned, and this is the single most surprising thing in the Dutch tax system.

Assets above the allowance are assigned a fixed notional yield by category — a low one for bank deposits, a much higher one for everything else — and that notional income is taxed at 36%. Someone whose portfolio fell in value can still owe tax on a gain they did not make. The tegenbewijs route now lets you prove a lower actual return, but the burden is entirely on you to claim it.

Source: Belastingdienst

The household waste levy follows the occupier, not the deeds, so a renter carries it in full.

The afvalstoffenheffing is charged to the people registered at an address rather than to the owner, and 's-Hertogenbosch confirmed a rise for 2026. Add Waterschap Aa en Maas's water-system and treatment charges — the price of a city built where the Dommel and the Aa meet, with the 1995 high water still in living memory — and a single renter is looking at several hundred euros a year that appears in no rent advertisement. Check the current tariffs on the gemeente's own site; comparison sites lag the January reset.

Source: Gemeente 's-Hertogenbosch; Waterschap Aa en Maas

Common mistakes to avoid

Letting the expat scheme application drift past four months and permanently losing the backdating.
Budgeting on a 30% figure without checking what applies to a ruling that starts in your specific year.
Being caught by box 3 on a 1 January balance after selling a property or receiving a bonus in late December.
Not claiming the tegenbewijs counter-proof when your actual box 3 return was lower than the assumed one.
Forgetting the first-year M-form, which sits outside the normal online portal and often produces a refund.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.

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