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. Large Brainport employers have this down to a template; smaller suppliers often do not, and that is where the four months quietly evaporate.
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, and a higher minimum salary applies from the same date to people who entered the scheme 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. Anyone holding vested employer shares should look at this before New Year, not in March.
OnlineWho: You, or a belastingadviseurPosition fixed on 1 JanuaryFree to claim; advisor fees vary
5
Expect separate bills from the gemeente and Waterschap De Dommel
Gemeente Eindhoven bills afvalstoffenheffing on a per-household-size scale — roughly €230 for a one-person household in 2026, which is noticeably below Rotterdam's and The Hague's — and Waterschap De Dommel adds a watersysteemheffing plus a zuiveringsheffing. Renters pay both; the OZB property tax falls on owners. Kwijtschelding, a full remission, exists for low incomes and has to be applied for. Confirm the current year's figures with the gemeente, because both are reset each January.
OnlineWho: You, as the registered occupantAssessed early in the year≈€430-480 a year for a single renter in 2026

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, not a soft target.

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 — several thousand euros for most qualifying salaries. Employers with little immigration experience treat it as low-priority onboarding paperwork, and Brainport is full of small suppliers with exactly that profile. Chase it in week one.

Source: Belastingdienst; Business.gov.nl

Box 3 taxes a return the state assumes you earned, which catches share-scheme engineers hardest.

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. In a city where a large share of the workforce holds vested equity in listed technology companies, the 1 January snapshot is a date worth planning around, and the tegenbewijs counter-proof route only helps if you claim it.

Source: Belastingdienst

Eindhoven's municipal bills are among the gentler ones in the country, and that is a real part of the cost comparison.

The household waste levy is charged to the occupier rather than the owner, and Eindhoven's scale — around €230 for a single-person household in 2026 — sits well below Rotterdam's and The Hague's. Add Waterschap De Dommel's charges and a single renter is looking at something in the €430-480 range a year rather than the €600-plus the coastal cities levy. It appears in no rent advertisement either way, but here it works in your favour.

Source: Gemeente Eindhoven; Waterschap De Dommel

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 a vesting event or 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.