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Tax🇳🇱 Groningen, Netherlands

Boxes 1, 2 and 3, the expat scheme, and one bill for the city and the water board

Employees are taxed at source through loonheffing, so the annual return is usually a reconciliation rather than a bill. Income is sorted into three boxes: box 1 for salary and your own home, box 2 for substantial shareholdings, box 3 for savings and investments. Box 3 is the one that shocks people, because it taxes an assumed return on your assets rather than the return you actually got. The expat scheme — still universally called the 30% ruling — has had both its percentage and its salary norm changed repeatedly, so treat any figure you read online as out of date until the Belastingdienst confirms it. Locally, Groningen is unusual in having one office bill both the municipality and the water board, and unusual again in that a compensation regime for gas extraction sits alongside the ordinary tax system.

Total cost
Filing is free. Box 1 rates in 2026 are 35.75% on the first €38,883 — most of which is national insurance rather than income tax — 37.56% to €78,426 and 49.50% above that. Box 3 is taxed at 36% on an assumed return above a tax-free allowance of €59,357 per person. Municipal and water charges add roughly €480-540 a year for a single Groningen renter.
Time needed
Payroll is automatic. The expat scheme decision takes about eight weeks. A standard return is an hour or two; the first-year M-form is not, and most people pay someone.
Validity
Annual filing, 1 March to 1 May. The expat scheme lasts a maximum of five years and is not renewable. A box 3 system based on actual rather than assumed return is targeted at 2028, and the enabling bill was still in the legislative process in 2026 — treat the date as intended rather than settled.
Verified
August 2026
Medium confidence·Dutch tax residents living in Groningen. National income tax is the Belastingdienst's; municipal and water board levies are collected together by the Noordelijk Belastingkantoor. Earthquake compensation from the IMG has its own tax treatment. General information, not advice.

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. 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. 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. A reduced salary norm applies to people under 30 holding a master's degree, which is the version most incoming Groningen researchers are on.

    Via employerWho: Employer, jointly with youApply within 4 months; decision in ≈8 weeksUsually absorbed by the employer
  3. 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.

    OnlineWho: You, with payrollBefore you sign an offerFree to check
  4. 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. 5

    Expect one combined assessment from the Noordelijk Belastingkantoor

    Unlike almost everywhere else in the country, the municipal levies and the northern water boards' charges arrive on a single bill from one office. For a single-person household the afvalstoffenheffing is €283.08 in 2026, and the water board's water-system and treatment charges are added on the same assessment. Property tax falls on owners; the waste and water charges follow the registered occupant, so a renter pays them. Kwijtschelding, a full remission, exists for low incomes and has to be applied for.

    OnlineWho: You, as the registered occupantAssessed early in the year≈€480-540 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
  • The Noordelijk Belastingkantoor assessment

Things most newcomers don’t know

Earthquake compensation is a separate world from the tax system, and the Belastingdienst publishes on exactly that question.

If you buy a home in the affected postcodes you may deal with the IMG for physical damage or property value loss, and with the NCG if the property is in the reinforcement programme. Those payments are not ordinary income and the Belastingdienst has specific guidance on how compensation for Groningen earthquake damage is treated, including its interaction with box 3. It is a genuinely unusual overlay on Dutch personal tax and one you should read before you sign a purchase, not after a payment lands.

Source: Belastingdienst; IMG

One bill for the city and the water board is convenient and makes the total legible.

In Rotterdam or Eindhoven the municipal and water board charges arrive separately and people routinely budget for one and forget the other. The Noordelijk Belastingkantoor collects both on a single assessment for gemeente Groningen and the northern water boards, so the number you see is the number you pay. At around €480-540 for a single renter in 2026 it sits between Eindhoven's and Rotterdam's — and unlike rent, it appears in no listing.

Source: Noordelijk Belastingkantoor

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.

Source: Business.gov.nl; Belastingdienst

The reduced under-30 master's norm is what makes the scheme work on a northern academic salary.

Groningen's incoming international workforce skews heavily towards PhD candidates, postdocs and early-career UMCG staff, whose packages sit well below the general expat-scheme salary norm. The lower norm for under-30s holding a master's degree is frequently the only reason the ruling is available at all — and it means the ruling can be lost at a birthday rather than at a job change. Ask payroll to model what happens when you turn 30.

Source: Belastingdienst

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, or what happens when you turn 30.
  • Buying in the earthquake area without reading the Belastingdienst's guidance on how compensation is treated.
  • Being caught by box 3 on a 1 January balance after selling a property or receiving a bonus in late December.
  • 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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Sources

Last verified August 2026. Government processes change — always confirm critical details against the official source before acting.

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Residence permit, BRP registration and the BSN that unlocks everything
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