No right to 30% ruling after a study / internship in the Netherlands

If a foreign student, in the 24 months prior to his employment in the Netherlands, has lived in the Netherlands for more than eight months, he cannot claim the application of the 30% ruling facility.  

An employer can apply the 30% ruling for incoming and seconded employees. To qualify as an incoming employee, an employee must meet a number of conditions. The employee must live more than 16 months at a distance of more than 150 kilometers from the Dutch (national) border in the 24 months prior to the first working day in the Netherlands.    

Internship contract 

In this court case, an Italian student took a number of courses at the Delft University of Technology as part of his studies at the University of Bologna from 1 July 2012 to 1 December 2012. On 1 October 2012, the student signed an "internship contract" with a Dutch company to perform work after completing his studies from 7 January 2013 to 7 April 2013. The University of Bologna had nothing to do with the realization of this "internship contract." On 3 June 2013, the Dutch company signed a 12-month employment contract with the Italian graduate. The Italian student was in the opinion that he would qualify as an incoming employee and that his employer could apply the  

30% ruling.  

The tax authorities noted that the Italian student was already registered as a resident of the Netherlands in the municipal basic administration as from 11 October 2012. As from 1 July 2012, the Italian student also had living space in the Netherlands. As a result, he did not meet the condition to be an incoming employee. The court agreed with the tax authorities. The fact that the Italian student also had ties with Italy did not exclude living in the Netherlands.  

Source: Taxence, 25th of September 2019