Tax residence in the Netherlands for Indian taxpayers

The Netherlands has no day-count test: residence depends on all facts and circumstances, above all a lasting personal tie such as a home, family or work there. India counts days over 1 April – 31 March. If both countries claim you, Art. 4(2) of the India–Netherlands Convention decides; the Netherlands relieves Indian-taxed income by reducing Dutch tax.

Check your status: India and Netherlands

Free, no sign-up, about 3 minutes. Conclusion under Indian income-tax law, compared with the law of the Netherlands and the tax treaty.

When Netherlands treats you as a tax resident

The Netherlands has no day-count test: residence depends on the facts — whether you have a lasting personal tie with the country (home, family, work, where you spend your time). That tie does not need to be stronger than your tie with India.

A home in the Netherlands together with family, work or most of your time there is a lasting personal tie: you are probably a Dutch resident, taxed on worldwide income.
You have no home in the Netherlands but spent most of the year there — a strong, though not decisive, argument for Dutch residence; all circumstances must be weighed.

When you are a nonresident

You have a home in the Netherlands, but without family, work or most of your time there a lasting tie is doubtful — you are more likely a non-resident, but the tax authority may see it differently. As a resident of India (or any other country outside the EU/EEA/Switzerland/BES) you cannot obtain qualifying non-resident status, so you get no Dutch tax credits and almost no deductions.
No home and no substantial time in the Netherlands — you are a non-resident. Salary for work performed in the Netherlands is taxable there (subject to Art. 15 of the India–Netherlands Convention). As a resident of India (or any other country outside the EU/EEA/Switzerland/BES) you cannot obtain qualifying non-resident status, so you get no Dutch tax credits and almost no deductions.

Where the rules of the Netherlands clash with Indian tax rules

Dual residence: the Netherlands does not count days or compare ties. The Netherlands needs only a lasting personal tie with the country — it does not have to be stronger than your tie with India (Hoge Raad, BZ6824) — so dual residence with India is common in the year of a move. Treaty residence is decided by Art. 4(2) of the India–Netherlands Convention: permanent home; with a home in both countries, centre of vital interests; if that cannot be determined, or you have a home in neither, habitual abode; then nationality; then mutual agreement.
Family in the Netherlands. If you have a permanent home in both countries, Art. 4(2)(a) of the Convention looks to the centre of vital interests — and a family living in the Netherlands pulls it there (as the Court of Appeal of The Hague held where the home and the wife were in the Netherlands). If your spouse and children stay in India, the centre of vital interests usually stays in India.

What else to know

Different tax years: 1 April in India, the calendar year in the Netherlands. India counts days in its tax year (1 April – 31 March); the Netherlands has no day test and taxes by calendar year, treating you as resident from the date you move in. The 183-day test for salary in Art. 15(2) of the treaty counts days «in the fiscal year concerned»; the Convention does not define that term, so each country applies its own meaning (Art. 3(2)) — for Dutch tax, the calendar year.
Working in the Netherlands while resident in India: the 183-day rule (Art. 15(2)). If India is your treaty residence, the Netherlands may tax salary for work physically performed there unless all conditions of Art. 15(2) are met: not more than 183 days in the Netherlands in the fiscal year concerned, an employer who is not a Dutch resident, and pay not borne by a Dutch permanent establishment or fixed base. Otherwise the Netherlands taxes the pay for Dutch work days and India credits the Dutch tax (Art. 23(4)).
How India and the Netherlands relieve double taxation. If India is your state of residence, India deducts from Indian tax an amount equal to the Dutch income tax paid (Art. 23(4)); claim it with Form No. 44 (rule 76 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026), which limits the credit to the Indian tax on that income. If the Netherlands is your state of residence, it exempts Indian income that India may tax by reducing Dutch tax (Art. 23(2)) — in effect exemption with progression — and for certain listed items such as dividends, interest and royalties it deducts the Indian tax instead (Art. 23(3)).
No qualifying non-resident status for residents of India. Qualifying non-resident status (resident-level credits and deductions) is available only to residents of the EU, the EEA, Switzerland and the BES islands. As a resident of India taxed in the Netherlands on Dutch salary, you get no Dutch tax credits and almost no deductions.
Year of moving: the Netherlands splits the year (M return), India does not. The Netherlands treats you as resident from the date you move in (or until the date you leave) and you file an M return for that year. India has no split year: it decides your status for the whole Indian tax year (1 April – 31 March). Where both countries treat you as resident for the same period, the treaty decides for that period.
30% ruling (27% from 2027). If a Dutch employer recruits you from India (you lived more than 16 of the previous 24 months over 150 km from the Dutch border) and you meet the salary norm, up to 30% of your wages can be paid tax-free for at most 5 years (2026 cap €78,600). From 1 January 2027 the maximum falls to 27% (rulings that began before 2024 keep 30%). The option to be treated as a partial non-resident is no longer available from the 2025 return (transitional rule for 2024 users). The ruling is a Dutch measure only.
Box 3: tax on a deemed return on savings and investments. As a Dutch resident your worldwide savings and investments — including Indian bank deposits, shares and property — fall into box 3, which taxes a deemed return rather than actual income. You can claim a lower actual return under the counter-evidence rule (from 2017 onward); a system based on actual returns is expected from 2028. India taxes the actual income from Indian assets as Indian-source income.

How dual residence is resolved

If both countries treat you as a resident, Art. 4(2) of the treaty applies: Convention between the Republic of India and the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and on capital (signed at New Delhi on 30 July 1988, with Protocol; amended 1999 and 2012). The tests are applied in order — permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, nationality, and finally mutual agreement between the tax authorities.

Terms you will come across in the Netherlands

fiscaal inwoner: tax resident of the Netherlands — decided on all facts and circumstances
duurzame band van persoonlijke aard: lasting personal tie with the Netherlands, the core of Dutch residence
aangifte M: migration return for the year you move to or from the Netherlands
30%-regeling: tax-free allowance for employees recruited from abroad (27% from 2027)
box 3: tax on a deemed return on savings and investments
Belastingdienst: the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration

Questions

How many days in the Netherlands make me resident?

There is no fixed number. A home in the Netherlands together with family, work or most of your time there usually makes you resident; without a home, spending most of the year there is a strong but not decisive indicator.

Can I get qualifying non-resident status while living in India?

No. That status is available only to residents of the EU, the EEA, Switzerland and the BES islands, so a resident of India taxed on Dutch salary gets no Dutch tax credits and almost no deductions.

When does the Netherlands tax my salary if India is my treaty residence?

When you are in the Netherlands for more than 183 days in the fiscal year concerned, or the employer is Dutch, or a Dutch permanent establishment or fixed base bears the pay (Art. 15(2)). India then credits the Dutch tax (Art. 23(4)).

Sources

Legislation and official guidance

Art. 4 AWR — Where a person lives is judged on all the facts and circumstances — there is no fixed day-count test.
Art. 2.1 Wet IB 2001 — Residents pay income tax on worldwide income; non-residents only on Dutch-source income.
Belastingdienst: fiscaal inwoner van Nederland — Indicators of Dutch tax residence: spending most of your time at a Dutch address, partner and family in the Netherlands, work there, insurance, a family doctor, children at school, memberships of organisations.
Art. 7.8(6) Wet IB 2001 — Qualifying non-resident status (resident-level credits and deductions where 90% or more of income is taxed in the Netherlands) is available only to residents of the EU, the EEA, Switzerland and the BES islands; there is no mechanism to designate other states, so a resident of India cannot obtain it.
Belastingdienst: aftrekposten en kortingen bij wonen in het buitenland — Non-residents living outside the EU/EEA/Switzerland/BES get only the entrepreneur's deduction for a Dutch business and the box 3 tax-free allowance; no tax part of the general tax credits; the premium part only if compulsorily insured in Dutch social insurance.
Art. 7.2(2)(b) Wet IB 2001 — A non-resident is taxed on salary for work physically performed in the Netherlands.
Art. 15(2) India–Netherlands Convention; Art. 3(2) — Pay of a resident of one State for employment exercised in the other State is taxable only in the State of residence if the employee is present in the other State for a period or periods not exceeding in the aggregate 183 days in the fiscal year concerned, the employer is not a resident of the other State and the pay is not borne by a permanent establishment or fixed base there. «Fiscal year» is not defined in the Convention, so it takes its meaning under the domestic law of the State applying it (Art. 3(2)).
Income-tax Act, 2025, s. 6(1)–(2) — Residential status is determined for each tax year. An individual is resident in India in a tax year if in India for 182 days or more in that year, or for 60 days or more in that year and 365 days or more in the four years preceding it.
Art. 4(2) India–Netherlands Convention (1988) — Dual-resident individual: (a) resident of the State in which he has a permanent home available to him; if he has a permanent home in both States, of the State with which his personal and economic relations are closer (centre of vital interests); (b) if the centre of vital interests cannot be determined, or if he has not a permanent home available to him in either State, of the State in which he has an habitual abode; (c) habitual abode in both States or in neither — the State of which he is a national; (d) national of both or neither — the competent authorities settle the question by mutual agreement.
Art. 23(2)–(4) India–Netherlands Convention — The Netherlands exempts income that India may tax under the Convention by allowing a reduction of Dutch tax computed under Dutch law (para. 2); for certain listed items (such as dividends, interest and royalties) it allows instead a deduction of the Indian tax, capped at the amount of the reduction (para. 3). India allows as a deduction from the tax on the income of its resident an amount equal to the Netherlands income tax paid (para. 4).
Income-tax Rules, 2026, rule 76; Forms No. 44 and 45 — A resident gets credit for foreign tax in the tax year in which the income is taxed in India; credit is the lower of the Indian tax on that income and the foreign tax, per source and per country; not against interest, fees or penalties; disputed foreign tax only after settlement (Form No. 45, within 6 months of the month of settlement). Form No. 44 with a certificate of income and tax and proof of payment, within 12 months from the end of the tax year if the return was filed on time; accountant verification if foreign tax is ₹1,00,000 or more. Conversion at the TT buying rate.
Belastingdienst: aangifte M — In the year of moving in or out you file an M return: resident of the Netherlands from the date of arrival or until the date of departure.
Belastingdienst: 30%-regeling (expatregeling) — Employees recruited from abroad who, in the 24 months before starting, lived more than 16 months over 150 km from the Dutch border and have scarce expertise (2026 salary norm €48,013; €36,497 for under-30s with a qualifying master's) may receive up to 30% of wages tax-free for at most 5 years; 2026 maximum tax-free allowance €78,600. Partial non-resident status can no longer be chosen from the 2025 return (transitional rule for 2024 users through 2026).
Business.gov.nl: 30 percent ruling compensation down to 27 percent — From 1 January 2027 the tax-free maximum is 27% of wages and the salary norm rises (€50,436; €38,388 for under-30s with a master's). Rulings that started before 1 January 2024 keep 30% for their 5 years.
Rijksoverheid, 14.03.2025: Wet tegenbewijsregeling box 3 — Box 3 taxes a deemed (forfaitair) return on savings and investments. Under the counter-evidence rule taxpayers can show their actual return from 2017 onward and recover tax if it is lower than the deemed return; the rule is temporary pending the Wet werkelijk rendement box 3, expected in 2028.
Art. 4(2)(a) India–Netherlands Convention (1988) — Resident of the State in which he has a permanent home available to him; if he has a permanent home available to him in both States, resident of the State with which his personal and economic relations are closer (centre of vital interests).
Income-tax Act, 2025, s. 159 — The Central Government may enter into agreements for relief from double taxation and avoidance of double taxation; where an agreement applies, the Act applies only to the extent more beneficial to the assessee (s. 159(4)). A non-resident may claim treaty relief only with a certificate of residence from the other country's government and the prescribed documents and information (s. 159(8)).
Art. 4(2)(b) India–Netherlands Convention (1988) — If the centre of vital interests cannot be determined, or if he has not a permanent home available to him in either State, the individual is deemed a resident of the State in which he has an habitual abode.
Art. 4(2)(c)–(d) India–Netherlands Convention (1988) — Habitual abode in both States or in neither — resident of the State of which he is a national; national of both States or of neither — the competent authorities settle the question by mutual agreement.

Case law

Hoge Raad (Supreme Court of the Netherlands), ECLI:NL:HR:2013:BZ6824, 12/04/2013 — Residence requires a lasting personal tie with the Netherlands; the centre of social life does not have to be in the Netherlands.
Gerechtshof Amsterdam (Court of Appeal), ECLI:NL:GHAMS:2024:721, 23/01/2024 — Under Art. 4 AWR all circumstances are weighed; no single category is decisive.
Advocate General at the Hoge Raad, ECLI:NL:PHR:2025:500, 25/04/2025 — Residence is an open standard: a lasting personal tie with the Netherlands; dual residence is possible.
Hoge Raad (Supreme Court of the Netherlands), ECLI:NL:HR:2026:1287, 17/07/2026 — A finding of residence (Art. 4 AWR, treaty with Switzerland) based on a count of days of presence is unfounded for a period the count does not cover. The burden of proving that a lasting tie with the Netherlands continued lies with the tax inspector, not the taxpayer.
Gerechtshof Den Haag (Court of Appeal), ECLI:NL:GHDHA:2020:389, 25/02/2020 — Work in another state but an own home in the Netherlands where the wife lived: a permanent home in both states, centre of vital interests in the Netherlands.

Updated 04/11/2026. The result is for information only and is not tax or legal advice. Tax authorities and courts may interpret the rules differently, including because of circumstances not covered here, and the law changes. Consult a qualified adviser before making decisions.

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