🇮🇪 COUNTRY A Ireland VS 🇳🇱 COUNTRY B Netherlands

The 30% ruling allows employers to pay qualifying expat employees a tax-free allowance of 30% of their gross salary for up to five years. To qualify, the worker must be recruited from abroad, earn above a minimum salary threshold (around €46,107 in 2025 for most roles, lower for researchers under 30), and not have lived within 150 km of the Dutch border in the 24 months before taking the job. Under the 30% ruling, a €100,000 salary is treated as if only €70,000 is taxable — cutting the effective tax rate dramatically and making the Netherlands far cheaper than Ireland for qualifying expats.

USC (Universal Social Charge) is Ireland’s additional levy on gross income: 0.5% on first €12,012, 2% up to €25,760, 4% up to €70,044, and 8% above that. Combined with 40% income tax and 4% PRSI, an Irish earner on €100,000 faces a marginal rate of around 52%. The Netherlands has no USC equivalent but its 49.5% top rate and mandatory health insurance produce a similarly heavy total burden. For expats without the 30% ruling, the Netherlands is modestly more expensive at high incomes.

Ireland wins for US multinationals. Dublin hosts the EMEA headquarters of Google, Meta, Apple, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Airbnb — the result of Ireland’s 12.5% corporate tax and English-speaking workforce. If your employer is a US tech firm and you’re being relocated to their European hub, that hub is statistically more likely to be Dublin than Amsterdam. The Netherlands is preferred by financial firms (ING, ABN AMRO, Heineken, Shell) and continental-facing businesses.