Your Dutch pension when you leave the Netherlands

What stays with you

Your AOW is still paid when you live abroad. The SVB pays it on your application, and you can have it paid into a bank account abroad. What you've built up stays yours. The years you live abroad before your AOW age don't add to it, so AOW: how much you'll get and Moved here later? Your AOW gap show what that means in euros.

Tax on your AOW depends on the tax treaty with your new country. Dutch national insurance contributions are still deducted from your AOW if you pay tax abroad, because treaties don't cover them. The CAK decides whether you also pay a health contribution (Zvw) for non-residents under a treaty, and the SVB deducts it from your AOW if so. If Dutch tax or contributions are deducted, you can claim a tax credit for them.

You have to apply yourself, six months before your AOW age. Where you apply depends on where you live. In an EU, EEA or treaty country, you apply to the pension body there if you're insured for a state pension where you live. If not, you apply to the body in the country where you were last insured. Anywhere else, you contact the SVB.

Your employer pension

The pension you built up through work stays with its fund when you leave. It starts paying at the pension date, as it would have if you'd stayed. Ask the fund how it pays out to an address abroad, because each fund's rules differ.

You also have other options, and each one needs a written request to the fund:

• Transfer its value abroad. This is possible only to a pension institution outside the EU and EEA, and only if the fund and DNB agree. The fund must be at least 100% covered. The foreign institution must be supervised by its government, and its assets must be kept apart from the new employer's. Your partner must agree to give up their partner-pension rights.
• Transfer a small pension, or buy it out. Small pensions can be moved or bought out under the Pensioenwet. The threshold for "small" changes each year, so ask the fund for the current figure.
• Ask which options apply to you. Ask the fund in writing which options you have. Some have a deadline, so ask for the dates too.

Your lijfrente

A lijfrente is a private arrangement, so it doesn't depend on your employer. What changes is the tax. When you emigrate, the Belastingdienst can impose a conserving assessment. It sets aside the tax advantage you had on the premiums you deducted. The amount isn't collected straight away. While you keep following the Dutch rules, it can be deferred for up to 10 years.

Moving to an EU or EEA country gives you automatic deferral. Moving to another country can end the deferral, and some people have to provide security. Surrendering or buying out the lijfrente within the 10 years also ends the deferral, and you pay. Ask your insurer what happens to the payouts once you live abroad. Lijfrente in 2026 explains how the payouts are taxed.

Tax on your pensions abroad

The tax treaty between the Netherlands and your new country decides which country taxes which pension. Treaties differ from one country to the next, and they can treat each type of pension differently. Start with the Belastingdienst's list of treaty countries, then check the treaty for the country you're moving to.

In many treaties, your new country taxes your AOW and your private pension, including employer pension and lijfrente payouts. Some treaties let the Netherlands tax them too, once your yearly payments pass an amount that differs by country. Public-sector pensions are usually taxed in the Netherlands, unless you are both a resident and a national of the other country. A buyout is handled separately. If the treaty doesn't name it, the general rule applies, and where the Netherlands has the right to tax a buyout, revisierente is usually due.

Where a treaty gives your new country the right to tax your pension, you can ask for an exemption from Dutch tax. The Belastingdienst form for this is "Aanvraag Vrijstelling van loonheffing", and it needs your BSN. If you're not sure which country taxes a pension, the BelastingTelefoon Buitenland can tell you which rules apply to you.

Tax rules also change. Check the current position with the Belastingdienst before you rely on any treaty, especially for a large sum.

Moving back, or retiring in another country

The rules work the same way whether you move back to your home country or retire somewhere else. The treaty that counts is the one with the country where you live when the pension starts, not the one you lived in while you built it up. If you move again before you retire, the answer can change, so check again at each move.

Before you go

• Ask each fund and insurer, in writing, what they pay out to an address abroad, and which options apply to you.
• Tell the SVB and each fund your new address.
• Apply for your AOW six months before your AOW age, even if you're already abroad.
• Get tax advice in both countries before you choose between a buyout and monthly payments. The choice can change how much tax you pay in total.