What changes financially when you move to Australia?
Tick where your income comes from. You then see which rules Australia and the Netherlands apply to your situation: which country may tax you, which schemes exist and how you get insured. With the source, so you can check it yourself.
This applies to everyone who moves. Tick above what applies to you, and the rest will appear.
Health insurance
How do you get insured, and what do you pay for it?
Medicare exists, but know the healthcare agreement and the LHC clock
The Netherlands is one of the eleven countries with a reciprocal healthcare agreement (RHCA) with Australia, and with a permanent visa you come under Medicare, the Australian public healthcare system. But your Dutch basic health insurance ends on emigration, and the clock for private cover (LHC) starts ticking.
Enrol in Medicare in your first weeks. Decide within the LHC period whether to take out a private hospital policy, an insurance for hospital care. If you join too late, you pay a loading until you've had ten years of continuous cover. The details and the deadline are in the Medicare article.
Where this comes from: The healthcare agreement, the Medicare enrolment and the LHC deadline from the knowledge article on Medicare in Australia.
Read the whole storyWhat the Netherlands doesn't let go of
Which Dutch obligation travels with you?
Child benefit and allowances stop on departure
Your Dutch child benefit, healthcare allowance and rent allowance stop when you emigrate to Australia. For child benefit, the quarter in which you leave is the last one.
Have them stopped yourself. That way you avoid having to pay money back later. Work the loss into your family budget before you leave.
Where this comes from: The cancellation list from the knowledge article on cancelling allowances on emigration.
Read the whole storyFor inheritance and gifts the Netherlands counts you in for ten more years
The Inheritance Tax Act (Successiewet), the law on inheritance and gift tax, pretends an emigrated Dutch national still lives in the Netherlands for ten years. That applies on death and to gifts.
If you die within ten years of leaving, your heirs pay Dutch inheritance tax, as if you still lived here. What you give away in those years, to your children for example, falls under Dutch gift tax. So review your will and your gift plans before you leave. For a gift in the first year after you leave, this even applies to everyone who lived in the Netherlands, also without Dutch nationality.
- deemed residence
- 10 years
This is not tax advice
These are the rules that apply to your situation, not what they add up to. Australia makes it clearer than most countries: almost everything moves to the Australian tax office. Two things are different. The Age Pension, the Australian state pension, is not something you build up: you receive it after a test. And what the Netherlands does not let go is the same here as everywhere outside the EU. What the rules together mean for you is for a tax adviser who knows both systems to work out. Take this list to that conversation.
Still deciding between countries? Put the rules of two or three countries side by side
Then actually doing it
Knowing which rules apply is the first half. The second is applying them in time: in the right order, without missing a deadline, and with your documents at hand.
Every step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Australia: every step in order, to print and tick off. With it, five mails in a week and a half about the pitfalls and the real costs. If the rules for Australia change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, send one offer, and now and then one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.