What changes financially when you move to Costa Rica?

Tick where your income comes from. You then see which rules Costa Rica and the Netherlands apply to your situation — which country may tax, which schemes exist and how you become insured. With the source, so you can check it.

Where does your income come from?

Several answers possible. A mixed pension is the rule rather than the exception.

AOWJe ontvangt AOW, of gaat die binnen je traject ontvangen.BedrijfspensioenPensioen opgebouwd bij een werkgever buiten de overheid.Pensioen uit overheidsdienstABP-jaren als ambtenaar, leraar in het openbaar onderwijs, politie of defensie.Loon uit werk ter plaatseJe gaat in het land zelf in loondienst werken.Zelfstandig werk ter plaatseJe gaat er als zzp'er of ondernemer werken.Huur, dividend of renteInkomen uit vermogen dat buiten je nieuwe woonland zit.Lijfrente of aanmerkelijk belangEen lijfrentepolis, of 5% of meer van de aandelen in een bv.

This applies to everyone who moves. Tick above what applies to you, and the rest is added.

Wat Nederland niet loslaat

Welke Nederlandse verplichting reist met je mee?

Note

Your Dutch basic insurance ends on deregistration

The basic insurance stops on the day you deregister — and your new policy only starts once the acceptance is settled, while the Caja only comes after the card.

With Costa Rica the gap is double: the waiting months for the DGME you bridge without Caja, so your own policy has to run from the first day. Whoever postpones the insurance question until after the move can have become too old for the policy that was meant to carry the plan. First cover, only then irreversible steps.

Where this comes from: The order from the healthcare article — own policy before departure, Caja after the card — and the fixed emigration rule that the Zvw ends on deregistration.

Read the whole story

This is not tax advice

These are the rules that apply to your situation, not the outcome of them. With Costa Rica the sum is the reverse of what the brochure says: there is no tax treaty, so the Netherlands keeps taxing your AOW (the Dutch state pension), your pension and your annuity — without exemption and usually without tax credits — and Costa Rica doesn't tax your Dutch income. Besides that two things that have nothing to do with tax and still decide your monthly income: outside a treaty country the single AOW falls back to the married rate, and as a resident you compulsorily pay a percentage of your declared income to the Caja, on top of your own policy. Take this list to a tax adviser who knows both countries.

And then the journey itself

Knowing which rules apply is the first half. The second is applying them in time: in the right order, with the deadlines watched and the documents at hand.

Start your journey to Costa Rica See the destination

The departure guide

Five mails, and you see your whole journey

Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Costa Rica: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that one question about where your plans stand, and beyond that only a short update when something in Costa Rica really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.