What changes financially when you move to Cyprus?
Tick where your income comes from. You then see which rules Cyprus 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.
Special regimes
Is there a favourable regime, and do you qualify?
Tax residence is possible from 60 days
You usually become tax resident through the ordinary 183-day rule. Cyprus also has a 60-day route. It is for anyone who spends 183 days nowhere else, has a home in Cyprus and works there or runs a company.
You are tax resident in the country where you live for tax purposes. If you live in Cyprus all year, this route does not matter: you are simply resident. It does count if you keep travelling back and forth. Then keep track of your days, because residence here is a count, not a feeling.
Where this comes from: The 183-day and 60-day rules as described in the knowledge article on pensions and tax in Cyprus.
Read the whole storyWhat the Netherlands doesn't let go of
Which Dutch obligation travels with you?
AOW accrual stops on departure; you can repair it within one year
This is about the accrual, not the payment. What you've built up until you leave stays yours. But as soon as you're no longer insured in the Netherlands, you build up nothing more. Every year until your AOW age then costs 2% of your later AOW. If you already receive AOW, this no longer applies.
For most emigrants the insurance ends at the moment of departure. Anyone who keeps working in the Netherlands or is posted abroad can stay insured. Voluntary continued insurance with the SVB closes the gap, for ten years at most. Two conditions apply. Your application must be in within one year of your compulsory insurance ending. And you must have been insured for at least a year directly before that. The premium depends on your income and is revised annually, so no amount is given here. Put that date in your diary before you go.
- reduction per uninsured year
- 2% of your AOW
- application for voluntary insurance
- no later than 1 year after your insurance ends
- duration of voluntary insurance
- 10 years at most
Source: Algemene Ouderdomswet (General Old Age Pensions Act) — article 13(1) (2% reduction per uninsured calendar year), article 35(1) (voluntary insurance, ten years at most) and article 36(1) (application no later than one year after the compulsory insurance ends) — checked on 2026-09-19
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. The outcome is not included. Cyprus is an EU country: your accrued AOW (the Dutch state pension) goes with you in full and your healthcare runs through the CAK. But the new tax treaty from 2021 has a threshold of € 15,000. Because of it, the well-known 5% pension scheme is economically worthless for most Dutch nationals. What the rules together mean for you is the work of a tax adviser who knows both countries. Take this list with you 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 Cyprus: 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 Cyprus 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.