What changes financially when you move to Germany?
Tick where your income comes from. You then see which rules Germany 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.
Which country may tax
Which part of your income may your new country of residence tax?
The 90% rule decides whether you keep your Dutch deductions
Does at least 90% of your income stay taxed in the Netherlands? Then, as a resident of Germany, you keep the same deductions and tax credits as someone living in the Netherlands.
That is called qualifying non-resident taxpayer status. Tax credits are reductions on the tax itself. Partners can even qualify together and file together. For pensioners above the € 15,000 limit this is often achievable, because their income stays largely taxed in the Netherlands. If you take a German job, the reverse applies. Your income shifts to Germany and the Dutch deductions lapse. That belongs in the net calculation.
- requirement
- at least 90% of income taxed in the Netherlands
Special regimes
Is there a favourable regime, and do you qualify?
The Kindergeld is considerably higher than the Dutch child benefit
Germany has no favourable tax regime for newcomers. But families do get a quiet advantage: € 259 Kindergeld per child per month, regardless of income.
You still receive the Dutch child benefit up to and including the quarter in which you move. After that you apply for Kindergeld at the Familienkasse, the German child benefit office. Does one parent keep working in the Netherlands? Then the EU coordination rules apply: the agreements between EU countries on who pays. The country of work pays first. The other country tops up to the highest amount. The SVB arranges that top-up after the end of each quarter.
- per child per month (2026)
- € 259, regardless of income
Source: Kindergeld — amount per child per month, not dependent on income — checked on 2026-08-27
Read the whole storyWhat the Netherlands doesn't let go of
Which Dutch obligation travels with you?
Your AOW accrual stops on departure; it can be repaired, within one year
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. This is about the accrual, not the payment: if you already receive AOW, this no longer applies.
For most emigrants the insurance ends at the moment of departure. Whoever keeps working in the Netherlands or is posted abroad (sent abroad temporarily by a Dutch employer) can stay insured. Voluntary insurance with the SVB closes the gap, for ten years at most. That is only possible if your application is 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 the year you move, you file the M return
For the year of your move you file the M return in the Netherlands. Does money flow monthly through a provisional assessment? Then adjust it before departure.
The M return is the return for the year in which you emigrate. It is now simply done online. With a provisional assessment you receive or pay money every month, ahead of your return. That is the silent leak. If you let it run on, you receive refunds or payments for months for a situation that no longer exists. And you get to put that right later.
Where this comes from: Practical sequence from the knowledge article; the return itself is with the Belastingdienst, the advice on the provisional assessment is the lesson from practice.
Read the whole storyYour Dutch basic health insurance ends when you deregister
Your basic health insurance stops on the day you deregister. Not on 31 December, and not if you let it run on.
The insurance belongs with living in the Netherlands, and that stops. What replaces it depends on your route. In employment it is the GKV, from your first working day. If you come with a pension, it is the CAK route with an S1. As a self-employed person it is voluntary insurance, and that one you arrange before departure, not after.
Where this comes from: Description from the knowledge article on the German healthcare choice. The CAK describes what replaces it after your move, not when your Dutch insurance ends.
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. What they add up to for you is not here: that is work for a tax adviser who knows both systems. With Germany, almost everything turns on one question. Does the total of your Dutch pensions exceed the € 15,000 limit? And what does the offsetting between the two countries then mean for your amounts? We do not make that sum here. Take this list with you to the conversation with your tax adviser: then you know which questions to ask.
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 Germany: 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 Germany 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.