What changes financially when you move to Philippines?
Tick where your income comes from. You then see which rules Philippines 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?
PhilHealth can come on top, voluntarily
As a foreigner you don't automatically become a member of PhilHealth, the Philippine health insurance fund. With the SRRV or an ACR I-Card you can join voluntarily, for 15,000 pesos a year with the SRRV and 17,000 pesos with an ACR I-Card.
You're entitled to reimbursement if you paid at least 3 months of premium in the 6 months before an admission. You can't be covered through a Filipino partner: you become a member yourself. Admissions abroad are excluded. The amounts come from a circular from 2017; check the current amount with PhilHealth or the PRA. Whoever works as an employee pays through the employer.
- premium with the SRRV
- 15,000 pesos a year
- premium with an ACR I-Card
- 17,000 pesos a year
What the Netherlands doesn't let go of
Which Dutch obligation travels with you?
Your AOW build-up stops when you leave, repairing is possible within one year
This is about building up your AOW, not about the payment. What you built up until you left stays. 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 plays a role.
The treaty with the Philippines is about the payment of benefits, not about insurance. For most emigrants the insurance therefore ends at the moment they leave. With voluntary insurance at the SVB you close the gap, for at most ten years. That's only possible if your application is in within one year after the end of your compulsory insurance. The premium depends on your income and is revised every year, so there's no amount here.
- reduction per uninsured year
- 2% of your AOW
- application voluntary insurance
- at the latest 1 year after the end of your insurance
- duration voluntary insurance
- at most 10 years
Source: General Old Age Pensions Act — article 13 paragraph 1 (reduction of 2% per uninsured calendar year), article 35 paragraph 1 (voluntary insurance, at most ten years) and article 36 paragraph 1 (application at the latest a year after the end of the compulsory insurance) — checked on 2026-10-20
Read the whole storyYour Dutch basic insurance ends when you deregister
Your basic insurance stops on the day you deregister. Your new policy only starts once you've been accepted.
If you put off the insurance question until after the move, you may have become too old for the policy your plan rested on. So arrange your cover first, and only then take steps you can't undo. Don't count on PhilHealth as your only cover: it's a supplement you can only use after a waiting period.
Where this comes from: The order from the healthcare article — own policy before departure — and the fixed emigration rule that the Zvw ends on deregistration.
Read the whole storyFor inheritance and gifts the Netherlands counts you in for another ten years
The Successiewet, the law on inheritance and gift tax, treats an emigrated Dutch national as living in the Netherlands for another ten years. That applies on death and on a gift.
If you die within ten years of leaving, your heirs pay Dutch inheritance tax, as if you still lived here. There's no inheritance tax treaty with the Philippines, and for a resident the Philippines also taxes assets anywhere in the world. The Netherlands then gives a reduction for what the Philippines already levied (Besluit voorkoming dubbele belasting, article 48). Check your will and your gift plans before you leave.
- residence fiction
- 10 years
This is not tax advice
These are the rules that apply to your situation, not what they add up to. The Netherlands has two treaties with the Philippines. The treaty on the export of benefits makes sure you get the full AOW, also as a single person. The 1989 tax treaty divides who may tax: your company pension goes to the Philippines, your government pension to the Netherlands. About your AOW the treaty says nothing, so the Netherlands keeps taxing it. The Philippines only taxes a foreigner on income from the Philippines. There's no healthcare treaty, so no CAK. Take this list to a tax adviser who knows both countries.
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 Philippines: 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 Philippines 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.