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Hungary · No visa required
Emigrating to Hungary
As an EU citizen you may be in Hungary for ninety days without conditions. After that you register, by day 93 at the latest, with an address card that since 2025 you pay for in advance. A treaty from 1986 places your occupational pension with Hungary, where it's tax-free. Your AOW stays taxed in the Netherlands. And on your car you pay registration tax, even as relocation goods.
€ 199 one-off · 31 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- Administrative: registration by day 93 at the latest
- The clocks
- Day 93 for the registration certificate, 60 days for the car
- Note
- Occupational pension tax-free in Hungary, AOW taxed in the Netherlands
Last updated: 14 October 2026
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Five phases, from day 93 to the hectare limit
Hungary has few counters, but two deadlines that you set running yourself: day 93 for the registration certificate and sixty days for the car. A treaty from 1986 cuts your pension in two. The occupational pension goes to Hungary, and there it is tax-free. The AOW and the government pension stay with the Netherlands. And the registration tax on the car makes this journey more expensive than Poland or Czechia.
- Orientation
Day 93, a treaty that cuts the pension, and a language without relatives
In this phase you get clear how registration, pension and healthcare work, and you choose your region. You may be in Hungary for ninety days freely; after that you must be registered, by day 93 at the latest. The treaty of 1986 decides where your pension is taxed. Your occupational pension goes to Hungary and is tax-free there as a treaty pension. The Netherlands may tax your AOW, because the Netherlands pays it. The government pension stays Dutch. Healthcare runs through the CAK, the Dutch body that arranges your healthcare abroad, to the one Hungarian health fund. Explore the region in January: Budapest is a different world from a village at Lake Balaton. And Hungarian is related to no neighbouring language.Read more
- Closing the Netherlands
Wage tax exemption: yes for your occupational pension, not for your AOW
In this phase you close things down in the Netherlands, with one point you mustn't turn around. Apply for the wage tax exemption for your occupational pension, so the Netherlands no longer withholds tax on it. That pension falls under Hungary alone. Do not apply for it for your AOW, because the Netherlands may tax that. Whoever applies for everything gets a rejection or an additional assessment. Further, six weeks before departure you apply to the CAK for the S1: the form that moves your healthcare with you. You inform the SVB in time. And whoever has a house at Lake Balaton can use the eight-month rule to keep living partly in the Netherlands.Read more
- The move
No customs, but the most expensive step: the registration tax on the car
In this phase you move by road: two days, without customs and without an inventory. The car is where Hungary differs from its neighbours. On every car brought in you pay registration tax, without exemption for relocation goods. Since 1 March 2025 it depends on power, environmental class and age. Within sixty days you start the origin check, the check of where the car comes from. If you don't, seizure and a fine follow: 200,000 forint for a private individual, or 400,000 forint for a car above 2,000 cc. So work it out before you leave. The pet needs only a chip, the jab and the EU pet passport.Read more
- Registration in Hungary
First pay for the address card, then the certificate, then the S1, then the TAJ card
In this phase you register in Hungary, in a fixed order. First you transfer 5,700 forint per person for the address card. Without proof of payment the immigration office terminates the procedure. Then you apply for the registration certificate, by day 93 at the latest. It costs 1,000 forint and is valid indefinitely. After that you take the S1 to the health insurance department of the kormányhivatal, the regional government office. There you get a TAJ number and a TAJ card, your Hungarian health card. You get the same care as a Hungarian insured person, without Hungarian contribution. Only then do you arrange the bank, the digital access to the authorities and the GP in your district.Read more
- Arrival
The licence stays, a house you buy freely, the land you don't
In this phase you arrange what lasts: your driving licence, perhaps a home of your own and later permanent residence. An EEA driving licence, such as the Dutch one, doesn't need exchanging. A home you buy as an EU citizen without a permit. You pay four percent transfer tax, and a lawyer draws up the deed. Agricultural land has an act of its own. Whoever is not a registered farmer may own at most one hectare in total. Every purchase passes the agricultural authority, and the neighbours have a pre-emption right. So a village house with a large orchard is sometimes not an ordinary house. After five years you apply for permanent residence.Read more
This is what one step of your plan looks like
This is the real thing: one of the steps of the journey to Hungary, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan, with the deadlines, the offices and the sources.
Step 2.3 of your plan
Know where you'll pay tax, and apply for the exemption for the right part
- Lead time
- one good conversation, then an application of weeks
- Costs
- advisory hours — depending on your situation
With this step your pension fund no longer withholds Dutch tax on your occupational pension. But only on that: whoever applies for the exemption for everything gets a rejection or an additional assessment.
The tax treaty places your occupational pension only with Hungary. The Netherlands, as the country that pays out your AOW, may tax that.
How to go about it:
- Get a Hungarian certificate of residence, the proof that you live in Hungary for tax purposes.
- With it, apply to the Dutch tax authority for the wage tax exemption for your occupational pension.
- Do not apply for it for your AOW.
On the Hungarian side it looks like this:
- Your occupational pension is nyugdíj there, the Hungarian word for pension. It is tax-free and you file no return for it. If you file a return for another reason, you list it at most as information.
- Your AOW is exempted by Hungary, because the Netherlands may tax it.
- What remains falls under the flat tax of fifteen percent, the fixed Hungarian rate. That is an annuity that doesn't come from employment, rent, and work.
That last part is something to discuss with your tax adviser.
The government pension stays Dutch, unless you're a resident and a national (citizen) of Hungary.
And this is the dashboard that step lives in. The example shows the plan for Spain; your dashboard shows the plan for Hungary.
This is step 2.3 of 33. The other 32 are ready for you, each with the same sources, the same offices and a schedule that keeps track of your dates.
See all 33 steps for HungaryWhat you get for € 199
All 33 steps to Hungary, for your situation
In order, with the office and the official source at every step. Steps that don't apply to you don't appear.
Your deadlines in one place
For each step you see the latest date to start, and you get a heads-up before something is due or expires. Your documents sit in the vault, with their dates.
A plan that stays right
Twice a month we check the sources. If something changes, it's in your plan and you get a message.
The step-by-step plan for Hungary
€ 199
one-off · 33 steps
- Pay once, no subscription
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Every step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Hungary: 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 Hungary 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.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Which country may tax your pension once you live in Hungary? Is there a favourable regime, a scheme that lowers your tax? And how do you get insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you'll see which rules apply to you, with the source.
See the financial conditionsClosing down the Netherlands: all your letters in one go
Moving to Hungary starts with leaving the Netherlands properly. That's why the plan includes the letter tool: you enter your details once and every cancellation and notification letter is ready.
Just the letters, without the plan? That works too, for € 49
- Health insurance, rent, energy, subscriptions, GP, school, bank and pension fund: 16 kinds of letters. You enter your details only once.
- A sending list that counts back from your departure date and your notice period, even when that's three months.
- Also what you need to ask for as an emigrant: your no-claims years in English, your medical file and the school report (the report on your child for the new school).
Auke, maker of Vertrekklaar
On 2 January we're leaving ourselves, on a trip around the world with our family. What I put here, I'm arranging for my own family too.
On 20 September 2026 a customer wrote that the CAK rule for early retirement was missing from his plan. He was right. That evening the step was in thirteen plans, with the source attached.
The knowledge base on Hungary
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
- AOW, pension and tax in Hungary: the occupational pension taxed nowhere, the AOW in the Netherlands insteadThe treaty with Hungary from 1986 places your occupational pension exclusively with Hungary, and Hungary declares a treaty pension to be nyugdíj — and nyugdíj is tax-free there. Your AOW works exactly the other way round: the Netherlands may tax it as the paying state, and Hungary exempts it. The government pension stays Dutch. Whoever applies for the wage tax exemption for the wrong part gets an additional assessment.
- Working in Hungary: no permit, but three numbers, and what comes off your payAs an EU citizen you work in Hungary without a work permit, and you may start before your registration certificate arrives. From your gross pay 15 percent income tax and 18.5 percent social contribution are deducted; your employer pays 13 percent on top. Anyone who keeps working remotely for a Dutch employer first needs to know in which country they are insured.
- Healthcare in Hungary: from the CAK's S1 to the TAJ cardHungary is a treaty country. With a Dutch statutory pension you apply for an S1 form at the CAK, have it registered at the health insurance department of the kormányhivatal, and get a TAJ number with a TAJ card — the proof with which you receive the same care as a Hungarian insured person, without a Hungarian healthcare contribution. There is one health fund, so nothing to choose; but a GP, and the one for your own area may only refuse you in exceptional cases.
- Car and driving licence in Hungary: registration tax without relocation exemption, and sixty daysWithin the EU Hungary is an exception: it charges a registration tax on every car you bring, even as relocation goods, and whoever lives there may not drive around on foreign plates. Sixty days to start the origin check, four counters, and whoever lets it slide loses plates and papers on the spot. The driving licence is the easy part: an EEA licence doesn't need exchanging.
- Renting in Hungary: the written contract, the deposit and the signature for your addressA rented home in Hungary is simply available to an EU citizen, and the law is short: the contract must be on paper, you pay rent in advance, and a court can reduce a deposit above three months' rent. The pitfall sits next to it. For your address card the landlord must co-sign, unless your contract itself provides the proof.
- Taking your pet to Hungary: the EU rules for the journey, and the yearly rabies jab afterwardsYour dog or cat travels to Hungary with a microchip, a valid rabies vaccination and the EU pet passport; no titre test, no quarantine. The difference comes afterwards. Hungary requires a new rabies jab for dogs every year, even if the vaccination in your passport is valid for longer, and the vaccination booklet has to come along on walks.
All 13 articles about Hungary
- Your household goods to Hungary: no customs, and the few things that do have a rule
- Address card, tax number and TAJ: the Hungarian numbers, and which office issues them
- Banking in Hungary: the basic account, free cash withdrawals and the statement you have to make
- Your first weeks in Hungary: which clock runs out first
- Residence in Hungary: the registration certificate on day 93, and the address card you pay for in advance
- Buying a house in Hungary: free for EU citizens, one hectare for whoever isn't a farmer
- School in Hungary: compulsory from three, your district's school and the paper your child needs itself
Also applies to your move
Ready to begin?
The step-by-step plan for Hungary: 33 steps, with your documents and your costs in one place. For each step you see the latest date to start. You pay once and it's yours.