What changes financially when you move to Ireland?
Tick where your income comes from. You then see which rules Ireland 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?
Without a register everything turns on fresh proof of address
Ireland has no population register. That is why every body asks for proof of address no more than three months old. As a newcomer you do not have that yet.
The official solution is on the government website: an original utility bill of your host with a note on it that you are staying there, or a confirmation from a hotel manager. Then put gas, electricity and water in your own name straight away. Every bill is more proof for the next counter.
Where this comes from: The document requirements of the PPS office and the banks, as described in the knowledge article on the PPS number and proof of address.
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 restored 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 can stay insured. You close the gap by taking out voluntary insurance with the SVB, for ten years at most. That is only possible if your application is in within one year of your compulsory insurance ending. You must also have been insured for at least a year directly before that. The premium depends on your income and is revised annually, which is why no amount is given here. Put that deadline 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, not what they add up to for you. Ireland is an EU country. Your accrued AOW (the Dutch state pension) goes with you in full, and your healthcare runs through the CAK, with a medical card as an extra. The tax treaty from 2019 does have a threshold of € 25,000: above it the Netherlands may tax as well. And the Irish remittance basis (tax on foreign income only once you bring it into Ireland) calls for planning before you leave. What the rules mean together for you is the work of a tax adviser who knows both countries. Take this list 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 Ireland: 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 Ireland 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.