What changes financially when you move to Italy?
Tick where your income comes from. You then see which rules Italy 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?
Free GP, a capped ticket and generous exemptions
The GP and a hospital admission cost nothing. For specialist care and tests you pay a ticket per prescription: a co-payment with a maximum. The exemptions are generous, and they are worth applying for.
Children, older people with a lower household income, people with a chronic condition and pregnant women each have their own exemption. Its code goes on every prescription. This system has no major financial healthcare risks. You mainly pay in waiting time. The prescription shows a priority class. Anyone who knows those classes knows their place in the queue.
Where this comes from: Description of the system from the knowledge article; the tickets and exemption limits differ per region, so no amount is given here.
Read the whole storyWhat the Netherlands doesn't let go of
Which Dutch obligation travels with you?
Your AOW accrual stops on departure, but you can repair it within a 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 by their 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. You must also have been insured for at least a year directly before that. The premium depends on your income and is set again every year, 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 storyYour Dutch basic health insurance ends on deregistration
The basic insurance stops on the day you deregister. Not on 31 December, and not later either if you let it run on.
The insurance goes with living in the Netherlands, and that stops. What replaces it depends on your situation. If you work in Italy, you are insured free of charge in the Italian system. If you come with a pension, you arrange the S1 through the CAK. If you have neither, you choose a private policy or the voluntary registration with its minimum contribution. The last two you arrange before departure, not after.
Where this comes from: Description from the knowledge article on Italian healthcare. There is no official page that gives the end date of the basic insurance in so many words; the CAK describes what replaces it.
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. With Italy comes the most tempting scheme of all the countries we cover: the 7% regime. Whether it really works out for your pension, your municipality and your capital the way the headline promises depends on how the treaty and Italian law work together. Sorting that out is the work of a tax adviser who knows both systems. Take this list to that conversation. 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 Italy: 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 Italy 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.