AOW, pension and tax on Aruba: what the Kingdom does arrange
Aruba is the mildest destination outside Europe for your old age: the accrued AOW goes with you in full, with the single-person rate and the allowance, and the 1964 Tax Arrangement for the Kingdom lets the country of residence tax pension from former employment. What stops (the accrual), what begins (the Aruban AOV), what Aruba charges, and where the sharp edges are: the protective assessment, government pension and lump-sum surrender.
5 min read
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If you live on Aruba, Aruba taxes your AOW and your pension, and it charges mildly: with a tax-free amount of Afl. 30,000 and a zero band up to Afl. 34,930, a band on which the rate is nil. That is governed by the Tax Arrangement for the Kingdom of 1964: pension from former employment may be taxed in the country of residence.
Three things to know up front:
- Your accrued AOW goes with you in full. Where this site tells a gloomy story for destinations without a treaty, for the Kingdom it simply stands in a decree: whoever lives on Aruba "is entitled to old-age pension as if he lived in the Netherlands". So the single-person rate of 70% of the net minimum wage stays. If you still receive an AOW supplement for a younger partner, it stays too. That supplement was abolished in 2015. Only people who already had it keep it.
- What does stop is the accrual. The Caribbean part of the Kingdom counts as outside the Netherlands for the AOW, and every calendar year without insurance costs 2%.
- The pitfall lies in what the arrangement excepts: a pension paid by the Dutch government, and the surrender of a pension, remain taxed in the Netherlands. The find at the Belastingdienst: through the agreements with Aruba you keep, as a resident, the right to the general tax credit (a reduction of Dutch income tax) and the tax-free allowance on your Dutch income.
What happens to my AOW?
The BEU Act (the Dutch Benefits Export Restriction Act) restricts the export of benefits. But the Decree on deviating rules provides in article 11 that whoever lives in Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Aruba or on the BES islands (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba) is entitled to old-age pension "as if he lived in the Netherlands". An existing AOW supplement for a partner below AOW age also continues there. There have been no new supplements since 2015. The AOW itself sets the rates: 70% of the net minimum wage for a single person, 50% per married person.
What changes is the accrual. The SVB counts the Caribbean part as "living outside the Netherlands", and article 13 reduces the pension by 2% for every calendar year you were not insured. Repair is possible with the voluntary insurance. You apply for it within one year after your compulsory insurance ended. How the AOW on emigration works in general is covered separately.
What do I accrue on Aruba?
As a resident you are insured for the Aruban AOV, Aruba's state pension. Whoever lives on Aruba between fifteen and the pension age accrues, and every year abroad from your fifteenth costs 2%. The pension age has been 65 since 1 January 2024.
The maximum is Afl. 1,397 a month for a single person and Afl. 2,352 for a couple (Afl. 1,176 each). On top of that comes the repair allowance of Afl. 600. The government pays it through the SVb, Aruba's social insurance bank, to whoever is registered with the Civil Registry and receives an AOV or AWW pension. Whoever emigrates at forty thus ends up with two partial state pensions.
| Item | Netherlands | Aruba |
|---|---|---|
| State pension | AOW: 70% of the net minimum wage single, 50% per married person; goes along in full | AOV: at most Afl. 1,397 single, Afl. 2,352 per couple, plus repair allowance Afl. 600 |
| Pension age | the AOW age | 65 since 1 January 2024 |
| Accrual | stops: 2% reduction per uninsured calendar year; voluntary insurance, apply within 1 year | 2% per year of living on Aruba from your fifteenth |
| Tax on AOW and pension | BRK article 15: the country of residence may tax | tax-free Afl. 30,000; 0% up to Afl. 34,930, then 21%, 42% and 52% |
| AZV premium | — | whoever is 65 in 2026: 0% on the first Afl. 30,000, 10.5% above that up to Afl. 85,000 |
| Dividend and interest from the Netherlands | withholding up to 15% (article 11) and 10% (article 13) | taxed on Aruba |
| Rented-out house in the Netherlands | taxed in the Netherlands (article 4) | — |
| Government pension and surrender | the Netherlands may tax (articles 17 and 15, paragraph 6) | — |
Who taxes my pension?
Article 15, paragraph 4, of the BRK (the Tax Arrangement for the Kingdom): pensions "in respect of former employment exercised within one of the other countries" may be taxed in the country where you live. For AOW and occupational pension Aruba therefore taxes, at the 2026 table above. Whoever has the AOV age in 2026 pays 0% AZV premium, the premium for Aruba's health insurance, on the first Afl. 30,000.
Two exceptions stand in the same arrangement:
- Income, pensions included, paid by one of the countries or a public-law body (article 17) may be taxed by that country.
- A pension that "is not of a periodic nature", as with surrender or disposal, may also be taxed by the country of the former employment (article 15, paragraph 6).
For what stays behind in the Netherlands: income from immovable property is taxed where the property lies (article 4). On dividends the Netherlands may withhold up to 15%, on interest up to 10%. And through the agreements with Aruba you keep, according to the Belastingdienst, the general tax credit, the tax-free allowance in box 3 and the deduction of alimony.
What are the sharp edges?
The protective assessment on pension, annuity and substantial shareholding gets no automatic deferral outside the EU and the EEA: you apply for it, the Belastingdienst may ask for security, and if you surrender a pension in the ten years after, the assessment is collected after all. The mortgage-interest relief lapses: you are a qualifying non-resident taxpayer only in the EU, the EEA, Switzerland or on the BES islands, not on Aruba. And whoever comes for the tax climate is on the wrong island: the Aruban table has no penshonado rate; that 10% regime is in tax and penshonado on Curaçao.
How the premiums run for whoever still works is in working and earning on Aruba.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 2 of 5 of the journey: the same steps, but applied to your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines monitored. See the whole journey to Aruba.
What this means for your numbers →
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- Decree on deviating rules for the restriction of benefit export, article 11: on Aruba entitled to AOW as if living in the Netherlands — wetten.overheid.nl
- General Old Age Pensions Act — article 9 (70% and 50% of the net minimum wage) and article 13 (2% reduction per calendar year) — wetten.overheid.nl
- SVB — the Caribbean part of the Kingdom counts as living outside the Netherlands — svb.nl
- SVB — voluntary insurance: 2% less AOW per uninsured year, apply within 1 year — svb.nl
- Tax Arrangement for the Kingdom (1964) — articles 4, 11, 13, 15 and 17 — wetten.overheid.nl
- Belastingdienst — deductions and tax credits when you live outside the Netherlands: the agreements with Aruba — belastingdienst.nl
- Belastingdienst — protective assessment on emigration: deferral automatic in the EU and EEA, elsewhere on request — belastingdienst.nl
- SVb Aruba — the AOV: 65 years, 2% a year, Afl. 1,397 and Afl. 2,352, repair allowance Afl. 600 — svbaruba.org
- Departamento di Impuesto — the 2026 tax table: tax-free Afl. 30,000, zero band up to Afl. 34,930 — impuesto.aw
- Departamento di Impuesto — AZV premium limits: pensioners 0% on the first Afl. 30,000 in 2026 — impuesto.aw
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