AOW, pension and tax in Belgium: the treaty and the € 25,000 threshold

Q: Do you keep the mortgage-interest relief, and what happens to the protective assessment?

You do not automatically lose the mortgage-interest relief . Whoever lives in an EU country and pays tax in the Netherlands on at least 90% of their total income qualifies as a non-resident taxpayer. That is the typical cross-border worker. They then have the same deductions and tax credits as a resident, including the deduction of mortgage interest. Whoever does not meet that test keeps, as a resident of Belgium, among other things the tax-free allowance in box 3, the general tax credit and the employed person's tax credit. The protective assessment on the pension or annuity you built up in the Netherlands is an assessment imposed on departure to secure the Dutch tax claim. On emigration to an EU country you get automatic deferral of payment for it, without collection interest. If you stick to the Dutch rules for ten years, so no surrender, you can then ask for remission. If a cross-border question remains, call the Belastingdienst's Cross-Border Employment and Enterprise team (0800 - 024 12 12) before you sign anything irreversible. For questions about Belgium the Belastingdienst first refers you to Grensinfopunt, where you enter your situation.

Within the EU your accrued AOW goes with you, and the accrual even continues if you keep working in the Netherlands. The real story is in the tax treaty: the notorious € 25,000 threshold in the pension article, the mortgage-interest relief you can keep as a cross-border worker — and the new treaty from 2023 that is still not in force.

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Written and checked by Auke on 14 October 2026, against the sources at the bottom. Is something no longer right? Report it below and I'll fix it.

If you live in Belgium, your accrued AOW simply goes with you, and on your AOW and your pension you pay tax in Belgium in principle. The nuance costs money if you skip it.

Three things to know up front:

If your Dutch benefits together exceed € 25,000 a year, and Belgium does not tax them at the ordinary rate, then the Netherlands may tax.
A government pension remains taxed in the Netherlands, unless you hold Belgian nationality.
Whether your AOW accrual continues depends on where you work, not on where you live.

What happens to your AOW when you live in Belgium?

For every year you are insured for the AOW you accrue 2%. Accrual starts 50 years before your AOW age. Whether accrual continues depends on where you work, not where you live. Whoever lives outside the Netherlands but works there as an employee, paying Dutch tax and contributions, remains insured according to the SVB. So they keep accruing. Only whoever starts working in Belgium switches to the Belgian system. The AOW accrual then stops, and the Belgian statutory pension takes its place. The Belgian pension age depends on your year of birth:

Born	Belgian statutory pension age
before 1 January 1960	65
1 January 1960 – 31 December 1963	66
on or after 1 January 1964	67

The AOW itself is paid out in Belgium. What the SVB withholds depends on two things:

whether the treaty lets the Netherlands withhold wage tax;
whether the CAK decides that you pay the foreign Zvw contribution for your Belgian healthcare.

The pension article: where is the € 25,000 threshold?

Under the 2001 treaty the main rule is taxation in the country of residence: the country where you live taxes. So Belgium taxes your AOW and your occupational pension. Article 18, however, has a second paragraph that decides the practice. Under it the Netherlands may tax after all if the total of all your Dutch benefits exceeds € 25,000 a year. The Belastingdienst expressly counts AOW and Anw (the survivors' benefit) in it. In addition, two conditions must both be met:

you enjoyed a tax advantage in the Netherlands while building up the benefit (for the AOW this requirement is irrelevant);
Belgium does not tax the benefit at the ordinary rate for former employment income, or taxes less than 90% of the gross amount.

Income from the Netherlands	Who may tax under the 2001 treaty
AOW and pension, together up to € 25,000 a year	Belgium only
AOW and pension above € 25,000, not taxed normally in Belgium	the Netherlands too (article 18, paragraph 2)
lump-sum surrender of a pension or annuity before the start date	the Netherlands too (article 18, paragraph 3)
government pension	the Netherlands, unless you hold Belgian nationality
dividend from a Dutch company	Belgium; the Netherlands withholds at most 15% (5% for a company holding at least 10%)
interest from the Netherlands	Belgium; the Netherlands withholds at most 10%
a rented-out house in the Netherlands	the Netherlands (article 6)

What applies in the year you move?

For the year of migration the Belastingdienst's knowledge group has recorded a strikingly mild position. The € 25,000 threshold is tested against the pension from the foreign period only, not against the whole calendar year. In the knowledge group's example someone moves on 1 July with € 40,000 pension a year. The € 20,000 from the Belgian half stays below the threshold, so the Netherlands does not tax. (For the € 15,000 threshold in the treaty with Germany the same knowledge group has a separate position.)

The new treaty: signed in 2023, still not in force

The Netherlands and Belgium signed a new treaty on 21 June 2023. It only enters into force on the last day of the month after both countries have notified each other that their approval procedure is complete. On the Dutch side the States General, the two chambers of parliament, must first approve the treaty. In early 2025 the cabinet told parliament that both countries were still putting the finishing touches to the joint explanatory notes. Until the day of entry into force the 2001 treaty applies in full. And whoever waits for the new treaty for a better pension regime waits for nothing: the new text too keeps the € 25,000 threshold in the pension article.

Do you keep the mortgage-interest relief, and what happens to the protective assessment?

You do not automatically lose the mortgage-interest relief. Whoever lives in an EU country and pays tax in the Netherlands on at least 90% of their total income qualifies as a non-resident taxpayer. That is the typical cross-border worker. They then have the same deductions and tax credits as a resident, including the deduction of mortgage interest. Whoever does not meet that test keeps, as a resident of Belgium, among other things the tax-free allowance in box 3, the general tax credit and the employed person's tax credit.

The protective assessment on the pension or annuity you built up in the Netherlands is an assessment imposed on departure to secure the Dutch tax claim. On emigration to an EU country you get automatic deferral of payment for it, without collection interest. If you stick to the Dutch rules for ten years, so no surrender, you can then ask for remission.

If a cross-border question remains, call the Belastingdienst's Cross-Border Employment and Enterprise team (0800 - 024 12 12) before you sign anything irreversible. For questions about Belgium the Belastingdienst first refers you to Grensinfopunt, where you enter your situation.

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 Belgium.

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.

Tax treaty Netherlands-Belgium (2001), articles 6, 10, 11 and 18 — wetten.overheid.nl
Belastingdienst — the tax treaty with Belgium (the € 25,000 threshold) — belastingdienst.nl
Belastingdienst knowledge group — the € 25,000 threshold in the year of migration — kennisgroepen.belastingdienst.nl
The new treaty of 21 June 2023 (Trb. 2023, 77) — zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl
SVB — how AOW accrual works — svb.nl
SVB — when you are insured for the AOW — svb.nl
Federal Pensions Service — statutory pension age rising to 66 and 67 — sfpd.fgov.be
Belastingdienst — qualifying non-resident taxpayer status — belastingdienst.nl
Belastingdienst — protective assessment (EU: automatic deferral) — belastingdienst.nl
Belastingdienst — Cross-Border Employment and Enterprise team — belastingdienst.nl

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