AOW, pension and tax in Singapore: the 1971 treaty and the single-person trap

Singapore taxes your salary, progressively up to 24%, and leaves your Dutch pension alone. That is the short version, and it is right for your company pension and your annuity: the 1971 tax treaty assigns those to your country of residence, and Singapore generally does not tax residents' foreign income. A government pension does stay taxed in the Netherlands. The trap is not in the tax but in social security: the Netherlands has no social security treaty with Singapore, so your AOW accrual stops, and whoever grows old there single gets the married-rate AOW.

What does the treaty say about your pension?

The Convention between the Netherlands and Singapore was signed on 19 February 1971 and applies in its current text since 1 May 2010. Three articles determine your old age.

Income	Treaty article	Who may tax
Company pension from former employment	article 18	only the country of residence, Singapore
Annuity	article 18	only the country of residence, Singapore
Government pension (ABP-type, for government service)	article 19	the Netherlands; the protocol exempts it in Singapore
Income the treaty does not name separately, such as the AOW	article 21	only the country of residence, Singapore

Article 18 is clear: pensions in respect of past employment and annuities, paid to a resident of Singapore, are taxable only in that State. The Netherlands may then not tax. For that you apply to the Belastingdienst for an exemption certificate for wage tax withholding, with a certificate of tax liability in the country of residence showing that you are a tax resident of Singapore; you need a BSN for it. The AOW is not literally in the treaty; it falls under the residual provision of article 21. Whether the Belastingdienst reads it that way in your case appears from the decision on your application.

Article 5 is the small print. The treaty limits the Dutch exemption to the part of the income that is remitted to or received in Singapore, if Singapore under its own law taxes only that part. IRAS generally does not tax residents' foreign income at all, not even when it lands in a Singapore account. What that combination means for a pension that stays in a Dutch account is precisely the question you put to a tax adviser who knows both countries, before you apply for the exemption.

How does Singapore tax your salary?

You are a tax resident if you stay or work in Singapore for at least 183 days in a calendar year; IRAS also treats whoever gets a work pass of at least one year as a resident. Residents pay progressively since year of assessment 2024: 0% on the first S$ 20,000, 2% on the next S$ 10,000, rising to 22% above S$ 320,000, 23% above S$ 500,000 and 24% above S$ 1 million. Whoever is not a resident pays 15% on salary or the progressive rate if that comes out higher, without personal reliefs. Foreign income you bring into Singapore is generally untaxed, and a gain on the sale of shares or a home is according to IRAS an untaxed capital gain. How the tax return and the bank work is in bank and payments.

What happens to your AOW?

Two things, and the second is the worst. The accrual stops. Every year you are not insured costs, according to the SVB, 2% of your later AOW. That can be repaired with voluntary insurance: apply within a year of departure, premium in 2026 17.9% of your income, at least € 569 and at most € 5,693 a year; the Anw insurance costs 0.1%, at most € 31. The Belastingdienst confirms that whoever has no Dutch income after emigration is no longer insured for the national insurance schemes.

The single-person trap cannot be repaired. Singapore is not on the SVB list of treaty countries. Without a treaty, the Rijksoverheid writes, you can only continue to receive the married-rate AOW, even if you are single, because your living situation cannot be checked there. The married-rate pension is 50% of the net minimum wage, the single-rate pension 70%. This hangs on your country of residence, not on your accrual, and only changes once you go and live in a treaty country. What else the AOW does on emigration is in AOW on emigration.

Does Singapore build up anything for you?

No. The Central Provident Fund, Singapore's savings system for pension, healthcare and housing, has according to the CPF Board mandatory contributions only for employees who are citizens or permanent residents. As a pass holder you contribute nothing and get nothing. What you lost in the Netherlands to premiums and pension accrual is net yours in Singapore, and it is the only old age you build up there if you do not set it aside yourself. Whether your employer arranges something is in your contract; read about that in working in Singapore. And whoever leaves with pension or annuity capital gets a protective assessment from the Belastingdienst; see the protective assessment on emigration.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 3 of 5 of the journey, step 3.2: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Singapore or go straight to step 3.2 in the open plan.