The M form: the tax return for the year in which you emigrated
For the year of your departure you lived partly inside and partly outside the Netherlands, and a separate return goes with that. Nowadays it can be done online — but you have to think of it yourself, because a letter from the Belastingdienst doesn't always reach you.
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Written and checked by Auke on , against the sources at the bottom. Is something no longer right? Report it below and I'll fix it.
For the year in which you emigrate, you file the M return: a separate income tax return for people who lived in the Netherlands for part of the year. In short:
- You file it in the year after your departure. When it opens differs from year to year; check Mijn Belastingdienst from March.
- You file it online, via Mijn Belastingdienst with your DigiD, or on paper with form M.
- The deadline also differs from year to year. It's in your tax-return letter.
- You may get money back with it.
If you emigrate halfway through the year, you've been two people for Dutch tax that year. Part of the year you were a resident taxpayer. The rest of the year you were a non-resident one. The ordinary return can't handle that. For that there's the M return, colloquially the M form (the M of migration).
This applies to every destination. Whether you left for Spain or for Australia: the year of departure calls for this return.
Why is it forgotten so often?
The M return belongs to the year after your departure: if you emigrate in 2026, you file it in 2027. And that's exactly where it goes wrong: you've been gone for months by then, your head is in your new life, and the Belastingdienst's tax-return letter only reaches you if your address abroad is correct in the RNI, the register for people who live outside the Netherlands.
No letter doesn't mean it isn't required. So put it in your diary now for the spring after your departure. This is the kind of task that's either on a list, or doesn't happen.
You may also get money back. Wage tax assumes a full year of working in the Netherlands; whoever leaves halfway may have paid too much. Whether that applies to you only shows when you file the M return. If you get money back, it is in your account within a week of the date on your assessment.
Can it be done online, and what do you need for that?
For a long time the M form was a notorious paper booklet. That's no longer necessary. This is how you file it online:
- You log in to Mijn Belastingdienst with your DigiD or a European-recognised login.
- You choose the "income tax return for taxpayers who live outside the Netherlands for part of the year".
That's possible for the past five tax years; each year has its own M form.
Whoever can't or doesn't want to file online orders the paper form. The Belastingdienst sends it within two weeks (outside the Netherlands the post takes longer). You send it back signed to Postbus 2545, 6401 DA Heerlen. Entrepreneurs also fill in the M annual accounts.
There is one condition you arrange before departure: a working DigiD. Renew it, link the app, and test the login before you deregister with the municipality. After your departure an expired DigiD is a stubborn problem, before it a click.
Which deadlines apply?
| What | Term |
|---|---|
| Filing possible from | the spring after your year of departure; the start date differs from year to year (for 2025 only from 1 May 2026) |
| Return due | before the date in your tax-return letter; it differs from year to year (for 2025 it was 1 July 2026) |
| Requesting an extension | until that date, by form or via the Tax Information Line Abroad |
| Extension runs until | usually 4 months after the deadline (for 2025: 1 November 2026) |
| Tax interest on an assessment to pay | from 1 July after the tax year |
| Reply from the Belastingdienst | usually within 3 months |
| Refund in your account | within 1 week of the date on the assessment |
| Final assessment at the latest | 3 years after the tax year, plus the extension period |
| Paper M form delivered | within 2 weeks of ordering |
From abroad you don't request an extension online but with the form "Aanvraag uitstel aangifte inkomstenbelasting" by post, or by phone via the Tax Information Line Abroad with your BSN at hand. After the final date an extension is no longer possible. If you want to add or change something after sending, you simply file the M return again.
What do you get ready?
The return asks for the year in two parts. You get ready:
- your Dutch income up to the departure date (annual statements, payslips);
- your situation after that;
- the exact emigration date. It has to match your deregistration from the BRP, the Dutch Personal Records Database.
Did you live in an owner-occupied home, did you have assets, or do you keep Dutch income (rental, pension)? Then the return quickly touches on questions with a border running through them.
For that last part the same applies as everywhere on this site: Vertrekklaar names what is at play, not how it works out for you. An emigration year with an owner-occupied home, an annuity or a business of your own is worth a conversation with a tax adviser. Preferably before you leave, because some choices are no longer possible afterwards.
In Vertrekklaar this belongs to the phase Closing down the Netherlands of the journey: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See how the step-by-step plan works.
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.
- Belastingdienst — filing an M return if you lived outside the Netherlands for part of the year — belastingdienst.nl
- NederlandWereldwijd — the tax return for the year of your move abroad — nederlandwereldwijd.nl
- Belastingdienst — when does my return have to be in? — belastingdienst.nl
- Belastingdienst — requesting an extension from abroad — belastingdienst.nl
- Belastingdienst — what happens after the return? — belastingdienst.nl
- Belastingdienst — emigration checklist — belastingdienst.nl
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