What changes financially when you move to Croatia?

Tick where your income comes from. You then see which rules Croatia 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.

Everything about AOW, pension and tax in Croatia →

Where does your income come from?

You can tick more than one. A pension from several sources is the rule rather than the exception.

AOW (Dutch state pension)You receive AOW, or will start receiving it during your move.Occupational pensionPension built up with an employer outside government.Government service pensionABP years as a civil servant, state-school teacher, police or defence.Salary from work thereYou will be employed in the country itself.Self-employed work thereYou will work there as a freelancer or business owner.Rent, dividend or interestIncome from assets held outside your new country of residence.Annuity or substantial interestAn annuity policy, or 5% or more of the shares in a Dutch bv.

This applies to everyone who moves. Tick above what applies to you, and the rest will appear.

Special regimes

Is there a favourable regime, and do you qualify?

Your municipality sets your tax rate

Since 2024 Croatian municipalities set their own income tax rates. They do so within national limits: around 20% up to € 60,000 and around 30% above that.

Between a coastal municipality and Zagreb that makes a difference of a few percentage points, across your whole income. So look at the tax as well before you choose a municipality and a home. The basic allowance is € 600 per month: you pay no tax on that part of your income.

Source: Porezna uprava — two brackets with the boundary at € 60,000 per year; the rates within the statutory bands are set per municipality — checked on 2026-08-29

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What the Netherlands doesn't let go of

Which Dutch obligation travels with you?

Your AOW accrual stops on departure; you can repair it within one 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 on the day of departure. If you keep working in the Netherlands or are posted abroad, you can stay insured. You close the gap by continuing your insurance voluntarily with the SVB, for ten years at most. That is only possible if your application is in within one year of your compulsory insurance ending. And you must have been insured for at least a year directly before that. The premium depends on your income and is revised every year. So no amount is given here. Put the deadline for your application 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

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For 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

Source: Inheritance Tax Act 1956 (Successiewet), Article 3(1) and (2) — the deemed residence of ten years, and of one year for gifts — checked on 2026-10-18

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This is not tax advice

These are the rules that apply to your situation, not the outcome of them. Croatia is an EU country. So your accrued AOW (the Dutch state pension) goes with you in full, and your healthcare runs through the CAK. But the treaty from 2000 divides your income in a surprising way. Your AOW remains taxed in the Netherlands. Your occupational pension is taxed only in Croatia, and Croatia halves the tax on it. What the rules mean for you together is for a tax adviser who knows both countries to work out. Take this list with you to that conversation.

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.

Start your step-by-step plan for Croatia See the destination

Every step on one list, free

Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Croatia: 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 Croatia 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.