For pensioners
Retiring to Italy
For Dutch pensioners Italy is fiscally one of the clearest destinations: the 1990 treaty assigns your AOW and your private pension exclusively to Italy, and the Netherlands has to exempt them in full. Anyone who moves to a small municipality in the south can add ten years of 7% on all foreign income on top. The rest is order.
The fiscal side first, because that is what makes the difference here. The 7% option applies to southern Italian municipalities of up to 30,000 inhabitants, for ten tax years; a government pension is the only one that stays taxed in the Netherlands. On emigration the Netherlands also imposes a protective assessment on your pension and annuity that you do not pay as long as you do nothing that makes it due — worth knowing before you commute anything.
Then the chain that determines everything: codice fiscale, home, residenza, health card — in that order, because each step is the entry ticket for the next. The registration itself takes two working days; after that the vigile comes by to check that you really live there. With an S1 from the CAK you slot into the Italian system: GP and hospital free, the ticket for specialists and diagnostics.
Your car can come along without registration tax, but two clocks run that you have to start in the right order: the Italian three months after residenza and the Dutch thirteen weeks after the export notification. And if you buy a house, three choices made in advance — prezzo-valore, prima casa, private seller or builder — are worth thousands of euros.
Still deciding between countries? To the pension comparer
Your money: the treaty and the 7% regime
AOW and pension in Italy: everything to the state of residence — and the 7% regime
The tax treaty of 1990 assigns AOW and private pension exclusively to Italy — the Netherlands must exempt them in full, without thresholds. And whoever moves to a southern Italian municipality of up to 30,000 inhabitants can opt for ten tax years of 7% on all their foreign income. Only the government pension stays Dutch.
Updated 7 September 2026
When does your pension stay taxed in the Netherlands? The three pots and the three conditions
"Your pension is taxed in your new country of residence" is right by approximation and not in the details. Your AOW, your company pension and your government pension each follow a rule of their own, and with the company pension the Netherlands can still levy if three conditions apply at once. This article explains which three, and which four questions you have to answer for your own situation.
Updated 27 August 2026
Your Dutch pension abroad: what comes along, and who levies
The AOW (the Dutch state pension) travels fully to the EU and to Australia — the latter thanks to a treaty from 2001. Your company pension too, but *where* you pay on it depends on the tax treaty, and the exemption you arrange yourself.
Updated 11 September 2026
The protective assessment: the bill that travels with you, and that never expires for one item
On emigration the Netherlands imposes an assessment on your pension, your annuity and your substantial shareholding that you don't have to pay — as long as you do nothing that makes it collectable. For pension and annuity it usually lapses after ten years. For a substantial shareholding it doesn't: that one remains valid indefinitely.
Updated 27 August 2026
Your healthcare — the S1 and the ticket
Emigrating on early retirement: the CAK route is expected to close as of 1 November 2026
Whoever moves to the EU or Switzerland with a Dutch pension arranges their healthcare via the CAK. That door is closing to a crack: as expected, from 1 November only new applicants with AOW, Anw, WAO, WIA or Wajong will be admitted. Early retirement and RVU fall outside it — whoever is already a customer keeps their rights.
Updated 16 August 2026
Healthcare in Italy: the ticket, the classes and the exemptions
GP and hospital are free, for a specialist and diagnostics you pay the ticket of at most € 36.15 per prescription — and the priority class on that prescription determines, bindingly, how long you may have to wait. Whoever knows the classes, the exemptions and the intramoenia route gets out of the Italian system what's in it.
Updated 28 August 2026
Cancelling your health insurance without a gap
Your Dutch basic insurance is tied to living or working in the Netherlands and stops being a given on emigration. The art is to have the end date match your new cover — and to know which route belongs to your situation.
Updated 28 August 2026
Taking medicines across the border: certificates, supply and the 90-day ceiling
For medicines under the Opium Act you need a certificate — and the Dutch system only carries you for three months. What you arrange with the CAK, what Australia wants to see at the border, and why finding a local doctor simply belongs to your first weeks.
Updated 11 September 2026
The chain: residenza, house, car
Residenza and codice fiscale: the Italian order that determines everything
Italy has no permit for EU citizens, but a chain: codice fiscale, home, residenza, health card — in *that* order, because each step is the ticket to the next. The registration itself takes two working days; after that the vigile comes round. And the digital key (SPID) you only get once you know the order.
Updated 22 August 2026
Buying a house in Italy: the notaio does a lot — but three choices determine your bill
At first sight Italy looks like the Netherlands: the notaio checks, collects the taxes and registers your ownership. The difference lies in what *you* choose beforehand: taxation on the cadastral value (prezzo-valore), whether or not to take the prima-casa benefit with its 18-month deadline, and buying from a private individual or a builder. Those choices make a difference of thousands of euros.
Updated 28 August 2026
Your car to Italy: three months, two clocks and no registration tax
Italy levies no registration tax on import — the re-registration costs around € 500-700 and the Dutch BPM refund covers that comfortably. But two clocks are running that you have to start in the right order: the Italian three months after residenza, and the Dutch thirteen weeks after the export notification. Whoever starts them the wrong way round lets hundreds of euros lapse.
Updated 22 August 2026
Keeping a bank account and DigiD: the two lines you never cut
After your deregistration you still need the Netherlands for years — for the M return, refunds and your pension. Within the EU your bank account is a right, towards Australia a favour from the bank. And your DigiD you arrange before departure, not after.
Updated 11 September 2026
Want to walk this journey with the order watched — codice fiscale before residenza, the two car clocks the right way round, your Dutch affairs closed on the right day? The Italian step-by-step plan is ready for you.
The departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Choose your destination and we'll send you the departure guide: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that at most one mail a month: first the question where your plans stand, then now and then one thing that fits the time of year or your country. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Ready to begin?
Forty-four journeys are fully ready: your step-by-step plan, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.