What changes financially when you move to Austria?

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

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.

What the Netherlands doesn't let go of

Which Dutch obligation travels with you?

Your AOW accrual stops on departure, repair is possible 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 at the moment of departure. Whoever keeps working in the Netherlands or is posted abroad (sent abroad temporarily by your employer) can stay insured. Voluntary insurance with the SVB closes the gap, for ten years at most. That only works if your application is in within one year of your compulsory insurance ending. You must also have been insured for at least a year directly before that. The premium depends on your income and is revised every year. That is why no amount is given here. Put that date 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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Note

Your Dutch basic health insurance ends when you deregister

Your basic insurance stops on the day you deregister. Not on 31 December, and not if you let it run on.

The insurance belongs to living in the Netherlands, and that stops. What replaces it depends on your situation. If you work in Austria, you are insured with the ÖGK from your first working day. If you come with a pension, it runs via the CAK with an S1 form. Otherwise you need comprehensive private insurance. You must moreover be able to show it when you apply for the Anmeldebescheinigung.

Where this comes from: Description from the knowledge article on the Austrian pension and healthcare route. The CAK describes what replaces it, not when your Dutch insurance ends.

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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. The inheritance tax treaty with Austria leaves that period in place.

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. The treaty also mentions the gift within the year. If Austria also taxes, the treaty provides for a reduction.

deemed residence: 10 years

Source: Netherlands-Austria estates and gifts convention, Article 8(1) and (2) and Article 11 — the ten years, the gift within the year, and the reduction — checked on 2026-10-18

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This is not tax advice

These are the rules that apply to your situation, not what they add up to for you. Austria has the friendliest pension treaty of the classic destinations. What that means for your mix of AOW (the Dutch state pension), pension and assets depends on figures that are not here. The same goes for whether the high country-of-residence factor (see under healthcare) eats up the tax gain again. Working that out is the job of a tax adviser who knows both systems. Take this list to that conversation. Then you know which questions to ask.

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 Austria See the destination

Every step on one list, free

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