What changes financially when you move to Poland?
Tick where your income comes from. You then see which rules Poland 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.
This applies to everyone who moves. Tick above what applies to you, and the rest will appear.
What you have to show
Which financial requirements does the country set before you may stay?
Residence registration requires a ground, insurance and means
If you stay longer than three months, you register your residence with the voivode, no later than the day after those three months end. If you live on your own means, you show that you can support yourself and have insurance covering all healthcare costs.
The voivode is the representative of the Polish government in your province. For pensioners that insurance is the S1 form from the CAK. Within the EU that is full cover. If you're employed, your employment contract suffices. If you're self-employed, your entry in the Polish business register suffices. The registration and the certificate, which is valid for ten years, are free. Also mind the deadline that runs first: within thirty days of moving in, you register your address at the municipality. That gives you your PESEL, the Polish personal number.
- residence registration
- no later than the day after 3 months
- registration certificate
- 10 years valid, free
What the Netherlands doesn't let go of
Which Dutch obligation travels with you?
Your AOW accrual stops on departure; it can be repaired 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 can stay insured. Voluntary insurance with the SVB closes the gap, for ten years at most. That is only possible 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 the application deadline 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
Read the whole storyFor 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
This is not tax advice
These are the rules that apply to your situation, not what they add up to for you. With Poland it comes down to one date: 30 April 2022. Since then the treaty is a source-state treaty: the country your income comes from may tax it. So the Netherlands may tax your pension and your AOW (the Dutch state pension), and Poland credits that. It deducts the Dutch tax from the Polish tax. What remains at the bottom line in Poland depends on two tariff systems at once, the Dutch and the Polish. Working that out is the job of a tax adviser who knows both countries. Take this list 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.
Every step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Poland: 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 Poland 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.