What changes financially when you move to Turkey?
Tick where your income comes from. You then see which rules Turkey 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 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 of your AOW, 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. Whoever keeps working in the Netherlands or is posted abroad by an employer can stay insured. With voluntary insurance with the SVB you close the gap, 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 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
Read the whole storyYour Dutch basic health insurance ends when you deregister
Your basic insurance stops on the day you deregister. Your treaty cover or policy only starts once the registration in Turkey is complete.
Between those two moments lie weeks. The CAK registration, the treaty form and the SGK enrolment each have their own processing time. Bridge those weeks with insurance you arrange before departure. Have the end date of your Dutch policy connect seamlessly to it.
Where this comes from: The registration chain from the healthcare article: CAK → treaty form → SGK office, each with its own processing time.
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. Turkey levies an inheritance tax of its own as well.
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. What they add up to is not shown here. With Turkey the difference lies in the details of Article 18. Only Turkey may tax your occupational pension, and Turkey may exempt it. The Netherlands may keep taxing your AOW (the Dutch state pension). And the exemption from wage tax withholding, which means your pension fund stops deducting Dutch tax, applies to the first and not to the second. That interplay, plus the Turkish tax return, is the work of a tax adviser who knows both countries. 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.
Every step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Turkey: 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 Turkey 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.