Look inside
The plan for Bulgaria, from the inside
These are all 28 steps of the Bulgaria journey, exactly as they appear in your personal plan — with the lead time and the costs next to them. Not a brochure: this is the file that feeds the platform. Pick another country below if you're heading elsewhere.
For which country?
Every country has its own steps, its own order and its own clocks. Switch as often as you like.
- Steps
- 28
- Phases
- 5
- Official sources
- 42
- Only for your situation
- 7
Phase 1
6 steps
Orientation
Nobody stops you, you have three months to register, and the treaty from 2020 makes the tax simple: the Netherlands taxes your pension and your AOW, and Bulgaria taxes nothing on pensions. So your Dutch rates are your rates.
- 1.1
Being allowed to stay is not the same as being registered
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 1.2
Know how tax and healthcare work there
- Lead time
- an evening of research
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 1.3
Explore the region, and count the language and the alphabet in
- Lead time
- weeks, preferably with an exploratory trip outside summer
- Costs
- an exploratory trip is a serious cost item
- 1.4
Map out what it's going to cost
- Lead time
- 1-2 hours with the calculator
- Costs
- none
- 1.5
The family conversation
- Lead time
- weeks, not hours
- Costs
- none
- 1.6
Choose your target date
- Lead time
- decision moment
- Costs
- none
Phase 2
8 steps
Closing the Netherlands
Here the lesson is the reverse of Spain: do not apply for a wage tax exemption. There is nothing to exempt, and Bulgaria adds nothing on top.
- 2.1
Gather your basic documents
- Lead time
- 1-4 weeks
- Costs
- fees per extract, tens of euros in total
1 official source
- 2.2
Arrange the healthcare transition
- Lead time
- apply 6 weeks before departure
- Costs
- the treaty contribution replaces your Dutch premium
2 official sources
- 2.3
Know where you'll pay tax — and do not apply for an exemption
- Lead time
- one good conversation
- Costs
- advisory hours — depending on your situation
3 official sources
- 2.4
Deregister and tell the SVB
- Lead time
- deregistering is possible from 5 days before departure; the whole takes 4-8 weeks
- Costs
- limited — cancellation costs per contract
2 official sources
- 2.5
Partner comes along without a job of their own
- Lead time
- an evening together, then a few arrangements
- Costs
- none — the consequences are in the article
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.6
Partly staying in the Netherlands: the eight-month rule
- Lead time
- one decision, before you fix anything else
- Costs
- none
4 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.7
The house in the Netherlands: sell, let or keep
- Lead time
- one conversation with the mortgage lender and one with a tax adviser
- Costs
- advisory hours; when letting possibly an interest surcharge from the bank
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.8
Children who stay in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the house
- Lead time
- an evening, and then one report a year
- Costs
- none
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
Phase 3
5 steps
The move
Since 2025 without border checks, since 2026 in euros — and one clock for the car: on Bulgarian plates within a month, with an environmental fee by age.
- 3.1
Choose your form of move and ask for quotes
- Lead time
- quotes 2-3 weeks; the drive itself three days
- Costs
- according to your moving choices
1 official source
- 3.2
The car: on plates within a month, with an environmental fee by age
- Lead time
- decision moment; the registration itself a day at the traffic police
- Costs
- environmental fee, registration, inspection and insurance
3 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.3
Pet along: chip, rabies jab and the EU pet passport
- Lead time
- start at least three weeks before departure
- Costs
- per animal — chip, vaccination and passport at the vet
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
- 3.4
Arrange your first accommodation, because the registration asks for proof of address
- Lead time
- booking can be quick; do it before you leave
- Costs
- falls under "the first months" in your budget
1 official source
- 3.5
Tell the Dutch tax authority: the M return and the provisional assessment
- Lead time
- an evening
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
Phase 4
4 steps
Registration in Bulgaria
One certificate of 3.58 euros that gives you your personal number, the S1 to the regional health fund office, and choosing a GP on a form — after that you're in.
- 4.1
Apply for the residence certificate, within three months
- Lead time
- an appointment, the certificate within weeks
- Costs
- 3.58 euros; 15.34 euros for the card format
3 official sources
- 4.2
Register your S1 at the regional health fund office and choose a GP
- Lead time
- one visit to the fund, one form at the GP
- Costs
- none; per visit a user fee of around half a euro
2 official sources
- 4.3
Open an account and arrange your access to the authorities
- Lead time
- days
- Costs
- account costs per month
1 official source
- 4.4
Register with the revenue agency if you have taxed income here
- Lead time
- a visit, or online
- Costs
- none
1 official source
Phase 5
5 steps
Arrival
The licence stays, the house is free to buy — and since January 2024 the land around it too, because the Court of Justice has struck out the five-year rule.
- 5.1
The driving licence: nothing to exchange
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
3 official sources
- 5.2
Living and buying: free, and since 2024 the land too
- Lead time
- weeks to months
- Costs
- municipal transfer tax up to three percent, notary and land registry
2 official sources
- 5.3
After five years: permanent residence
- Lead time
- one application, after five years
- Costs
- 3.58 euros
1 official source
- 5.4
School for the children
- Lead time
- enrolment runs per municipality
- Costs
- public education is free; books, food and outings are not
Only if this applies to you
- 5.5
Landed
- Lead time
- the moment itself
- Costs
- none
7 of these steps aren't always there. They appear only when your answers call them up — a pet, a car, children staying behind. That's the difference between a plan and a checklist in which you have to work out yourself what applies.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Bulgaria journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 2.3 of your plan
Know where you'll pay tax — and do not apply for an exemption
- Lead time
- one good conversation
- Costs
- advisory hours — depending on your situation
Article 17 of the treaty places pensions, annuities and social security payments with the state they come from. So your occupational pension, your annuity and your AOW stay taxed in the Netherlands, without threshold and without condition. Whoever applies for a wage tax exemption here is rejected — there is nothing to exempt.
On the Bulgarian side nothing happens with those pensions. Bulgarian law exempts pensions from compulsory insurance in Bulgaria and abroad, and payments from supplementary pension insurance too; you don't have to file a return for them. The treaty provides for a credit just in case, but there is nothing to credit.
What remains for the Bulgarian flat tax of ten percent is work, profit and rent from a Bulgarian property — and that's the conversation with your tax adviser. The government pension also stays Dutch, unless you're a resident and a national of Bulgaria.
This is step 2.3 of 28. The other 27 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
And what you don't see here
This page shows the content. What a page can't show is the work the platform does for you afterwards:
- The clocks that start running the moment you begin, and a nudge at the moment something is asked of you — not earlier.
- Your documents in one place, with their expiry dates watched, so nothing lapses while you wait for something else.
- The ticking off, together with your partner on the same journey.
- The steps that drop out or appear based on your answers, so your plan holds only what really applies to you.
Ready to start on Bulgaria?
All 28 steps, set to your situation and with the deadlines watched. € 199 once, no subscription.
The departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Bulgaria: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that one question about where your plans stand, and beyond that only a short update when something in Bulgaria really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
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