What changes financially when you move to Switzerland?
Tick where your income comes from. You then see which rules Switzerland 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.
Which country may tax
Which part of your income may your new country of residence tax?
The 90% rule, and why your pension counts towards it
Do you pay tax in the Netherlands on at least 90% of your worldwide income (all your income from all countries together)? Then you keep the same deductions and tax credits as a resident. Your Dutch pension and AOW count in full, even though the Netherlands may tax them at no more than 15%. With only a pension and AOW you therefore usually do reach that threshold.
The treaty gives the Netherlands the right to tax your pension and AOW. The law counts income when the treaty assigns it to the Netherlands. The 15% ceiling applies to the tax, not to the income. What can push you below 90% is income the Netherlands may not tax: salary, pension or AHV from Switzerland, and your savings and investments. If you don't reach 90%, then among other things the general tax credit (a fixed reduction of your income tax) and the mortgage interest relief lapse. After you leave, that relief only applies while your house is empty and for sale, up to and including the third year after the year you moved out. A house you keep or let falls into box 3 and no longer gives any relief. So make the calculation before your departure, not after. Partners may look at the 90% together.
- requirement
- at least 90% of income taxed in the Netherlands
Source: Qualifying non-resident taxpayer status — the 90% requirement and the retention of deductions and tax credits; article 7.8(7) of the Income Tax Act 2001 counts income insofar as the treaty assigns it to the Netherlands, and treaty article 18 does so for pension and AOW — checked on 2026-10-09
Read the whole storyHealth insurance
How do you get insured, and what do you pay for it?
Insure within three months, with retroactive premiums
Everyone settling in Switzerland must take out insurance within three months. Both the cover and the premiums take effect retroactively from your date of arrival.
So waiting saves nothing. Anyone signing in the third month gets a bill for three months. Being late does cost money: cover then starts only at the moment you join, and the insurer may charge a premium surcharge. The basic insurance has a strict duty to accept: the insurer must take you on, even with a pre-existing condition. Arrange it in your first weeks.
- deadline
- 3 months, retroactive to the date of settlement
Source: BAG — the insurance obligation for residents and the retroactive effect of cover and premium — checked on 2026-08-28
Read the whole storyThe premium is per person, including your children
In Switzerland the premium does not depend on your income, and there is no employer contribution. You pay a fixed amount per person. Unlike in the Netherlands, each child has its own premium.
A family with two adults and two children pays around CHF 1,175 per month in bare premium, before the excess. That is the largest fixed cost of this destination. Cantons have a premium reduction that depends on your income. Just arrived? Then ask to be assessed on your current income rather than on an old tax assessment.
- adult from 26 (2026 average)
- CHF 465.30 per month
- child 0–18 (2026 average)
- CHF 122.50 per month
Source: BAG/EDI — the 2026 average premiums per age group — checked on 2026-08-28
Read the whole storyWhat the Netherlands doesn't let go of
Which Dutch obligation travels with you?
Your AOW accrual stops; apply for voluntary insurance within a year
Every year outside the Netherlands costs you a fixed part of your later AOW. You can continue your insurance voluntarily, but only if you apply for it within one year of the end of the compulsory insurance (usually the day you leave).
Put that date in your diary before you go. Whether voluntary insurance pays depends on your plans. Going to work in Switzerland? Then you accrue AHV there (the Swiss state pension), and the European rules add the periods together. That is usually more favourable than the Dutch voluntary contribution. No longer working? Then it is the other way round.
Where this comes from: The one-year period and the trade-off from the knowledge article; the premium for voluntary insurance is revised annually, so no amount is given here.
Read the whole storyYour Dutch basic health insurance ends when you deregister
Your basic insurance stops on your moving date. Report the move to your insurer yourself.
What replaces it is unusually well arranged here. The Swiss basic insurance covers retroactively from the day you settle. So no real gap arises, as long as you sign within the three months. Arriving with a pension? Then you choose between that own Swiss insurance and the CAK route.
Where this comes from: Description from the knowledge article on Swiss health insurance; the retroactive effect is precisely what closes the gap.
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. The inheritance tax treaty with Switzerland 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 only covers estates. The Netherlands deducts the Swiss tax from what it levies itself. If you hold both Dutch and Swiss nationality, this treaty rule does not apply: have a tax adviser check that.
- 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 Switzerland the canton comes on top: the state within Switzerland where you will live. What you keep in net terms depends on that canton's rates and premiums, and those are not listed here. Note too: almost everything circulating online about the pension treaty is out of date. Working out what all this means for you is the work 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.
Every step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Switzerland: 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 Switzerland 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.