The M form: the tax return for the year in which you emigrated
For the year of your departure you lived partly inside and partly outside the Netherlands, and a separate return goes with that. Nowadays it can be done online — but you have to think of it yourself, because an invitation rarely comes by itself.
If you emigrate halfway through the year, you've been two people for Dutch tax that year: part of the year a resident taxpayer, the rest a non-resident one. The ordinary return can't handle that — for that there's the M return, colloquially the M form (the M of migration).
This applies to every destination. Whether you left for Spain or for Australia: the year of departure calls for this return.
Why it's often forgotten
The M return belongs to the year after your departure — if you emigrate in 2026, you file it in 2027. And that's exactly where it goes wrong: you've been away for months by then, your head is in your new life, and the Belastingdienst by no means always sends an invitation to your foreign address by itself.
No invitation doesn't mean it isn't required. So put it in your calendar now for the spring after your departure — this is the kind of task that either is on a list, or doesn't happen.
Often you actually get money back. Wage tax assumes a whole year of working in the Netherlands; whoever leaves halfway has usually paid too much. So the M return is rarely a punishment — it's usually the return that pays back a bit of the move.
It can simply be done online
For a long time the M form was a notorious paper tome. That's no longer necessary: you file the return online via Mijn Belastingdienst, with your DigiD — choose there the return for whoever lived "part of the year outside the Netherlands". Whoever wants can still request the paper form, but the online route is the same questionnaire without the postage.
There is a condition to that which you arrange before departure: a working DigiD. Renew it, link the app, and test the login before you deregister with the municipality — after your departure an expired DigiD is a tough problem, before it a click.
What you lay ready
The return asks for the year in two pieces: your Dutch income up to the departure date (annual statements, payslips), your situation after that, and the exact emigration date — which has to match your deregistration from the BRP. If you lived in an owner-occupied home, had assets, or keep Dutch income (rental, pension), the return quickly touches on questions with a border running through them.
For that last point, what applies everywhere on this site applies: Vertrekklaar names what is at play, not how it works out for you. An emigration year with an owner-occupied home, an annuity or a business of your own is worth a conversation with a tax adviser — preferably before your departure, because some choices are no longer possible afterwards.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change — when in doubt the source is leading, not this article.
- Belastingdienst — filing an M return if you lived outside the Netherlands for part of the year — belastingdienst.nl
- Belastingdienst — emigration checklist — belastingdienst.nl
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