Your Dutch pension abroad: what comes along, and who levies
The AOW (the Dutch state pension) travels fully to the EU and to Australia — the latter thanks to a treaty from 2001. Your company pension too, but *where* you pay on it depends on the tax treaty, and the exemption you arrange yourself.
Good news first: to none of our destinations do you lose your accrued Dutch pension. The AOW (the Dutch state pension) is fully exported within the EU, and for Australia a treaty from 2001 literally arranges that your benefit may not be reduced or withdrawn because you live there. Your company pension simply pays out to whatever address. What does change sits in three details you want to know before departure.
The amount follows your household, the payment follows the exchange rate
The AOW has two rates — 70% of the minimum wage for those living alone, 50% per person for those living together — and that living-situation test simply moves along. In Australia the SVB moreover pays out in Australian dollars: so your net amount breathes with the exchange rate. No reason for concern, but something to know if your monthly budget is planned tightly.
And the mirror image of the accrual lesson from the AOW article: the years you miss, you miss abroad too. The export is full — of the percentage you built up.
Who levies: that's a separate question
This article is about the payment: what comes along and how it reaches you. Who may levy tax on it is a different question, with an answer of its own per pot — your government pension, your company pension and your AOW each follow an article of their own in the tax treaty, and the Netherlands can under three conditions also keep levying on a company pension.
That's worked out in when your pension stays taxed in the Netherlands, including the exemption statement you need to prevent your fund from continuing to withhold Dutch wage tax while your country of residence already levies.
Going on early retirement? Watch the healthcare route
One development that can upset your planning if you stop before your AOW age. Whoever moves to the EU, the EEA or Switzerland with a Dutch pension normally arranges their healthcare via the CAK. That route is being narrowed: as expected, from 1 November 2026 only new applicants with AOW, Anw, WAO, WIA or Wajong will still be admitted. If you only have an early retirement pension, an RVU benefit or wachtgeld, you have to arrange a policy yourself until your AOW starts — and in some countries that's a hefty amount. Whoever is already a customer of the CAK at that moment keeps their rights. Read what this means for your situation in the separate article about it.
And built up there? Superannuation, briefly
Whoever goes to work in Australia builds up compulsory pension via superannuation: your employer pays 12% on top of your wage into a pension fund, also for temporary workers. If you ever leave again, it depends on your status: whoever worked there on a temporary visa can have their balance paid out (heavily taxed), but whoever has become a permanent resident leaves it until the Australian pension age — it's then simply your second pension pot, next to what's waiting for you in the Netherlands.
Your Dutch pension pots themselves you almost always simply leave: transferring capital to a foreign fund is a heavy procedure with strict conditions, and rarely necessary. Leave it, pass on your address, and receive it in due course — that's the route for almost everyone.
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.
- Rijksoverheid — to which countries your benefit can go — rijksoverheid.nl
- Treaty database — the social-security treaty Netherlands–Australia (2001) — wetten.overheid.nl
- NederlandWereldwijd — pension from the Netherlands, and where it's taxed — nederlandwereldwijd.nl
- Belastingdienst — applying for the wage-tax exemption statement — belastingdienst.nl
Read on
- Leaving the NetherlandsClosing and deregistering3 min
The protective assessment: the bill that travels with you, and that never expires for one item
On emigration the Netherlands imposes an assessment on your pension, your annuity and your substantial shareholding that you don't have to pay — as long as you do nothing that makes it collectable. For pension and annuity it usually lapses after ten years. For a substantial shareholding it doesn't: that one remains valid indefinitely.
Updated 27 August 2026
- Leaving the NetherlandsClosing and deregistering3 min
Emigrating on early retirement: the CAK route is expected to close as of 1 November 2026
Whoever moves to the EU or Switzerland with a Dutch pension arranges their healthcare via the CAK. That door is closing to a crack: as expected, from 1 November only new applicants with AOW, Anw, WAO, WIA or Wajong will be admitted. Early retirement and RVU fall outside it — whoever is already a customer keeps their rights.
Updated 16 August 2026
- Leaving the NetherlandsClosing and deregistering2 min
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.
Updated 9 August 2026