Luxembourg · administrative route
Emigrating to Luxembourg
Four hours' drive, no border, three official languages — and a country with its own clocks. Within eight days you report your arrival at the commune, within three months you make the registration declaration there, and within six months the car must be on plates. The treaty from 1968 sends your occupational pension and your AOW to Luxembourg, where you declare them yourself in a progressive scale per tax class — no withholding, but four advance payments a year. And the home is the heaviest item of the whole journey. This page shows how it really works.
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- Kind of journey
- Administrative — two reports at the commune
- The clocks
- 8 days for the report, 3 months for the registration, 6 for the car
- Note
- Pension and AOW to Luxembourg — declare yourself, with advance payments
Last updated: September 2026
The journey
Five phases, from the commune to the Bëllegen Akt
A route close to home with its own deadlines: eight days, three months, six months. Plus a treaty from 1968 that places pension and AOW with the country of residence, where nobody withholds anything and you therefore file the return yourself — and a housing market that decides whether the journey goes ahead.
- 1
Orientation
Two clocks at the commune, a treaty of 1968, and the housing costs
Eight days to report your arrival, three months for the registration. In this phase you learn what the treaty of 1968 does — pension and AOW exclusively with Luxembourg, with the wage tax exemption you do apply for here — and how Luxembourg taxes: progressively up to 42 percent, per tax class, without withholding on a foreign pension. Healthcare runs through the CAK to the CNS, with 88 percent reimbursement. And you explore the region with the housing costs in hand, because they exceed the Randstad.
- 2
Closing the Netherlands
The wage tax exemption for pension and AOW, and the Luxembourg return
The familiar list with the favourable variant: apply for the wage tax exemption for your occupational pension and your AOW, because both go exclusively to Luxembourg. Your government pension stays Dutch, even with a Luxembourg passport. After that you declare your pension in Luxembourg yourself and pay advance payments on 10 March, 10 June, 10 September and 10 December. Further: the S1 at the CAK six weeks before departure, the SVB in time, and the eight-month rule as a real option four hours' drive away.
- 3
The move
One day's drive, a customs sticker even within the EU, and the home first
By road, in half a day, without customs and without an inventory. The car comes along without excise duty and without VAT as relocation goods, but must be on plates within six months — past the SNCA, the insurer and customs, where you get the vignette 705, with a stamp of 50 euros. And the home comes before everything: the eight-day report asks for a lease, and the Luxembourg housing market is the tightest step of this journey. The pet needs only chip, jab and the EU pet passport.
- 4
Registration in Luxembourg
Commune, commune, CNS, tax office
The order is fixed. First the arrival report at the population office, within eight days, with your lease. Then the registration declaration, within three months, with the proof of your means and your S1 — you get the registration certificate, valid indefinitely. Then the S1 to the CNS for your social security card. And then the tax office, because on a foreign pension nobody withholds anything: you register, ask about your class and arrange the advance payments.
- 5
Arrival
The licence stays, the house is free — with 7 percent and 40,000 euros credit
An EEA driving licence doesn't need exchanging, but do have it registered, and from now on you renew it here. Anyone may buy: the state charges 7 percent duties and with the Bëllegen Akt takes 40,000 euros per person off that for whoever is going to live there themselves — move in within two years, stay two years, once. After five years you apply for permanent residence.
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 Luxembourg 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 apply for the exemption
- Lead time
- one good conversation, then an application of weeks
- Costs
- advisory hours — depending on your situation
The treaty places your occupational pension and your AOW exclusively with Luxembourg. Apply to the Dutch tax authority for the wage tax exemption with a Luxembourg certificate of residence, for both — otherwise your fund keeps withholding and you only get it back after a year. An annuity falls under the same residual article and comes along.
The government pension is the exception: the Netherlands may tax that, and unlike in most treaties a Luxembourg passport doesn't help against it. Luxembourg exempts it, but counts it for the rate on the rest.
On the Luxembourg side nobody withholds anything on a foreign pension. You file a return every year with the Administration des contributions directes, with the pension statement from your fund and the SVB attached, and then pay four advance payments a year: on 10 March, 10 June, 10 September and 10 December. The rate rises progressively to 42 percent, with a surcharge for the employment fund; which tax class you get — 1, 1a above sixty-four, or 2 as a couple — determines the scale.
This is step 2.3 of 29. The other 28 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
See all 29 steps for LuxembourgWhat it costs
A rough indication for your situation
A few short questions, and you get a range instead of an amount. That's deliberate: an exact figure would suggest a precision nobody has.
Count on a total of
€ 4.100 – € 9.500
Where does that difference come from?
- The first months€ 4.000 – € 9.000
Below you'll find per item where the upper and the lower limit come from.
- Aanvraag en papieren
- € 25 – € 150
- De verhuizing
- € 30 – € 150
- De eerste maanden
- € 4.000 – € 9.300
Every item, one by onePer item the amount, the source and whether it's a rate or an estimate
Aanvraag en papieren
- Report and registration at the commune(estimate)€ 5 – € 30
- Certificates, model forms and translations(estimate)€ 20 – € 100
De verhuizing
- The journey(estimate)€ 30 – € 150
De eerste maanden
- The first months(estimate)€ 4.000 – € 9.000
A deposit of two or three months' rent, the first rent, furnishing what didn't come along, and the months in which you're still running double. In and around the city renting costs more than in the Randstad; the north and the south around Esch sit below that, but nothing in Luxembourg sits low. This is the heaviest item of the whole journey.
- Bank, phone and the first counters(estimate)€ 60 – € 250
And if you buy a house?
This calculation assumes renting: the first months include deposit and rent in advance.
If you buy, count on 3 to 9% of the purchase price on top of this amount. On a home of € 250,000 that's € 7.500 to € 22.500.
The state charges 7 percent on purchase: 6 percent registration duties and 1 percent transcription duties. The Bëllegen Akt takes a tax credit of 40,000 euros per acquirer off that — 80,000 for a couple — for whoever is going to live in the home themselves, moves in within two years and stays at least two years; the state always keeps at least 100 euros. On top come the notary and possibly the estate agent. With the credit you sit at the bottom of the range, without the credit at the top.
Note: buying isn't simply allowed here
No restriction on nationality and no permit. The credit is per person and once: whoever used it before pays the full 7 percent, and whoever leaves the home within two years pays it back. Have the notary apply for the credit before signing.
An order of magnitude based on averages, not a quote. The real amounts depend on your occupation, your route, the season and dozens of choices you still have to make.
The rates in this calculation haven't been checked against the official sources yet.
Your complete, personal cost picture — with your route, your documents and your deadlines — you get in Vertrekklaar.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Who may tax your pension once you live in Luxembourg, is there a favourable regime, and how do you become insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you see which rules apply to you — with the source.
See the financial conditionsThe departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Luxembourg: 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 Luxembourg really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Read on
The knowledge base on Luxembourg
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
Orientation
- 3 min
AOW, pension and tax in Luxembourg: everything to the country of residence, and you declare it yourself
The treaty with Luxembourg from 1968 places your occupational pension exclusively with Luxembourg, and because it has no social security article, your AOW and your annuity go the same way via the residual article. Luxembourg taxes them in a progressive scale up to 42 percent, per tax class — without withholding, so with an annual return and four advance payments. The government pension stays Dutch, even with a Luxembourg passport.
Updated 11 September 2026
- 3 min
Healthcare in Luxembourg: from the CAK's S1 to the CNS, and then 88 percent back
Luxembourg is a treaty country. With a Dutch statutory pension you apply for an S1 form at the CAK, register with it at the Caisse nationale de santé and get the Luxembourg social security card. The system works by reimbursement: you freely choose a doctor, also a specialist without referral, pay yourself and get 88 percent of the tariff back — or the doctor settles directly with the fund.
Updated 11 September 2026
Leaving the Netherlands — for every destination
- 2 min
Keeping a bank account and DigiD: the two lines you never cut
After your deregistration you still need the Netherlands for years — for the M return, refunds and your pension. Within the EU your bank account is a right, towards Australia a favour from the bank. And your DigiD you arrange before departure, not after.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 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
- 2 min
Emigrating with children after a divorce: the consent that comes before everything
With joint custody you can't just go abroad with the children — you need the consent of the other parent, or substitute consent from the court. What the court weighs, and why leaving without consent is legally child abduction.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 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
- 2 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
- 2 min
Your AOW accrual stops on departure — and you have one year to repair that
Every year outside the Netherlands costs you 2% AOW (the Dutch state pension), for life. The SVB has a voluntary continuation that closes that gap — but signing up is only possible in the first year after departure, and almost everyone misses that deadline.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
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.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Cancelling your health insurance without a gap
Your Dutch basic insurance is tied to living or working in the Netherlands and stops being a given on emigration. The art is to have the end date match your new cover — and to know which route belongs to your situation.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 2 min
Taking medicines across the border: certificates, supply and the 90-day ceiling
For medicines under the Opium Act you need a certificate — and the Dutch system only carries you for three months. What you arrange with the CAK, what Australia wants to see at the border, and why finding a local doctor simply belongs to your first weeks.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 10 min
Partner comes along without a job of their own: deregistering, healthcare, AOW and the house
Your partner has a job, a visa or a right of residence there; you come along without a job of your own. Administratively you're then no passenger: the deregistration, the end of your health insurance and your AOW accrual apply to you separately. What you get back if you arrange it well, what it costs if you let it slide — and when "just staying registered" is allowed after all.
Updated 9 September 2026
- 2 min
Stopping allowances on emigration: do it yourself, and in time
Housing allowance, healthcare allowance, childcare allowance and child budget don't stop by themselves on the day you leave. Whoever lets them run gets a reclaim months later — this is what you arrange per allowance.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 3 min
Deregistering with the municipality: when exactly, and what stops then
Deregistering from the BRP is only possible from five days before departure, and is compulsory as soon as you're away for more than eight months a year. What stops at that moment, what stays, and which piece of paper you have to ask for right away.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 6 min
When does your pension stay taxed in the Netherlands? The three pots and the three conditions
"Your pension is taxed in your new country of residence" is right by approximation and not in the details. Your AOW, your company pension and your government pension each follow a rule of their own, and with the company pension the Netherlands can still levy if three conditions apply at once. This article explains which three, and which four questions you have to answer for your own situation.
Updated 27 August 2026
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