A pension you built abroad
For years accrued with a foreign employer or a foreign scheme. This page covers how the Netherlands treats that pension once you live here.
Pension in the Netherlands
You probably have pension savings in more than one country. Tell us which part you are asking about and we take it from there.
Written by
Menno van der MadeHead of Tax - Tax Consultant
Reviewed by
Victor van GilseTax Consultant
Updated 3 September 2026
Your pension
What does a pension in the Netherlands consist of?
A pension in the Netherlands comes from the state, from your employer and from whatever you arrange yourself. The state part is called the AOW. Move here mid-career and another part stays behind. A scheme from a former employer or an account you cannot take with you. Sometimes just years you accrued somewhere else. Each part has its own system with its own rules. Nothing combines them for you. That is the work we do.
Three kinds of question bring internationals to us. Where a pension you built abroad stands now that you live here. What you are building here and what happens when it pays out. And what you build yourself when no employer does it. Each has its own group below, so you can go straight to yours.
Would you rather understand the system first? Our Dutch tax system pages explain how pension fits inside Dutch income tax.
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Across borders
Is part of your pension in another country?
If it is, two countries have a say in what happens to it. That covers a scheme you left running, a retirement account you cannot move or years you accrued before you arrived.
Whether your foreign pension gets taxed here depends on the treaty between them. The pages below take the common cases apart one at a time.
Still building a pension through a Dutch employer as well? That is the next group.
Your Roth account from the US
For Dutch residents holding a US Roth IRA. The account works one way under US rules and another way once you live here.
A 401(k) you left behind
For a workplace retirement account still sitting with a former US employer. This page explains what happens to it once you are here.
Your Dutch pension
Are you building a pension here?
Start here if you are building up pension in the Netherlands right now. Through an employer, through a sector scheme or through the AOW, the state pension. The AOW part is not the same for everyone who lives here. If you arrived mid career, it is worth checking rather than assuming.
Not sure who to put the question to? Pension advice explains what a first conversation covers. The other pages below each take one Dutch pension question.
Planning to leave the Netherlands again? What you have built here stays yours, but tell us before you go, because some choices close once you have left.
On the salary ruling for internationals? Ask us what it means for your pension here.
Ask about pension advice
For anyone with a Dutch pension who would rather ask than read. This page describes what pension advice covers and how a first conversation goes.
Stopping work in the Netherlands
For the months around your last working day. It walks through what changes when you stop working, in the order the decisions arrive.
A shortfall in what you build
For people who suspect the pension they are building will not be enough. Arriving mid-career is one of the common reasons. This page maps the gap.
Tax on your pension income
For the day your pension starts paying out. The Dutch tax office counts pension as income. This page explains what that means for you.
The footballers' pension scheme
For professional footballers, who build pension on a short career under their own scheme. A narrow case with its own rules.
On your own
No employer building a pension for you?
Then you build it yourself. That is the position of most freelancers, plus anyone who wants to add to a workplace scheme.
You can set money aside inside your own business or build something outside it. The reserve for the self-employed is where most people start reading. The pages below cover each route.
Employed and simply short? The pension gap page in the group above is the better starting point.
The reserve for the self-employed
For freelancers and one-person businesses. The Dutch call this the oudedagsreserve: it lets you set part of your profit aside for later, inside your own business.
Building pension outside an employer
An annuity is money you put away now to pay you an income later. The Dutch call it a lijfrente.
Deducting what you pay toward it
For when you pay into an annuity and want that money off your taxable income. This page covers when the premium counts as a deduction on your return.
Replies within one working day
“People come to me with paperwork from two countries and no way to read it together. We put it side by side first. Almost every decision gets easier once you can see the whole thing at once.”
Menno van der Made
Tax advisor
English or DutchCross-border taxTax and pension routing
Your advisor
Not sure which pension question is yours?
Describe yours to Menno and he will say which page covers it. Cross-border pensions rarely land neatly on one page. That is normal. He will also say when a conversation should come first. Your tax position often decides which pension answer applies. Menno covers the tax side of your pension question.
Pension advice is provided by our associated company A&H Finance. They advise you, arrange the pension and invoice you. Your agreement for this advice is with them and they are responsible for the service. TaxSavers introduces you and is not a party to that agreement. Do you have a complaint about the advice? Raise it with them first. If you do not reach a solution together, you can take it to Kifid. They are registered there and have accepted binding advice, so a Kifid ruling binds them.
Book your free call
RecommendedBring what you have. You leave the call knowing which pension question is yours and what happens next.
Message us on WhatsApp
WhatsAppOne question, typed instead of spoken. Useful when you only need pointing at the right page.
Call us
DirectSpeak to an advisor on +31 20 2170120 and ask for pension.
We work across the country by video call, phone or secure upload.
Frequently asked
Where to start with your pension
The questions we hear most when a pension is spread across countries. Yours not here? Ask Menno
I have a pension in another country. Does the Netherlands tax it?
Sometimes. The treaty between the two countries decides it. Some pensions stay taxable where they were built. Others become taxable here once you live here. The type of scheme matters too, so this is a question we answer per situation rather than in general. The foreign pension page sets out the cases.
What happens to my Dutch pension if I leave the Netherlands again?
What you have already built stays yours. It stays with the scheme until you claim it. Which country taxes it then depends on where you live at that point. Tell us before you go rather than after, because some choices only exist while you are still here.
I am self-employed. Am I building any pension at all?
Only the AOW, unless you arrange more yourself. No employer builds a scheme for a freelancer. Your AOW is not the same for everyone. Check yours rather than assume it. You can set profit aside inside your own business, which the reserve for the self-employed page covers. Or you build an annuity that pays you later.
Ask us where to look and we go through your pension paperwork with you.
Can I keep my US retirement account now that I live here?
Do I need advice, or just an answer to a tax question?
Advice helps you choose what to do next. A tax question asks how the rules apply to you. If a scheme statement or a foreign account is confusing you, read the page for it first. If you are choosing what to do next, start with pension advice. Plenty of people need both in the same year.
Are you authorised to give mortgage and insurance advice?
TaxSavers advises on tax, not on mortgages, insurance or pensions. For those we work with A&H Finance, a trade name of New Business Group B.V. They hold the AFM licence (12017511) and they advise and arrange. We introduce you and take on the tax that follows.
Your next step
Bring your pension into one view
Book a free call and tell us where you built up your pension. We read the paperwork together and say what it takes to answer your question. Pension rarely stands alone, so your tax and your insurance come up in the same conversation. The call itself commits you to nothing.
What's included
A dedicated advisor
Your foreign pension in the picture
Help in English or Dutch
One contact who points your pension question to the right place