The A1 certificate
An A1 certificate names the country that covers your social security while you work abroad. You or your employer apply for it before you go.
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Your salary, pension or rent comes from another country and you live here. We show you which country may tax it and where to go next.
Foreign income
Live in the Netherlands? Then you declare income from every country in your Dutch return. That is the starting point, not the final answer. A tax treaty decides which of the two countries may actually tax each part. Arriving or leaving this year? Then only the period you lived here counts.
So your outcome turns on two questions. Where does the income come from? And which country does the treaty point to? The Netherlands has tax treaties with around 100 countries. Each one answers the second question a little differently.
Salary, rent and pension from abroad count as income. The house or portfolio behind them does not. What your foreign house or portfolio is worth counts as wealth in Box 3. Box 3 is the Dutch tax box for savings and investments.
Across the border
Working across a border splits two questions that usually travel together. Income tax follows the tax treaty. Social security follows a separate European rule. That rule can point to a different country than the treaty does.
We look at both in one conversation. That way your salary and your social security contributions each land where they belong.
An A1 certificate names the country that covers your social security while you work abroad. You or your employer apply for it before you go.
Germany often taxes the salary you earn there. The Netherlands has a compensation scheme that softens the difference. We check whether it applies to you.
Alongside your income
Most people in this situation have more than one thread running. A letter arrives about your worldwide income, or a portfolio abroad has quietly grown. Sometimes the whole situation just needs a fresh pair of eyes.
We pick these up in the same conversation. Nothing has to wait for next year.
The Belastingdienst (the Dutch tax authority) asks for your worldwide income when a benefit depends on it. We explain the form and file it with you.
Your foreign income often sits on top of real wealth. We look at your Box 3 position and at what fits the years ahead.
You may be arriving, buying a home or building wealth. Start from where you are today and we take it from there.
Your income
Pick the income that matches your situation. We take you straight to the page that covers it.
You work here for an employer abroad, or you commute across the border. The treaty decides which country taxes those working days.
Read about the 183-day ruleFOREIGN CLIENTSYou invoice clients outside the Netherlands from your desk here. That income belongs in your Dutch return. We file it with you.
See tax return helpFrequently asked
The questions we hear most from people whose income crosses a border. Not the one you have? Ask your advisor
Two countries
Tell us which countries your income comes from. We read the treaty and say which one may charge tax. Then we agree your next step. You’re not committing to anything.
What's included
A dedicated advisor
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Updated 2 October 2026
“Two countries can both think they are first in line. My job is to read the treaty and tell you plainly which one is right.”
Menno van der Made
Tax advisor
Your advisor
Tell us where your income comes from. We tell you which country taxes it and what to do first.
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Call +31 20 2170120 and we help you further.
