Dutch departure, without the full-service bill

Save €10,000s
in professional fees.
Get clarity for €447.

Stop paying accountants and lawyers premium hourly rates to organise paperwork you can prepare efficiently. ExitNetherlands walks you through the facts the Belastingdienst actually looks at, organises your evidence, compiles a residency position file, and puts it in front of an experienced reviewer before you file your M-form for the year you leave.

Guided preparation / Residency file compiled / Human legal review
Your next chapter, organisedExample
My departure file🔒
🇳🇱 Netherlands🇦🇪 Dubai

One move. One organised file.

Your documents, without the guesswork.
Example checklist3 of 4 added
🏠
New-country leaseA home for your next chapter
🪪
Residence documentYour status abroad
🏦
Bank statementYour everyday financial ties
🚗
Driver's licenceAdd it when available
PENDING
Know what you have. See what's next.Less scattered paperwork. More room for what's next.
Built around your move

Where are you headed?

🇦🇪 Dubai (UAE)🇲🇹 Malta🇨🇾 Cyprus🇬🇧 UK (non-dom / FIG)🇵🇦 Panama🇵🇾 Paraguay
Need a new residence too?

Leaving the Netherlands is one step.
Establishing somewhere new is the next.

Exit Global can help evaluate practical residency pathways in Dubai, Malta, Cyprus and UK and beyond. Some routes can be completed relatively quickly depending on your circumstances. Each destination has its own site — click through.

Immigration eligibility, processing times and government requirements vary by route and applicant.

An independent preparation tool. Not affiliated with the Belastingdienst (Dutch Tax Administration). Private beta. Not a Belastingdienst filing service.
The €447 guided departure package

Do the simple work once.
Pay experts for judgment — not administration.

Traditional full-service departure engagements get expensive when accountants, lawyers and valuers each bill hourly for gathering the same facts. Software handles the organisation and drafting; experts handle the parts that require judgment.

€447Prepared residency file + written review
Start the process →
01

Start the process

Tell us where you are moving, when you are leaving and the basic facts of your Dutch departure.

02

Upload your documents

Add evidence of your new life abroad and the Dutch ties you have changed, ended or retained.

03

Answer the questionnaire

Work through structured questions covering housing, family, work, health insurance, your GP, clubs and associations, banking, pensions, shareholdings and the other connections the Belastingdienst weighs.

04

We compile your residency file

The software organises your answers and evidence into a structured departure file: your position under art. 4 AWR, your conserverende aanslag exposure on shares, pensions and annuities, and what stays taxable in the Netherlands after you leave.

05

Expert review + written evaluation

Our team reviews the file and evidence, provides a written evaluation of your residency position and flags what to fix before you file.

06

You decide how to proceed

You receive the prepared file and review. You decide whether to file your M-form on that basis, request vooroverleg with the Belastingdienst, or obtain specialist advice first.

No open-ended hourly meter.

The core guided preparation and review is €447. Complex tax, valuation or specialist work is scoped and quoted separately, only if your situation requires it.

Your information is sensitive. We treat it that way.

Documents are stored privately when you explicitly save them. We use restricted access and do not sell or share your information.

01 / Understand the rules

There is no NR73 in the Netherlands.
Here is what replaces it.

The Netherlands has no departure form and no residency-opinion request. You deregister from the population register, file an M-form for the year you leave, and the Belastingdienst judges where you live from the circumstances. Getting the file right before you leave is what protects you later.

The residency test

Where you live is judged 'naar de omstandigheden' — by the facts.

Dutch law has no day count. Article 4 of the Algemene wet inzake rijksbelastingen says where someone lives is assessed according to the circumstances. The Belastingdienst's own emigration page lists the questions it asks: at which address do you spend most of your time, where do your partner and family live, where do you work, where are you insured for medical costs, where is your GP, where are you a member of associations, and where do your children go to school.

You emigrate, in the Belastingdienst's words, when you go to live permanently in another country. A departure that leaves a home, a family and a GP behind is not one.

Belastingdienst: do I emigrate if I move abroad? ↗
The one-year rule

Leave and come back within a year, and you never left.

Article 2.2 of the Wet inkomstenbelasting 2001 deems a person who stops living in the Netherlands and returns within one year — without having lived in another state in between — to have remained a Dutch resident for the whole absence. A trial year abroad that ends early can be taxed as if it never happened, so the move needs to be real and evidenced from day one.

Wet IB 2001, art. 2.2 (wetten.overheid.nl) ↗
If you want certainty

No certificate on the way out — but vooroverleg exists.

There is no residency ruling request and no exit certificate. What exists is vooroverleg: a written request to the inspector setting out the facts, the question and your own position, in return for a standpunt on your specific situation. It is only as good as the facts you supply — which is why the file comes first. In practice most leavers simply file the M-form with a departure date and carry the evidence.

Belastingdienst: vooroverleg ↗
The departure-year return

The M-form: one return, two periods.

For the year you leave you file the M-aangifte (migration return) — online in Mijn Belastingdienst under 'aangifte inkomstenbelasting voor belastingplichtigen die een deel van het jaar buiten Nederland wonen', or on the paper M-formulier. It covers the resident months on worldwide income and the non-resident months on Dutch income only. The deadline is the date in your aangiftebrief, often 1 May; the Belastingdienst usually responds within 3 months and officially has 3 years to settle it (2025 by 31 December 2028).

Belastingdienst: filing for the year of emigration ↗
Why this matters

A flight changes
your location.
The facts tell the rest.

Dutch tax obligations depend on residency. Residents are taxed on worldwide income in boxes 1, 2 and 3; non-residents only on Dutch-source income — Dutch employment and pensions, a substantial interest in a Dutch company, and Dutch real estate. The Belastingdienst decides which you are by looking at your whole life, not your departure date.

Read the Belastingdienst's emigration checklist ↗

Where is your home?

Which address you spend most of your time at is the first question the Belastingdienst asks. A Dutch home kept available is the heaviest fact against you.

Where is your family?

A partner or children staying in the Netherlands — and where the children go to school — is listed explicitly among the circumstances weighed.

What does daily life look like?

Work, health insurance, your huisarts, club and association memberships and time in each country tell the story article 4 AWR is asking about.

02 / A simple way forward

From scattered documents
to a clear next step.

You don't need everything on day one. Start with what you know and keep track of the gaps.

01

Tell the story of your move

Choose your destination and record the key facts, dates and Dutch ties.

02

Build your document file

Keep new-country evidence and changes to Dutch ties in separate, labelled sections.

03

Get reviewed before you file

Our team reviews your residency file and evidence, provides an advisory opinion and recommends revisions before you file your M-form or request vooroverleg.

Guided preparation. Human review.

You do the groundwork.
Our team reviews the final file.

You should not have to start from a blank page, or pay a professional to chase every document. Build the file yourself; have it reviewed before you rely on it.

A reviewed residency file

Our team reviews your position under article 4 AWR, your supporting documents and departure narrative, provides an advisory opinion and recommends revisions.

A human review of the facts and evidence, not just a completed checklist.

Less administration. Lower preparation costs.

You gather documents and answer the guided questions. We focus professional time on reviewing your prepared file rather than assembling it from scratch.

Designed to cost less than having a firm manage every preparation task.

Specialists for the complex parts

Have a BV, a holding structure, a pension in eigen beheer, a lijfrente or Dutch property? We can connect you with belastingadviseurs and valuers for the pieces that need them.

The right specialist for the work your situation actually requires.

A more focused way to get there

Do not pay full-service rates
for paperwork you can organise.

Complex, full-service Dutch departures can run into tens of thousands of euros in combined advisory, legal and valuation fees once a conserverende aanslag on a BV shareholding, a pension or annuity, and a Dutch property are in play.

This refers to broader, multi-specialist engagements, not residency preparation alone. Actual fees and savings vary.

Beyond the residency question

The conserverende aanslag,
without the guesswork.

The Netherlands has no general exit tax on your investments — but it has a conserverende aanslag, a protective assessment that follows you out. If you hold an aanmerkelijk belang (at least 5% of a company) you are deemed to have sold it the moment you cease to be a resident, and the box 2 gain is assessed but not collected. The same protective assessment lands on pension rights, lijfrente built up with deducted premiums and a kapitaalverzekering eigen woning. Moving inside the EU or EEA you get automatic deferral; elsewhere you request it and the Belastingdienst can demand security. No collection interest runs during deferral. For pensions and annuities the assessment lapses after 10 years if you play by the rules. For shares it does not: since 15 September 2015 the deferral is open-ended, and a sale, a dividend or a liquidation triggers collection. Each of these is a number that needs to be right before you leave.

Belastingdienst: conserverende aanslag on emigration ↗
RB / NOB BELASTINGADVISEUR

Tax analysis and filings

A Register Belastingadviseur or NOB-member tax adviser can model your conserverende aanslag, the deferral and security position, your M-form and the treaty treatment of your pension and dividends.

REGISTER VALUATOR (RV)

Share and business valuations

A Register Valuator can support the value of BV shares and business interests on the day your residency ends — the number the deemed disposal is built on.

Prepare it yourself. Get it reviewed. Bring in specialists when needed.

Start my guided departure →

Team review is a separate, agreed professional engagement. Our advisory opinion is not a determination by the Belastingdienst.

03 / Know what to gather

Two sides of the move.
One practical checklist.

These are suggested evidence categories, not a universal Belastingdienst document requirement. Include what's relevant to your situation.

Your new country

Establishing your life abroad

  • Lease or proof of housingNames, address, dates and the living arrangement.
  • New driver's licenceIf issued and applicable to your situation.
  • Residence or immigration documentThe visa or permit that applies to your status — and whether it is permanent.
  • Local bank statementEvidence of an account in your new country.
Other useful context: employment, utilities, health coverage and travel records.
Netherlands

Documenting what changed

  • BRP deregistration at your gemeenteMandatory if you will be abroad more than 8 months in a year. Do it from 5 days before departure up to the day you leave, and ask for an international bewijs van uitschrijving.
  • Sale, lease or letting of your Dutch homeExplain what happened to it and whether it remains available to you; a retained property stays taxable in the Netherlands.
  • Zorgverzekering and toeslagenYour Dutch health insurance ends on the moving date — report the move to your insurer and stop zorgtoeslag, huurtoeslag or kinderopvangtoeslag you are no longer entitled to.
  • DigiD, pension fund and SVBActivate the DigiD app with ID-check and SMS before you go. Tell your pension fund and the SVB; AOW accrual (2% per insured year) stops while you live abroad unless you take out voluntary insurance.
  • Car, bank and voorlopige aanslagReport vehicle export to the RDW, move bank accounts to a non-resident address, and adjust any monthly voorlopige aanslag.
Keeping a Dutch bank account does not by itself make you a resident. See the circumstances the Belastingdienst weighs ↗
Still waiting on a document? Mark it pending and keep going.

Your file grows as your move does.

Start my departure file — €447 →
04 / When you're ready

You prepare here.
You file with the Belastingdienst.

There is nothing to 'submit' on departure — but there are four things the Belastingdienst expects you to do, and they have deadlines. This app does not connect to Mijn Belastingdienst or DigiD.

Belastingdienst: emigration checklist ↗
01
Deregister and pass on your foreign address

Deregister from the BRP at your gemeente in the 5 days before you leave. The Belastingdienst takes the emigration date from that. Later address changes abroad go via the online form (about 5 days) or by post to Belastingdienst/Kennis- en Expertisecentrum Buitenland, Postbus 2891, 6401 DJ Heerlen (about 10 working days).

02
File the M-form for the year you leave

Online in Mijn Belastingdienst or on the paper M-formulier, by the date in your aangiftebrief (often 1 May). Report the emigration date, the resident and non-resident periods, and the te conserveren inkomen for any substantial interest, pension, lijfrente or KEW.

03
Deal with the conserverende aanslag

Deferral is automatic if you move to an EU or EEA country. Anywhere else you must request it in writing, and the Belastingdienst may ask for security such as a bank guarantee, mortgage or pledge.

04
Keep filing as a non-resident, and keep the file

If you keep Dutch property, a Dutch pension or a substantial interest you file the non-resident C-form each year. The Belastingdienst can revisit residency years later. Keep the evidence, your bewijs van uitschrijving and every notification you sent.

Good questions. Clear answers.

Before you
get started.

You can organise your evidence before deciding how far to take it.

Will your team review my final file?

Yes. Under an agreed review engagement, our team reviews your residency file and supporting package, provides a written advisory opinion and recommends revisions. That is our opinion — not a Belastingdienst determination or standpunt.

Is there a Dutch equivalent of Canada's NR73?

No. The Netherlands has no departure form and no residency-opinion request. Emigration is declared through BRP deregistration and the M-form for the year you leave. If you want certainty from the Belastingdienst on a specific question you can request vooroverleg, which requires you to set out the facts and your own position. Belastingdienst: vooroverleg ↗

Is there an exit tax when I leave the Netherlands?

Not on ordinary savings and listed shares in box 3. But if you hold at least 5% of a company you are deemed to have sold it on departure and receive a conserverende aanslag in box 2, and the same protective assessment applies to pension rights, lijfrente and a kapitaalverzekering eigen woning. It is deferred — automatically within the EU/EEA, on request with possible security elsewhere — and for pensions and annuities it can be waived after 10 years. For shares it is open-ended and is collected when you sell, receive dividends or liquidate. Belastingdienst guidance ↗

I run my business through a BV. What actually happens?

Ceasing residency is a fictieve vervreemding of your aanmerkelijk belang under art. 4.16(1)(h) Wet IB 2001: the gain is assessed as te conserveren inkomen and payment is deferred. The Belastingdienst has confirmed it can withdraw the deferral and collect when the BV later pays a dividend, even where a treaty limits dividend tax, because the assessment taxes the gain built up while you were resident. Get the share value on the departure date supported before you leave. Kennisgroep position KG:207:2025:1 ↗

What happens to my pension and AOW?

Your workplace pension and any lijfrente stay where they are, but the deducted contributions trigger a conserverende aanslag that becomes payable if you cash in or surrender within 10 years; after 10 years you can ask for it to be waived. AOW accrues at 2% for each insured year in the 50 years before your AOW age, and accrual stops while you live abroad unless you take out voluntary insurance with the SVB. SVB: AOW accrual ↗

Do I have to deregister from the gemeente, and does my health insurance end?

Yes on both. If you will be outside the Netherlands more than 8 months in a year you must deregister from the BRP — from 5 days before departure up to the day you leave — or risk a fine; your record moves to the RNI. Your Dutch zorgverzekering ends on the moving date, and only pensioners and benefit recipients moving to a treaty country can keep cover through the CAK, which suggests starting 3 months ahead. When to deregister ↗

I keep a house or a bank account in the Netherlands. Is that a problem?

A bank account is not; it is one circumstance among many. A house is different. Dutch real estate is always taxable in the Netherlands: a home you keep or let stays in box 3 on the 1 January reference date and you file the non-resident C-form each year, with only the heffingsvrij vermogen as relief. A home that remains available to you is also the heaviest fact against your emigration. Note that the Wet werkelijk rendement box 3 — a switch to taxing actual returns from 1 January 2028 — passed the Tweede Kamer on 12 February 2026 but the Eerste Kamer postponed its vote on 30 June 2026 pending amending legislation. As at September 2026 it is not law. Non-resident Dutch income ↗

I had the 30% ruling. Does leaving change anything? And what if I come back?

The expatregeling only applies while you are employed by a Dutch employer, runs for a maximum of 5 years, stays at 30% in 2025 and 2026 and drops to 27% from 2027. The partial non-resident (partiële buitenlandse belastingplicht) election was abolished from 1 January 2025, with transitional use through 2026 only for those already on the ruling before 2024. If you return within one year of leaving without having lived in another state, art. 2.2 Wet IB 2001 treats you as never having left. Belastingdienst: partial non-resident status ↗

The next chapter starts with a plan

Get clarity before you spend
thousands more on professional fees.

Start my departure file — €447 →

Dubai (UAE) / Malta / Cyprus / UK (non-dom / FIG) / Panama / Paraguay

The Exit network

One process. Every country.

Each site covers one departure, in that country's own rules. The destination sites cover where you're going. All reviewed by the same team at Exit Global.