Looking for advice moving to the Netherlands as a remote worker.

stixpixel wrote:

Hi everyone!

I work online for a Chinese company. I am currently residing in the UK but looking to relocate to the Netherlands, having spent a lot of time there over the years, it's somewhere I have always wanted to live. After searching through the internet for days I find a lot of mixed information from all over the place and it's left me tearing my hair out, so here's a few questions I am hoping you guys can help me with.

- As a UK national, am I able to move to the Netherlands long term as long as I can prove a regular decent income?
- The dreaded tax question...what is the deal? I've found it hard to find a straight answer regarding this, who am I paying tax to? Both countries? One country?
- Registering with the town hall...do I need a permanent address to do this? What else would I need?
- Any health insurance advice?
- Due to the tax differences in the UK and NL, is there anything extra and unexpected that you guys had to pay that you didn't see coming?
- What is your favourite part of living in the Netherlands?

Thank you everyone!

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

As an EU citizen, you currently have the right to live and work anywhere in the EU; your income has nothing to do with those rights.  You should be aware of the potential for Brexit to screw that up for you.  You should also be aware that you can be returned to your home country should you become a burden on the state and unlike the UK, the Dutch have no qualms in enforcing this.

You pay tax depending on where you live; if you live in Holland, you will be taxed in Holland on all of your worldwide income; the fact you are working for a Chinese company is irrelevant.  It will become more complicated if you are actually working for a UK company/payroll and intend to continue to receive your pay into a UK bank; my advice would be to keep things simple and have your pay paid into a local bank in Holland.  The simplest way is to try and get your company to transfer you to Holland with a Dutch contract.  If you don't, your UK tax can be offset (because there is a double taxation agreement in place between UK/NL), but things like National Insurance which you will continue to pay on your UK salary will continue to be deducted and be of no use to you in Holland (except to keep your UK pension going) and you'll be paying again for the Dutch social tax equivalent which is a lot of money (28% of salary).

Registration is compulsory for all who live in Holland (even the locals).  A new arrival who is intending to remain in Holland (i.e. not a tourist) is required to register within 5 days of arrival.  You can register from a temporary address if your landlord permits it.  most people tend to wait until they get somewhere permanent, but that means you won't get a BSN number to enable you to open a Dutch bank account, pay your taxes in Holland, nor can you register with a doctor/dentist, register a car.

Health Insurance is private in Holland and is largely privately funded, normally your employer pays half, you pay the rest; your employer would normally have a preferred scheme.  If you don't have a Dutch payroll, you'll have to pay all the costs yourself.

Tax differences - if you live in Holland, you must submit an annual tax return to the Belastingdienst; the social taxes were a total surprise to me and to come up with 28% of my annual salary was a bit awkward.

That's answered your questions; if you have anything else specific, please come back to us.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team