# How to deregister and close things out in NL Canonical: https://howtoin.nl/deregister-when-leaving-netherlands Last reviewed: 2026-10-04 Themes: Moving, Daily life Time: The municipal appointment itself is short, but it can only be booked for the last five days before you go. Everything that needs a Dutch login, a Dutch phone number or a Dutch counter is far easier in the weeks before departure than in the months after it. Source: How to in NL (https://howtoin.nl) ## Summary Work out whether you have to deregister from the BRP, arrange the deregistration in the final five days before you leave the Netherlands, keep DigiD usable abroad, and settle insurance, allowances, your home and the migration-year tax return. ## Overview Leaving the Netherlands is not one cancellation. Deregistering from the Personal Records Database (Basisregistratie Personen, BRP) is the central record change, and the municipality passes it on to bodies including the tax authorities, your health insurer and pension funds. What it does not do is decide the rest for you. Your residence status, your health insurance, your allowances, any Dutch benefit or pension, your tenancy and your private contracts each have their own consequences, and some of them continue after you go. This guide is the cross-system checklist: what to settle before the departure date, what happens at the departure itself, and what you still have to keep current from abroad. ## Before you start Know your departure date and the country you are going to, because the deregistration window is tied to the date and most of what follows depends on the destination. Work out roughly how long you will be outside the Netherlands within a one-year period, since that is what decides whether deregistration applies at all. This guide does not cover the immigration rules of the country you are moving to, which are a matter for that country's authorities and its representation in the Netherlands. It also does not cover getting a rental deposit back from a landlord who is disputing it, pension planning, or exporting a vehicle. ## Does deregistration apply to you? Deregistration is not triggered by moving abroad as such, but by how long you will be outside the Netherlands. Government.nl and Netherlands Worldwide both put the rule at more than 8 months outside the Netherlands within a 1-year period, and state that those months do not have to be consecutive and that keeping a home here makes no difference. - **You are emigrating and will live outside the Netherlands permanently** Deregistration applies. This is the clearest case: you are leaving the resident register and your record moves to the non-residents part of the BRP. - **You will be abroad for more than 8 months within a year, but not permanently** Deregistration still applies. Netherlands Worldwide gives work, study and a traineeship as examples, along with a long trip, a long stay at a holiday address and detention abroad. The 8 months do not have to be one continuous period: two separate 5-month stays inside the same year also count. - **You are keeping your Dutch home while you are away** That does not exempt you. Both authorities say so explicitly. Note too that once you are outside the Netherlands for more than 8 months in a year, you cannot hold a Dutch postal address instead. - **You are moving to Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, St Eustatius or St Maarten** The same 8-month rule applies, and there is a second step: you deregister from your Dutch municipality and register on the island. You will need proof of deregistration from the Dutch municipality in order to register there. - **You are not sure how long you will be away** Ask your municipality rather than guessing. The threshold is measured over a 1-year period and your own expectation at the time is what you report, so a borderline case is worth a direct question to the people who will process it. ## Deadlines **Deregister in the last five days before you leave, and not earlier** Government.nl states that you deregister from your municipality 5 days or fewer before your departure, and not earlier, so there is no window weeks in advance and no grace period once you have gone. Netherlands Worldwide states that the period runs until the day of departure at the latest and that Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays count towards those 5 days, which in practice can leave very few working days. It also states that you may be fined if you were required to deregister and did not. If you are already abroad and still registered, contact the municipality you were registered in. ## Steps ### 1. Work out whether you have to deregister Deregistration from the Personal Records Database is not triggered by the move itself. Government.nl states that you should deregister as a resident if you live abroad for longer than 8 months within 1 year, even if that is not one continuous period, and that you must deregister even if you are keeping your home in the Netherlands. That makes this a question about time rather than intent, which is why it catches stays people do not think of as emigrating: Netherlands Worldwide names work, study and a traineeship, a long trip, a long stay at a holiday address and detention abroad as examples. The reverse also holds. A shorter stay abroad does not put you outside the resident register, and a Dutch address you keep does not keep you inside it. **Do this:** Count how long you expect to be outside the Netherlands within a one-year period, decide on that basis whether the 8-month rule applies to you, and ask your municipality if your case sits near the line. **Documents needed:** - Your intended departure date - The country you are moving to - A realistic estimate of how long you will be outside the Netherlands within a year **Timing:** 15 minutes > **Common mistake:** Netherlands Worldwide states that you may get a fine if you were required to deregister and did not. Judging by whether the move feels permanent is the wrong test, because a non-permanent stay of more than 8 months in a year carries the same duty. **Source:** [Government.nl: When should I deregister from the Personal Records Database?](https://www.government.nl/faq/when-should-i-deregister-from-the-personal-records-database) Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/deregister-when-leaving-netherlands#step-1 ### 2. Deregister with your municipality in the final five days You deregister with the municipality you live in, and the window is narrow and fixed. Netherlands Worldwide states that you do this from 5 days before your departure until the day of departure at the latest, and that Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays count towards those 5 days. How it is done varies between municipalities, in writing or in person, so the municipality's own page is what tells you which. One case is settled nationally: you always have to deregister in person if not everyone registered at the address is moving with you. You report the country you are going to and, where you have it, the address you will be reachable at, and you can supply that address later if it is not known yet. Afterwards your record moves to the non-residents part of the BRP, the Registratie Niet-ingezetenen (RNI), and your BSN stays valid. **Do this:** Check your municipality's deregistration route now, book or prepare it for a date inside the five-day window, and ask for an international proof of deregistration at the same time. **Documents needed:** - Valid passport or identity card - The country you are moving to, and the foreign address if you have it - The names of everyone at the address, and who is staying behind **Timing:** The appointment is short, but it can only fall in the last five days before departure > **Common mistake:** Netherlands Worldwide states that you will only be given proof of deregistration if the date you deregister is the same as the date you are emigrating, so a mismatched date can cost you the one document a foreign authority is most likely to ask for. **Source:** [Netherlands Worldwide: How do I deregister when I go abroad?](https://www.netherlandsworldwide.nl/personal-records-database-brp/how-deregister-brp) Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/deregister-when-leaving-netherlands#step-2 ### 3. Close the residence-permit loop if it applies to you Most departing permit holders have less to do here than they expect. The IND states that you do not have to end your residence permit yourself, and that the local council deregisters you from the BRP and lets the IND know. Whether anything else is owed depends on who you are. If you have EU, EEA or Swiss nationality you do not have to notify the IND of your departure. If you hold a Dutch residence permit, there are two situations in which you must notify it separately: you are leaving voluntarily on an asylum residence permit, which has its own declaration, or you did not tell your local council about your departure within 4 weeks of leaving. One duty does apply to every document holder. A Dutch residence document is the property of the Dutch government, so it has to go back to the IND, invalidated first by cutting a corner off or making a hole in it, either by post or handed in at an IND desk by appointment. **Do this:** Work out whether your nationality puts you outside the IND notification duty altogether, notify the IND only if one of its two named situations applies to you, and return any Dutch residence document you hold. **Documents needed:** - Your residence document or card, if you hold one - Your nationality, which decides whether the notification duty applies at all - The date you told your local council you were leaving **Timing:** 30 minutes, plus the post > **Common mistake:** The IND states that leaving on time means leaving before your residence permit expires, and that the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee can impose a return decision, and an entry ban, on someone who does not. Do not read the absence of a notification duty as permission to overstay the permit. **Source:** [IND: Leaving the Netherlands](https://ind.nl/en/end-of-your-stay-in-the-netherlands/leaving-the-netherlands) Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/deregister-when-leaving-netherlands#step-3 ### 4. Make sure you can still reach Dutch government services from abroad A DigiD you already have keeps working after you move: DigiD states that plainly. What is easier to arrange here than from abroad is everything around it. Before you go, check that the DigiD app is activated and that SMS verification sits on a phone number you will keep. If your DigiD app offers the ID check and you hold a Dutch passport, identity card or driving licence, add it before departure if that is practical: DigiD states that the ID check cannot be done with a foreign identity document, a residence document or a foreign national identity document, and that it needs a phone with an NFC reader. Where the ID check does not apply to you, DigiD gives an SMS code as the alternative activation route. You can still apply for a DigiD once you live abroad, and activation then can run through a DigiD service desk or a video appointment with Netherlands Worldwide, with a separate route through the SVB for people drawing AOW. Arranging access before you leave removes steps rather than being the only way in. This is the login the tax return, the allowances and a pension fund all sit behind. **Do this:** Before you leave, activate the DigiD app and switch SMS verification on for a phone number you will keep, and add the ID check as well if you hold a Dutch passport, identity card or driving licence and your phone reads its chip. **Documents needed:** - Your existing DigiD username and password - A phone number that will still receive messages from the Netherlands after you move - For the ID check only, a Dutch passport, identity card or driving licence, and a phone with an NFC reader **Timing:** 30 minutes, and best done well before departure > **Common mistake:** A Dutch mobile number you give up at the border takes the SMS route with it. Use a number you will still be able to receive messages on, and check it works before you travel rather than after. **Source:** [DigiD: I live in the Caribbean Netherlands or abroad](https://www.digid.nl/en/apply-and-activate/i-live-caribbean-netherlands-or-abroad) Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/deregister-when-leaving-netherlands#step-4 ### 5. Recheck health insurance, allowances and benefits before stopping them This is a decision step, not a cancellation step. Netherlands Worldwide states that your exact situation determines how you arrange healthcare coverage outside the Netherlands, and publishes a check that works it out from where you will live, work, study and what you receive. There is no single instruction that fits everyone. If you receive a Dutch pension or benefit and are moving abroad, the CAK states that you arrange your health insurance through it when you meet its conditions, and it publishes its own check for that question, so treat the CAK as a route to test rather than one you are automatically on. Allowances split the same way. Dienst Toeslagen states that huurtoeslag cannot continue once you live abroad and should be stopped in Mijn toeslagen, that zorgtoeslag and kinderopvangtoeslag can sometimes continue, and that kindgebonden budget abroad depends on still being entitled to child benefit from the SVB. Where that entitlement has gone, Dienst Toeslagen says to stop the kindgebonden budget by telephoning the BelastingTelefoon, because that payment is the one you cannot stop in Mijn toeslagen. If you draw a Dutch benefit or pension, Rijksoverheid says to report the move to the UWV or the SVB, and that a benefit cannot be taken abroad in every case. **Do this:** Run the official health-insurance check for your own situation, ask your insurer and, if a Dutch pension or benefit is involved, run the CAK's own check and ask the UWV or SVB, then stop or change only what the answers actually end. **Documents needed:** - Your policy number and your insurer's contact details - A list of the allowances you currently receive - The reference for any Dutch benefit or pension you are paid **Timing:** 1 to 2 hours spread over several enquiries > **Common mistake:** Dienst Toeslagen says to stop an allowance in time so that you do not have to repay it later. The symmetrical risk is as real: stopping an allowance you were still entitled to, or cancelling cover you still needed, is harder to undo from abroad than it was to check beforehand. **Source:** [Netherlands Worldwide: Health insurance outside the Netherlands](https://www.netherlandsworldwide.nl/health-insurance-abroad) Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/deregister-when-leaving-netherlands#step-5 ### 6. Close the home, utilities and private accounts deliberately Private arrangements run on their own terms, not on the fact that you are emigrating. ACM ConsuWijzer states that when you emigrate you terminate your energy contract and give the supplier your new contact details for the final bill, that you should tell the supplier at the latest 2 weeks before you move, and that a separate gas and electricity supplier means contacting both. The final bill needs your final meter readings: a smart meter sends them itself, and otherwise you write them down on the day, photograph them as evidence and pass them on within 5 days, or the supplier estimates your usage instead. ACM is equally clear about what emigrating does not do. An early-termination fee on a fixed-term energy contract still applies when you terminate because you are emigrating, so ask your supplier to calculate it first. Treat water, internet, mobile, insurance, a gym and any other subscription the same way: follow the provider's own moving-abroad process and read what the contract says about notice. For the home itself, agree the handover date, photograph the condition, record the meters, hand over the keys, leave a forwarding address and keep everything in writing. **Do this:** Work through the home and every recurring contract one by one, following each provider's moving-abroad process, and keep the final readings, photographs and confirmations together. **Documents needed:** - Your tenancy or mortgage paperwork and the agreed handover date - Account and contract numbers for energy, water, internet and any other subscription - A forwarding address and a contact route that will still work after you move **Cost:** An early-termination fee can apply to a fixed-term contract. ACM ConsuWijzer states that this is also the case when the reason for terminating is that you are emigrating, and that the supplier must explain its calculation to you. **Timing:** A few hours across several providers, started weeks before the move > **Common mistake:** There is no Dutch rule that your bank account has to be closed when you leave. Give the bank your foreign address and whatever tax-residency details it asks for, ask whether it keeps customers resident in your destination country, and close the account only if the bank requires it or you want to. **Source:** [ACM ConsuWijzer: Energiecontract bij verhuizen](https://consument.acm.nl/elektriciteit-en-gas/overstappen-vergelijken-en-verhuizen/energiecontract-bij-verhuizen) Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/deregister-when-leaving-netherlands#step-6 ### 7. Finish the Dutch tax and records follow-through after departure Leaving does not end your Dutch tax history, it splits the year. The Belastingdienst states that you can file online for the year of emigration or immigration, through Mijn Belastingdienst, choosing the income-tax return for taxpayers who live outside the Netherlands for part of the year, or on the paper M form instead. Online filing is a real route, so the paper form is an alternative rather than the only way in. The page does not publish a single deadline for it, so work from the notice the Belastingdienst sends you for that year and ask the Belastingdienst if you do not have one. If Dutch income continues after you leave, for example from a property or an employer here, check the current rules for non-resident taxpayers rather than assuming your Dutch tax obligations stopped at the border. Then keep the record straight: Netherlands Worldwide states that it matters that your details with the Dutch government stay correct so that they can reach you about tax or benefits, and that a later change of foreign address is updated in the Non-residents Records Database. **Do this:** File the income-tax return for the year you left when its filing round opens, keep your RNI address current whenever you move again, and store the deregistration proof and final paperwork somewhere you can reach from abroad. **Documents needed:** - Working DigiD, for Mijn Belastingdienst and Mijn toeslagen - Your BSN and the Belastingdienst notice for the year you left - Proof of deregistration, final invoices and the handover record **Timing:** The return comes in the filing round for the year you left, so months after the move > **Common mistake:** A foreign address that has gone stale in the RNI is how people miss a Dutch tax letter or an allowance decision they still had a stake in. Updating it is your job, not something a later move abroad does for you. **Source:** [Belastingdienst: Aangifte doen over het jaar van emigratie of immigratie](https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/nl/buitenland/content/deels-niet-in-nederland-wonen-m-aangifte-doen) Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/deregister-when-leaving-netherlands#step-7 ## Costs - Neither Government.nl nor Netherlands Worldwide names a charge for deregistering, and neither publishes one for it. Ask your own municipality what it charges, if anything, rather than taking a figure from anywhere else. - An international proof of deregistration, and an international extract from the Non-residents Records Database, are documents a municipality issues. Ask the municipality what it charges for the one you need and take the amount from its own page. - Returning a residence document to the IND costs the postage. The IND gives a postal address and also allows you to hand the card in at a desk by appointment. - Ending a fixed-term energy contract early can carry a termination fee. ACM ConsuWijzer states that the fee applies on a fixed-term contract whose term has not yet run out, and that this is also the case when you terminate because you are emigrating. Ask your supplier to calculate your expected fee before you commit to a date. ## Timing Three things run on clocks that are not yours. Municipal deregistration can only be done from five days before departure until the day of departure, so it cannot be brought forward. DigiD changes are easier to make while you still live here, and the app's ID check in particular cannot be done with a foreign identity document. The migration-year income-tax return comes later, in the filing round for the year you left. Everything else, from utilities to the bank, is ordinary admin that gets harder once you no longer have a Dutch address. ## Common mistakes - Treating the move abroad itself as the trigger for deregistration. The rule is about time outside the Netherlands, more than 8 months within a 1-year period, not about intent, and it catches long non-permanent stays that people do not think of as emigration at all. - Trying to deregister weeks early. The window opens 5 days before departure and not earlier, and weekends and public holidays are inside those 5 days, so a date outside that window is not one you can deregister on, and a slot left until the last moment may not be available. - Cancelling Dutch health insurance as a matter of course. Whether you stay covered in the Netherlands depends on your own situation after the move, and Netherlands Worldwide publishes a check for working that out. Cancelling first and establishing the position afterwards is the wrong order. - Assuming every Dutch allowance and benefit ends automatically. Dienst Toeslagen rules out huurtoeslag for a home abroad, but states that zorgtoeslag and kinderopvangtoeslag can sometimes continue, and that kindgebonden budget depends on still being entitled to child benefit from the SVB. Stopping an allowance you were still entitled to, or keeping one you were not, both cost you. - Assuming an IND action applies to you. The IND states that you do not end your residence permit yourself, and that EU, EEA and Swiss nationals do not have to notify it of departure at all. The separate notification duty is narrow, and a permit holder who deregisters on time usually has nothing to file. - Leaving the DigiD app and SMS verification until after the move. You can still get a DigiD from abroad, but activation there can run through a service desk or a video appointment, and the app's ID check cannot be done with a foreign identity document at all. A login arranged here is the thing that makes the tax return, the allowances and the pension fund reachable later. - Letting the foreign address go stale. The address in the Non-residents Records Database is how Dutch bodies reach you about tax and benefits after you have gone, and it is on you to update it when you move again. ## Next steps - Put the proof of deregistration, the final meter readings and photographs, the handover record, the final invoices and the confirmation of anything you stopped into one place you can still reach from abroad. - Register as a resident with the authority in the place you have moved to. Netherlands Worldwide states that you cannot register with the Dutch embassy, so it is the local municipality or its equivalent that registers you. - File the income-tax return for the year you left when the filing round for that year opens, and keep DigiD working so you can. - If you are a Dutch national, register as a voter outside the Netherlands if you want to vote in Dutch elections, which is arranged through the Municipality of The Hague. - If you may return later, read what returning involves before you go, because some of it has waiting times and some of it is easier to prepare while you are still here. ## Related guides - [change-address-after-moving](https://howtoin.nl/change-address-after-moving) - [get-a-digid](https://howtoin.nl/get-a-digid) - [file-your-tax-return](https://howtoin.nl/file-your-tax-return) ## Official sources - [Government.nl: When should I deregister from the Personal Records Database?](https://www.government.nl/faq/when-should-i-deregister-from-the-personal-records-database) - [Netherlands Worldwide: When do I have to deregister from a Dutch municipality?](https://www.netherlandsworldwide.nl/personal-records-database-brp/when-deregister) - [Netherlands Worldwide: How do I deregister when I go abroad, and what it is passed on to](https://www.netherlandsworldwide.nl/personal-records-database-brp/how-deregister-brp) - [Netherlands Worldwide: Checklist moving abroad](https://www.netherlandsworldwide.nl/moving-abroad) - [Rijksoverheid: Wat moet ik regelen als ik ga emigreren?](https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/vraag-en-antwoord/uitkering-meenemen-naar-buitenland/wat-regelen-als-ik-ga-emigreren) - [IND: Leaving the Netherlands, and returning your residence document](https://ind.nl/en/end-of-your-stay-in-the-netherlands/leaving-the-netherlands) - [DigiD: I live in the Caribbean Netherlands or abroad](https://www.digid.nl/en/apply-and-activate/i-live-caribbean-netherlands-or-abroad) - [Netherlands Worldwide: Health insurance outside the Netherlands, and the official check](https://www.netherlandsworldwide.nl/health-insurance-abroad) - [The CAK: Zorgverzekering en buitenland, for a Dutch pension or benefit](https://www.hetcak.nl/zorgverzekering-buitenland/) - [Dienst Toeslagen: Ik verhuis naar het buitenland. Wat geef ik door voor mijn toeslagen?](https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/bldcontentnl/belastingdienst/prive/toeslagen/wijzigingen_doorgeven/welke_wijzigingen_moet_ik_doorgeven/wonen/ik_verhuis_naar_het_buitenland/ik_verhuis_naar_het_buitenland) - [Belastingdienst: Aangifte doen over het jaar van emigratie of immigratie](https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/nl/buitenland/content/deels-niet-in-nederland-wonen-m-aangifte-doen) - [ACM ConsuWijzer: Energiecontract bij verhuizen, including emigration](https://consument.acm.nl/elektriciteit-en-gas/overstappen-vergelijken-en-verhuizen/energiecontract-bij-verhuizen) ## About this document This is a machine-readable rendering of https://howtoin.nl/deregister-when-leaving-netherlands. Published by How to in NL, part of Flux Forward (https://fluxforward.world). Last reviewed against its official sources on 2026-10-04. Canonical JSON: https://howtoin.nl/content/guides/deregister-when-leaving-netherlands.json General guidance only. Rules can change and may depend on your situation; verify important steps with the official source before acting.