What the big banks offer
Each of the big three Dutch banks has an account in the child's name that a parent opens and manages, and each asks the parent to be a customer of that bank first.
- ING Kinderrekening: a current account for children aged 0 to 11, with an Oranje Spaarrekening (savings account) included. At 12 it becomes a free Jongerenrekening, for ages 12 to 17, which also comes with an Oranje Spaarrekening; at 18 it becomes a student account. ING asks for the child's date of birth and BSN (ING Kinderrekening, ING Jongerenrekening, checked 5 Oct 2026).
- ABN AMRO KinderToekomst Spaarrekening (KidsFuture Savings Account): a savings account in the child's name from birth, which you manage until the child turns 18. The legal representative opens it, needs the child's BSN, and needs an ABN AMRO current account of their own (ABN AMRO, checked 5 Oct 2026).
- Rabo KindSparen: "Ieder bedrag dat je stort is een schenking aan je kind en komt op naam van je kind" (every amount you deposit is a gift to your child and is in your child's name). On the 18th birthday it becomes a regular Rabo SpaarRekening. To open it online, one of the child's legal representatives must be a Rabobank customer with a Rabobank payment package (Rabobank, checked 5 Oct 2026).
The rates on children's accounts change like any other savings rate, so we do not quote them here; check each bank's page, and compare them with the standard savings rates this month.
Box 3: your child's savings count with yours
While your child is under 18 on 1 January, a parent with parental authority declares the child's savings in their own tax return. If both parents have authority and are fiscal partners, they declare the total together; if they are not fiscal partners, each declares half (Belastingdienst, checked 5 Oct 2026).
So a child's account does not get its own tax-free allowance before 18: it is added to your box 3 assets, with your allowance of €59,357 per person in 2026 (Belastingdienst, checked 5 Oct 2026). See the box 3 guide for how the tax is worked out.
How much you can give tax-free
Paying into an account in your child's name is a gift to your child, as Rabobank's terms above say. In 2026 parents can give each child €6,908 a year free of gift tax. Both parents together count as one giver, also after a divorce (Belastingdienst, checked 5 Oct 2026).
Once, when the child is between 18 and 40, the exemption can be higher instead: in 2026, €33,129 to spend freely, or €69,009 for an expensive study. That replaces the yearly exemption for that year, and the child has to file a gift tax return to use it. The higher one-off exemption for buying a home no longer exists since 1 January 2024 (same source).
Keeping it safe
The deposit guarantee applies per person per bank, and the account holder of a child's account is your child, so it has its own €100,000 at that bank. See how the deposit guarantee works.