Deregister first, then tell your bank
If you will live abroad for more than 8 months within a year, you deregister from the Personal Records Database (BRP), in person, no earlier than 5 days before you leave. Your details then move to the register of non-residents, the RNI (government.nl, checked 5 Oct 2026). Your bank needs your new address, and what it does next depends on the bank and the country you move to.
What the banks do with customers abroad
- ING charges a "Buitenlandtoeslag Betaalrekening" (foreign surcharge on the current account) of €2.00 a month if at least one account holder lives outside the Netherlands; children's, youth and student accounts are exempt (ING, checked 5 Oct 2026).
- ABN AMRO says that if you keep your account while living abroad you pay an extra fee, which depends on the risk category of your new country: €2, €8 or €15 a month per current account (ABN AMRO tariffs, checked 5 Oct 2026). If you go abroad for work for less than three years, a "Temporary stay outside the Netherlands" statement can let you keep your products without the surcharge. If you move abroad for good and can no longer keep a product, ABN AMRO says it will tell you, and you "may be able to keep using your savings accounts" (ABN AMRO, non-residents, checked 5 Oct 2026).
- Rabobank: inside the EEA you may keep your current account, savings, investments, credit card and mortgage and keep using them as before. Outside the EEA you can keep the current account, savings account, credit card and a mortgage on a Dutch home, but must close investment products yourself. A loan or an overdraft facility cannot be kept anywhere abroad, and you cannot open new products from abroad. Special rules apply in the UK, the US and Australia. Rabobank has charged a foreign surcharge on the current account since 1 September 2022 (Rabobank, checked 5 Oct 2026).
- bunq: "If you're moving to a country outside of the EEA, we'll need to close your bunq account", and you need to give an EEA IBAN in your name for the balance (bunq help, checked 5 Oct 2026).
Check your own bank's page before you go: the rules depend on the country, and the surcharges above can change.
Closing an account
The Dutch account-switching service, the Overstapservice, only works between Dutch banks: "Buitenlandse banken doen niet mee met de Nederlandse Overstapservice" (foreign banks do not take part). If you move your money to a bank abroad, you tell your employer, the tax office and everyone who pays you or collects from you about the new IBAN yourself (Overstapservice, checked 5 Oct 2026).
Keeping one Dutch account open for a while can be useful for final payments, such as a last salary, a rental deposit coming back or a tax refund. Weigh that against the monthly surcharge.
Tax on your savings after you leave
The year you leave, you file one return for the part of the year you lived here, online or on the paper M form (Belastingdienst, M form, checked 5 Oct 2026).
After that, box 3 only reaches Dutch property. The Belastingdienst's page for people living abroad lists "onroerend goed in Nederland" (real estate in the Netherlands) and rights relating to it as taxed, and says: "Uw Nederlandse bankrekening ... belasten wij niet" (we do not tax your Dutch bank account) (Belastingdienst, checked 5 Oct 2026). Your new country may tax it instead; that depends on its rules.
Credit cards and BKR
Dutch credit cards collect their monthly bill by direct debit from your current account, so settle or move the card before you close that account. Rabobank lets you keep its credit card abroad except in the UK (Rabobank); for other issuers, check their terms. BKR keeps a finished credit agreement visible for 5 years after it is repaid (BKR, checked 5 Oct 2026), which matters if you ever come back and apply for a mortgage.
Savings you leave behind are still protected
The deposit guarantee follows the bank, not where you live: savings at a Dutch bank stay covered by the Dutch scheme up to €100,000 per person per bank after you move. See how the deposit guarantee works, and the accounts with a full guarantee.