Leaving your country

Unlimited tax liability ends when you give up your German residence, which happens through the address deregistration in the next item — there is no separate Finanzamt deregistration form to file. Submit a final partial-year return for the year you leave and keep written confirmation of your departure date for Croatia DTA purposes. Your local Finanzamt handles the return; the BZSt is the federal authority for cross-border tax questions.

§17(2) BMG gives you two weeks after moving out, and only if you are not taking another address inside Germany. You cannot go early to get it over with: the earliest a Bürgeramt may deregister you is one week before your move-out date. Get the Abmeldebestätigung — landlords and banks often require it.

Ask for a Versicherungsverlauf — the list of every period on your pension account — and close any gaps with a Kontenklärung while German paperwork is still easy to chase. A Rentenauskunft is a different document, the detailed projection sent from age 55, so most people leaving will not have one. Do not plan on cashing out: a refund under §210 SGB VI requires both that you are no longer compulsorily insured and that you have no right to insure voluntarily, which rules it out for EU/EEA citizens living in the EU and for anyone lawfully resident in another member state, and 60 months of contributions earns you a pension instead. German and Croatian periods are added together under EU Regulation 883/2004 — the double taxation treaty is a separate instrument that only decides which country taxes the pension.

Do not simply cancel from your departure date. Inside the EU you are covered by one country's system at a time, and which one follows your residence and economic status rather than your nationality, so German statutory cover gives way once you are insured through HZZO. Notify your Krankenkasse in writing with your departure date and your Abmeldebestätigung, and keep the confirmation — it is what proves when German cover ended if HZZO questions a gap. If you draw a German pension and have no Croatian income, ask for an S1 instead of cancelling: that keeps Germany paying for the cover you use in Croatia.

Keep the account open until your Croatian salary and every direct debit have fully migrated — closing early strands standing orders you have forgotten about. Whether a German bank keeps you as a non-resident customer varies, so get your bank's position in writing; BaFin is the supervisor to escalate to if an account is closed without proper notice.

Form P85 tells HMRC you have left and reclaims overpaid tax, which stops incorrect PAYE deductions. Skip it if you are filing a Self Assessment return for the tax year you leave — contractors and company directors usually are, and HMRC does not want both. If you have not left yet, P85 has to go by post; the online service only accepts filings from people already abroad.

You need 10 qualifying years for any new State Pension and 35 for the full rate — more than 35 if your record started before April 2016. Class 2 voluntary contributions for periods abroad were abolished on 6 April 2026: for 2026-27 onward only Class 3 is available, and a new application needs 10 continuous years of UK residence or 10 qualifying years on your record. If you were already paying Class 2 abroad, you can move to Class 3 without meeting that test.

Update your correspondence address before you go, not after. Policy on non-resident customers differs sharply between banks and some will close the account outright, so ask yours for its position in writing rather than assuming; the FCA is the regulator to escalate to.

GOV.UK is explicit: contact your local council when you move abroad and give them a forwarding address. Councils bill locally, so do it in writing with your last day of UK residence — overpayments are refunded, underpayments become a debt that follows you.

US citizens must file FBAR annually regardless of residence. Non-willful failure carries an inflation-adjusted penalty (five figures per unfiled report). Note: the US–Croatia tax treaty signed in 2022 is not yet in force — and no treaty exempts FBAR anyway.

Some US states (CA, NY, NJ) aggressively assert residency even after physical departure. Follow your state's domicile change procedure and keep documentation.

File Form 8822 to update your address with IRS. Your SSN remains valid and is required for annual tax filings and FBAR.

USPS forwarding is built for US destinations, and for a move abroad you must file the change of address in person at a Post Office before you leave. Forwarding also runs 12 months (18 paid) and skips marketing mail. For IRS notices and state tax correspondence that keep coming for years, a US virtual mailbox is the standard answer.

Deregistration is mandatory once you will be abroad more than 8 months in any 12, continuous or not. You must go in person, and no earlier than 5 days before you leave — this is a last-week errand, not something to get done in advance. You receive a BRP emigration confirmation — keep it for the Dutch tax authority and bank; the BRP also notifies the tax office and pension funds for you.

Tax residency in the Netherlands ends on the emigration date. File an M-form (partial-year return) for the year you leave. The Belastingdienst will send you one automatically.

Your AOW pension accrues 2% per year of Dutch residency during the 50 years before your AOW age. Contact SVB to verify your accrual record and understand how Croatian residence affects future payments.

Notify Belastingdienst Toeslagen immediately — continuing to receive zorgtoeslag after emigrating constitutes fraud and must be repaid.

Submit a request to cancel your tax residency certificate. Serbia uses a 183-day rule plus center-of-life test. Keep documentation to prove Croatian residency started.

Notify MUP of your permanent departure. You can hold a Serbian passport without Serbian tax residency — these are separate registrations.

Get your pension contribution record from the PIO Fund before leaving. A Serbia-Croatia social security agreement is in force — contributions may count toward Croatian entitlements.

Once HZZO cover starts in Croatia, notify RFZO in writing so contribution obligations stop accruing. RFZO documents enrolment far better than exit and its website is frequently unreachable, so ask your branch for the termination procedure directly rather than expecting to find it online. The Serbia–Croatia social security agreement, which decides which fund covers you, is administered by the Social Insurance Institute (ZSO).