Budgeting App for Expats in the Netherlands

The Netherlands has used the euro since 1 January 1999¹. When you register in the Personal Records Database (BRP), you're automatically given a citizen service number (BSN), which you use for government services and which health insurers have to use². A Dutch euro account for rent, salary and bills, next to your accounts at home, keeps each currency where it's spent.

Borderless Budget connects to major Dutch banks including ING, ABN AMRO, Rabobank, and bunq through secure bank connections, and your accounts in the US, Canada, the EU, the UK, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein connect too.

Major banks for expats

• ING
• ABN AMRO
• Rabobank
• bunq

Cash vs. card culture

Cash is a minority at Dutch tills: 17% of payments in 2025, while cards covered 83% and phones or smartwatches 39% of checkout payments³. Plan around paying by card or phone, and keep a little cash for the exceptions.

Amsterdam rents sit well above the other big Dutch cities: €25.70 per square metre, against €22.49 in Utrecht, €20.82 in The Hague, €19.67 in Rotterdam and €16.64 in Eindhoven⁴.

The ECB publishes euro reference rates at around 16:00 CET every working day, for information only, and strongly discourages using them for transactions⁹. The rate your bank or transfer service gives you will differ, so track what you actually received. If you earn in dollars or pounds, the same euro rent costs a different amount every month.

Transferring money to the Netherlands

• Your bank must charge the same for a euro transfer to another EU country as for an equivalent domestic one¹⁰.
• A company or agency that accepts SEPA transfers or direct debits from Dutch accounts may not refuse yours because it's held in another EU country¹⁰. You can pay Dutch bills from a euro account elsewhere in the EU while you set up locally.
• Dollars, pounds and other non-euro income still has to be converted. Compare the rate you're offered with the day's ECB reference rate before each transfer.
• Convert a month of euro spending at a time rather than bill by bill, so rent never depends on that day's rate.

Borderless Budget tracks all of your accounts, your home-country bank, your Dutch bank, and services like Wise or Revolut, in a single dashboard. Exchange rates update daily, so your budget always reflects where things actually stand.

• Box 1 (income from work and home) rates for 2026, below state pension age, are 35.75% up to €38,883, 37.56% up to €78,426 and 49.50% above that¹¹.
• Savings and investments are taxed in Box 3 on a deemed return. For 2026 the tax-free amount is €59,357 (€118,714 with a tax partner), the provisional deemed returns are 1.28% on bank balances and 6.00% on other assets, and the tax on that return is 36%¹¹.
• A Dutch return covers worldwide income, Dutch and foreign together. Double tax relief can mean no Dutch tax on foreign income that a tax treaty lets the other country tax¹².
• Under the Expat Scheme (30% facility), an employer may pay up to 30% of salary untaxed, under a decision lasting up to 5 years. In 2026 the salary threshold is €48,013, or €36,497 if you're under 30 with a master's degree¹³. From 2027 the maximum falls to 27% for schemes that started after 1 January 2024¹⁴.
• The US taxes its citizens on worldwide income wherever they live¹⁵.

1. Budget your Dutch life in euros. Rent, groceries, insurance and transport are all in EUR, and converting each one in your head adds noise, not clarity.
2. Keep the €385 compulsory deductible for 2026 in your healthcare line⁸, so a hospital visit or prescription doesn't land as a surprise.
3. Plan energy as its own line. Nibud's June 2026 averages are €114 a month for gas in a flat and €29.50 for electricity in a one-person household, and its January 2026 calculation puts water at €17.70 a month for one person¹⁶.
4. Free-sector rents rose 9.4% in the year to Q2 2026⁴. Leave room for a rent increase when your lease comes up.
5. If your employer pays part of your salary untaxed under the Expat Scheme¹³, budget from the net pay on your payslip, not the gross.
6. Keep your home-country bills, like subscriptions, loans and phone plans, in their own currency so you can see what the Netherlands actually costs you.

Connect your Dutch and home-country banks

Link your ING, ABN AMRO, Rabobank, or other Dutch bank alongside your home-country bank. Transactions from all accounts sync automatically into one dashboard.

Budget in EUR and your home currency

Your budget is set in your home currency, and Borderless Budget automatically converts every transaction, whether it's in euro or your home currency. You can toggle any transaction to see the original currency amount. Exchange rates update daily, so your budget always reflects reality.

Automatic categorization

Transactions from Dutch merchants are automatically categorized. Categorization improves as you use the app, learning your patterns across both currencies, so you spend less time sorting transactions and more time living your life in the Netherlands.

See the impact of exchange rates

When exchange rates shift, your combined budget view updates automatically. You'll see exactly how currency movements affect your overall spending, no surprises, no guesswork.