Netherlands

A pension fund is, by statute, a foundation (stichting) in which money is brought together and managed for at least two members, former members or their survivors, to carry out a base pension plan.¹ It can be attached to one company or group (ondernemingspensioenfonds),² serve one or more sectors (bedrijfstakpensioenfonds),³ or run plans with a separate fund for each group (algemeen pensioenfonds).⁴ ABP is the industry-wide fund for government and education, under its own act.⁵ A plan placed with a premium pension institution or an insurer has its own block below. An employer can also place a plan with a licensed institution from another EU state or a foreign insurer allowed to do business in the Netherlands;⁶ this guide doesn't analyze those, so read the block closest to what the provider is.

The employer must place its pension agreement with a pension provider under a written agreement,^6,7 and it pays the provider the premium,⁸ together with any employee share withheld from pay.⁹ The employee is bound by the pension agreement to take part in the base plan,¹⁰ and the Minister can make a sector's fund compulsory at the request of the sector's organised business.¹¹

The Pension Act was updated in 2023, and the government's business portal says employers and employees must adjust their pension scheme before 2028.¹² The act's two new premium agreements differ in whether the premium is invested collectively or individually,^13,14 and a fund can convert existing claims by a collective transfer inside the fund.¹⁵ On our reading the fund still holds the money, none goes out, and nobody elects it, so the four answers stay the same, though no IRS guidance addresses it and IRS officials spoke of transfers within a plan too.¹⁶ Personal accounts do change two things: once the premium is a known figure the actuarial count ends,¹⁷ and with an account of your own the doubt whether income is held for you under §677 weakens.¹⁸

Not settled: a foundation with no members, yet you hold a claim on a body with a board. Cautious: a foreign trust.

Not settled, and no IRS guidance names a Dutch pension fund. Federal law, not the Dutch label, decides.¹⁹ The argument that it is a trust: an arrangement's nature, purpose and operations matter most, and its legal form is evidence but not decisive, as the Fifth Circuit said of a Liechtenstein Stiftung.^20,21,22 IRS Chief Counsel advice on Liechtenstein entities, which is not precedent, says Stiftungs will generally be trusts unless created primarily for commercial purposes.²³ A Dutch foundation likewise has no members and holds property put aside for a stated object,²⁴ and a pension fund's assets must be invested in the interest of those entitled.²⁵ A private ruling held a foreign pension entity to be a trust although its regulator also supervised insurers, its benefits followed a formula, and its members could not assign their interests,^26,27 and a Dutch claim can't be assigned either.²⁸

The argument that it is not: you hold a claim against the provider, not a share of any asset or an interest under a trustee.^29,30 Rost's Stiftung was different on its facts: its documents called it a trust, and it had trustees.³¹ A Dutch fund must have a board,³² where the same advice says a Stiftung has none,³³ and a joint board seats employee, pensioner and employer representatives,³⁴ while a trust's beneficiaries are not meant to share in its responsibility.³⁵ The fund also serves the employer: its board looks to the employer's interests too,³⁶ and it can repay an employer on stated tests.³⁷ The competent authorities' agreement under the treaty speaks of trusts and companies alike in its headings,³⁸ but its lists name U.S. bodies as a "trust"³⁹ and Dutch ones as a "company" that is the beneficial owner of its income,^40,41 and "company" is a treaty term for a body corporate or an entity treated as one.⁴² That agreement decides who can claim a withholding exemption, not U.S. trust classification, and Treasury leaves what is a body corporate to Code section 7701.⁴³

As a comparison only, a U.S. union and employer fund must be "held in trust", with employees and employers "equally represented",⁴⁴ so a joint board does not by itself rule a trust out, and a participant in a U.S. defined benefit trust also holds a claim rather than a share. Neither says how the IRS would read a Dutch foundation.

With the question open and the penalty for a missing Form 3520-A large,⁴⁵ this guide takes the cautious course of reading a pension fund as a trust. Governed by Dutch law and run in the Netherlands, it would meet neither test for a domestic trust, so it would be foreign.^46,47 If it is not a trust, none of the answers above apply, since Forms 3520 and 3520-A report foreign trusts.⁴⁸

On the cautious reading, a §402(b) employees' trust; on Chief Counsel advice, compulsory shares count as the employer's.

No IRS ruling addresses Dutch pension funds, though the IRS has ruled privately that a foreign fund with mandatory employer contributions and personal accounts is a §402(b) trust.⁴⁹ On the cautious reading this is a §402(b) employees' trust: an employer pays in for its employees, and a trust created outside the United States cannot be exempt under U.S. §501(a).⁵⁰ §402(d) treats a foreign trust as exempt only if it would otherwise qualify,⁵¹ and on our reading nothing suggests this plan meets §401(a).

Employer contributions are U.S. income to you when paid, to the extent vested,^52,53 and the foreign earned income exclusion cannot cover them.⁵⁴ On our reading a Dutch claim is vested from the start: waiting periods for old-age pension are barred,⁵⁵ a claim is kept when membership ends,⁵⁶ and a fund's power to cut claims in a shortfall⁵⁷ is not a forfeiture condition, which needs a tie to future services or a purpose of the transfer.⁵⁸ Where the plan promises a defined benefit and the employer's contribution for you is not known, the regulations work it out by actuarial methods;¹⁷ under a premium agreement that count ends. You are not owner of the part employer money funds.⁵⁹ Article 19(10) can keep these contributions out of U.S. income for a U.S. citizen working there, as the treaty step says.

On Chief Counsel advice on Singapore's fund, which is not precedent, a compulsory share withheld from pay counts as an employer contribution.⁶⁰ The Dutch employer withholds that share and pays it over,⁹ for a plan you are bound to join,¹⁰ so on that advice such a share alone does not reach Part II, whatever its size. Money you choose to add is your own: top-ups in a voluntary plan,^61,62 voluntary continuation after you leave the job,⁶³ and net pension, which has its own block. If you pay a compulsory share yourself rather than having it withheld, that advice does not cover it, and the cautious course counts it as yours.

Once your own money exceeds your employer's, you are treated as owner of the part it funds, if the grantor trust rules are otherwise met.⁶⁴ §679 does not apply to a §402(b) trust,⁶⁵ so that means §677 or a similar section.¹⁸ In a pooled plan, where income may not be held for you alone, whether they are met is not settled, and this guide keeps the cautious course; a personal account under a premium agreement weakens that doubt. No contribution to a §402(b) trust is a Part I event, your own included.⁶⁶

Payouts from the employer's part are taxed under §72 when they are paid or made available to you,^67,68 and what was already taxed to you counts as your investment, while what Article 19(10) kept out does not.⁶⁹ If you are a highly compensated employee and one reason the plan is not exempt is that it fails the U.S. coverage tests, you include your vested balance, less what has already been taxed to you, in income each year instead.⁷⁰ A sector plan's wide Dutch cover does not settle that, because those tests leave out nonresident aliens with no U.S.-source earned income from the employer,⁷¹ so they may look only at the U.S. persons in the plan. An executive-only top-up is the clearer risk.

Open, plan by plan: the contribution limit isn't settled and unconverted plans differ. Proposed regulations add a value test.

Open, plan by plan. Rev. Proc. 2020-17 exempts an eligible individual (one who has filed U.S. returns and reported the plan's income as U.S. law requires)⁷² from Forms 3520 and 3520-A for a foreign trust that operates exclusively or almost exclusively for retirement benefits⁷³ and meets requirements established by the laws of its jurisdiction.⁷⁴ A Dutch pension plan must by statute have that aim exclusively or almost exclusively.⁷⁵ No IRS statement names a Dutch plan, and the exemption depends on the individual too.

Three conditions point the right way. It is tax-favored: a claim under a pension plan is not wages.^76,77 As for the fund itself, Dutch wage tax law speaks of a body exempt from corporation tax under article 5(1)(b), or a general pension fund, as a provider of a pension,⁷⁸ and that article reserves a power to exempt by order,⁷⁹ which we did not read, so check a general fund separately. Yearly reporting: providers must give the tax office the market value of a claim to periodic payments at the start of the year,^80,81,82 at a frequency the inspector sets,⁸³ though the inspector can release a provider,⁸⁴ which on our reading still leaves reporting provided or otherwise available. And payouts are restricted: surrender is barred outside listed cases,⁸⁵ such as a small pension under €632.63 a year (2026),⁸⁶ and surrender or a plan that no longer qualifies makes the claim wages⁸⁷ and costs 20% revision interest.^88,89 Contributions come from pensionable pay,^90,91 though voluntary continuation after a job ends is a doubt to check plan by plan.⁶³

The contribution limit is open.⁹² In a plan on the reform's rules, the premium for old-age and partner pension is capped at 30% of the pension base,⁹⁰ with pay above €137,800 not counted (2026),⁹³ a percentage of earned income in the very statute that defines a pension plan. But the plan is a pension plan only insofar as it stays within those limits,⁹⁴ so the cap decides what counts as pension rather than barring more being paid in. A plan not yet converted keeps the old articles, with no 30% test, under a rule that lapses on 1 January 2028,⁹⁵ and a plan under the transitional table in art. 38r has limits by age from 19% to 40%.⁹⁶

An employer plan must let a wide range of employees, rank and file included, take part,⁹⁷ actually provide significant benefits for a substantial majority of those eligible, and provide nondiscriminatory benefits.⁹⁸ On our reading a sector fund with compulsory participation points toward the first two,¹¹ the third turns on the plan, and a company fund turns on its plan for all three.

The proposed regulations, which you may rely on now if you apply them in full and consistently with related persons,⁹⁹ also want requirements established by law,¹⁰⁰ soften the earned income condition¹⁰¹ and let a value test stand in for a contribution limit. They test "the aggregate value of the trust(s) in the trust's jurisdiction", at or under US$600,000 at every point in the year (adjusted for inflation from 2026).¹⁰² On our reading that adds together all your trusts in the Netherlands, but a pooled fund read as one trust may fail on that wording, and the yearly pension statement doesn't give a defined benefit claim's value directly.¹⁰³ The employer condition stays.¹⁰⁴ Rev. Proc. 2020-17 protects a trust that receives a rollover from a trust that also qualifies, and no text says what happens otherwise,¹⁰⁵ as the bottom line below says.

Article 19(10) can relieve a U.S. citizen working there, though the agreement it needs isn't settled; Article 19(7) can defer.

Article 19(10), added by the 2004 Protocol, protects a U.S. citizen who lives in the Netherlands and works there for a Dutch employer or a permanent establishment there.¹⁰⁶ Contributions to an exempt pension trust from that work, yours and your employer's, and benefits accrued during it, stay out of U.S. income,^107,108 as far as they get Dutch tax relief and no further than a generally corresponding U.S. plan would allow,^109,110 and the saving clause spares it.^111,112 Article 19(10) needs an employment, so it does not cover self-employment, and it does not cover pay not borne by a Dutch employer or permanent establishment, or the years after you leave.

Whether a fund has what the article needs is not settled. It applies only where the U.S. competent authority has agreed that the trust generally corresponds to a U.S. one.¹¹³ The term covers what is treated as an exempt pension trust under Article 35,¹¹⁴ and the competent authorities list a body within article 5(1)(b) of the Dutch corporation tax act for that article,⁴⁰ though that agreement speaks only of Article 35.³⁸ The one bridge is Treasury's explanation of paragraph 10, which says "As noted above" that the two countries have agreed certain plans qualify,¹¹⁵ which implies that list is the agreement. But nothing we read says "generally corresponds" or names a Dutch plan, and a general pension fund, which Dutch wage tax law names apart from the exempt bodies,⁷⁸ is unconfirmed.

The limit depends on the plan. For a defined contribution plan the corresponding U.S. limit is §415(c)(1)(A), $72,000 for 2026, and for a defined benefit plan §415(b)(1)(A), a benefit of $290,000 a year for 2026.¹¹⁶ For the parallel paragraph 8, Treasury names the §402(g) limit on elective contributions, $24,500 for 2026, and §§415 and 404 for an employer's.^117,118 On Chief Counsel advice a compulsory share counts as the employer's,⁶⁰ which points to §415, but Treasury speaks of elective contributions and no guidance addresses a compulsory employee share, so which limit it falls under is not settled. Amounts relieved count when working out what your own U.S. plans and IRAs allow,¹¹⁹ and they give you no basis, so they are taxed when paid out.⁶⁹

For a U.S. resident in a Dutch fund, Article 19(7) taxes the fund's income only when it is paid to you "(and not transferred to another exempt pension trust in that other State)",¹²⁰ and the saving clause spares it too.^112,121 On our reading, for a §402(b) trust that defers the yearly income of the part you own, not the employer's contributions, which are your pay rather than the plan's income.⁵² A U.S. citizen living in the Netherlands is a resident of the Netherlands, so on our reading Article 19(7) doesn't reach them, nor do those words. Someone already in a Dutch plan who comes to work in the U.S. may get relief under Article 19(8) and (9), if contributions began before and the U.S. competent authority agrees.^122,123

Payouts: a private pension is taxable only in the country where you live,¹²⁴ though a lump sum to someone who lived in the other country in the prior five years may be taxed there too.¹²⁵ That rule is subject to the saving clause, so the U.S. still taxes its citizens and residents,^111,112 with a credit for Dutch income tax,^126,127 except tax paid in an Article 19(2) case: a lump sum taxed there is relieved by a deduction the Netherlands allows.¹²⁸ If a Dutch provider withholds wage tax on a periodic pension that Article 19(1) makes taxable only in the U.S., on our reading a U.S. credit for it isn't assured, so ask the Dutch tax office for relief. Article 20 can apply to a pension paid by the State or out of funds it created for services to it, but a U.S. citizen stays taxable by the U.S.,^129,130 and nothing we read says whether an ABP pension is out of such funds.

A green card holder who is also resident in the Netherlands under its law, and whom the tie-breaker in Article 4 treats as resident only in the Netherlands,^131,132 is not a U.S. resident for the treaty, so the saving clause does not reach them as a resident. Such a person can figure their U.S. tax as a nonresident, filing Form 1040-NR with Form 8833,¹³³ which may affect their green card,¹³⁴ but is still treated as a U.S. resident for other purposes,¹³⁵ so the cautious course is to keep filing Forms 3520 and 3520-A unless you rely on the proposed regulations, which treat you as not a U.S. person for that time.^136,99 For a long-term resident, starting to be treated as resident abroad under a treaty, without waiving its benefits, ends lawful permanent residence for tax purposes once the IRS is notified, and that is an expatriation.^137,138

Disclosing a treaty position on Form 8833 is waived for pensions and pay,¹³⁹ but the Article 19(7) deferral is not clearly within that waiver; the cautious reading is to disclose it unless the amounts are $10,000 or less in the year.¹⁴⁰ The IRS has said of Canadian plans that Forms 3520 and 3520-A still apply even where a treaty defers tax.¹⁴¹ This guide covers the part of the Kingdom in Europe, which is what the treaty covers.¹⁴²

Part II and Form 3520-A each year for the part your own money funds, once yours exceeds your employer's.

Read as a §402(b) trust: no Part I for any contribution.⁶⁶ No Part II or Form 3520-A for the employer-funded part, compulsory shares withheld from your pay included; once your own money, voluntary top-ups included, exceeds the employer's, Part II and Form 3520-A each year for the part it funds.^59,64,143 No Part III for payouts from the employer-funded part that you report as compensation income;^144,145 payouts from a part you own go on Part III, lines 24 and 27.¹⁴⁶ A payout traced to your own contributions that never exceeded the employer's is not settled, so the cautious course is Part III.^144,147 No Form 4970: payouts from a §402(b) trust are taxed under §72, not under the trust distribution rules, and the income of a part you own is taxed to you each year, or when paid out under the treaty.^{67,148,149,120} If the fund does not file Form 3520-A, you attach a substitute to your Form 3520.¹⁵⁰

A death benefit paid to a U.S. heir is a payout from a foreign trust, and since it is not settled whether an heir can report it as compensation income, the cautious course is to report it on Part III.^147,144 A division on divorce under the Dutch pension-splitting act is one of the exceptions to the ban on assignment;¹⁵¹ no IRS guidance addresses it, and this guide doesn't analyze it.

A move between plans (waardeoverdracht) uses the value of your claims for other claims at the same or another provider,¹⁵² and is possible only in the situations the act lists.¹⁵³ Whether a move between foreign plans is taxable is not settled. IRS officials told GAO both that the IRS "generally considers routine administrative transfers" between or within foreign plans "to be distributions to the participant and therefore taxable income",¹⁶ and that transfers "may be taxable", depending on your control and on "a substantial limitation or restriction", which a penalty tax on early withdrawal "could be".¹⁵⁴ GAO's own note 117 cites the regulation behind that view.¹⁵⁵ Dutch law has that kind of limit: surrender is barred outside listed cases,⁸⁵ and surrender makes the claim wages, plus 20% revision interest.^87,88 IRS officials also said money can become technically available "even though the individual takes no action to access the funds",¹⁵⁶ and that "there is no way that the plan can structure the transfer" to avoid a distribution.¹⁵⁷ None of this is guidance.

Between two funds or PPIs read as §402(b) trusts, where the money stays locked, a move is on our reading not a receipt under that test, though no IRS guidance accepts that and the officials' main statements point the other way, so on that reading nothing is paid out, so no form changes: no Part I and no Part III. No IRS guidance addresses it, and if the IRS reads it as a distribution a missed Part III can cost the greater of $10,000 or 35% of the amount, capped at the amount,^158,159 so the cautious course is to show the money going out on Part III unless you report it as compensation income.¹⁴⁴ The form does not fit money you do not own. It sends a No on line 30 to Schedule A,¹⁶⁰ whose default method treats the part of this year's distributions above 1.25 times the average of the three years before as an accumulation distribution, with Form 4970 tax and interest, and the rest as ordinary income.^161,162 Where the plan paid you nothing in those three years, that is the whole amount, unless it is the plan's first year as a foreign trust, when no accumulation distribution is figured.¹⁶³ The statute treats the whole amount as an accumulation distribution where adequate records are not given.¹⁶⁴ Our reading is that this does not fit a §402(b) trust, whose payouts are taxed under §72, not under the trust distribution rules,^67,148 so we would show the amount on lines 24 and 27,¹⁶⁵ leave lines 29 and 30 unmarked, which the IRS's processing manual says draws no edit,¹⁶⁶ and attach the plan's statement and an explanation. That is a position, not an instruction: the form's words point the other way, and leaving out the schedule can be argued to be an incomplete return. Have a preparer decide. This site's forms do not prepare it. A failed locked reading can also undo the exemption, which needs the income reported.⁷² No contribution to a §402(b) trust is a Part I event.⁶⁶ On the locked reading the money keeps its mix: count as your own the part the earlier plan's records show as yours, and the rest as the employer's.⁶⁴ A move you elect on changing jobs is the less clear case, because you chose it,¹⁶⁷ but the money still keeps its mix. A small pension's transfer by the provider¹⁶⁸ and a collective transfer¹⁶⁹ take the same rule. The reform's collective conversion stays inside the fund, as above.¹⁵ For a U.S. resident, Article 19(7) protects only the plan's income, on a move to another exempt pension trust,¹²⁰ which is not confirmed for a PPI and on our reading does not include an insurer. A U.S. citizen living in the Netherlands has no such words.

Into a lijfrente in securities, read on the cautious course as a foreign trust you own: Part I for the money going in,⁴⁸ and Part III for the money going out unless you report it as compensation income, as a protective Part III, on lines 24 and 27 for a part you owned.^146,144 That holds only where both ends are read as trusts: one bank's terms take money from a bank, insurer or investment institution,¹⁷⁰ and where one end is a contract or a deposit, only the end read as a trust reports. Income tax is the harder part. Reading the move as a payout means U.S. tax that year on the amount above your basis, and for a citizen relieved by Article 19(10), no basis at all;^67,69 reading it as locked means none now. That is not settled, the forms don't decide it, so keep the records. Rev. Proc. 2020-17 protects a receiving trust where the sending trust also qualifies,¹⁰⁵ and no guidance says what happens otherwise, including for money from an insurer's contract.

If a pension fund is not a trust, none of these apply, since Forms 3520 and 3520-A report foreign trusts.⁴⁸ Either way, an eligible individual whose plan qualifies under Rev. Proc. 2020-17 or the proposed regulations files none of them.^73,99 FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^171,172

A premium pension institution is an undertaking set up to run premium plans under which it bears no underwriting risk,¹⁷³ and an employer can place with it only a premium agreement of that kind.¹⁷⁴ It can be an N.V., a B.V., a foundation or a European company.¹⁷⁵ The employer pays the provider, with any employee share withheld from pay, as for a pension fund.⁹ A flexible plan invests the premium individually.¹⁴ The member holds a claim on the PPI.¹⁷⁶

Not settled: it can be a company, but it bears no insurance risk and its assets are ring-fenced. Cautious: a foreign trust.

Not settled, and no IRS guidance names a PPI. The argument that it is a trust: an arrangement's nature, purpose and operations matter most, and its legal form is evidence but not decisive, as the Fifth Circuit said of a Liechtenstein Stiftung,^21,22 and the IRS has ruled privately that a foreign pension entity is a trust.²⁶ The statute makes the pension assets a separate fund,¹⁷⁷ and where the investment policy brings a real risk of shortfall, the PPI must pass ownership "for the benefit of" members to an independent custodian whose only statutory object is to own them.^178,179 That is the nearest thing in Dutch pension law to a trustee with legal title,¹⁸⁰ and one real PPI's report describes such a custody company.¹⁸¹ A PPI writes no insurance, so the Code's treatment of insurance companies as corporations doesn't clearly reach it,¹⁸² and in a private ruling members' choice of investments didn't stop a fund being a trust.¹⁸³

The argument that it is not: a Dutch N.V. is on the list of foreign entities always treated as corporations,¹⁸⁴ though that list applies only to an entity that isn't properly a trust,¹⁸⁵ and a PPI with shareholders is a licensed business, which points away from a trust.¹⁸⁶ You hold a claim on it,¹⁷⁶ and a custodian is required only on the risk test,¹⁷⁸ so a PPI can hold title itself. For income tax on pensions, Dutch wage tax law treats a PPI like an insurer.¹⁸⁷

With the question open and the penalty for a missing Form 3520-A large,⁴⁵ this guide takes the cautious course of reading a PPI as a trust, in any legal form. Governed by Dutch law and run in the Netherlands, it would meet neither test for a domestic trust, so it would be foreign.^46,47 If it is not a trust, none of the answers above apply.⁴⁸

On the cautious reading, a §402(b) employees' trust; on Chief Counsel advice, compulsory shares count as the employer's.

As for a pension fund. On the cautious reading it is a §402(b) employees' trust: an employer pays in for its employees, and a trust created outside the United States cannot be exempt under U.S. §501(a).⁵⁰ §402(d) treats a foreign trust as exempt only if it would otherwise qualify,⁵¹ and on our reading nothing suggests this plan meets §401(a). Employer contributions are U.S. income to you when paid, to the extent vested,^52,53 on our reading from the start,⁵⁵ and the foreign earned income exclusion cannot cover them.⁵⁴ A premium plan makes the employer's figure easy to count. You are not owner of the part they fund.⁵⁹

On Chief Counsel advice, which is not precedent, a share withheld from your pay under a compulsory base plan counts as your employer's,^60,9 so such a share alone does not reach Part II. Money you choose to add is your own,⁶² and once it exceeds your employer's you are treated as owner of the part it funds, if the grantor trust rules are otherwise met.⁶⁴ In a pooled plan, whether they are met is not settled, and this guide keeps the cautious course, though a personal account weakens that doubt.¹⁸ No contribution to a §402(b) trust is a Part I event.⁶⁶ Payouts from the employer's part are taxed under §72,⁶⁷ with what was already taxed to you counted as your investment.⁶⁹ The highly compensated employee rule can apply, and the U.S. coverage tests leave out nonresident aliens with no U.S.-source earned income.^70,71

As for a pension fund: open, plan by plan, with the contribution limit not settled and unconverted plans different.

Open, as for a pension fund. Rev. Proc. 2020-17 exempts an eligible individual⁷² for a retirement trust that meets requirements established by the laws of its jurisdiction,^73,74 and a PPI plan points toward several: a claim under a pension plan is not wages,^76,77 providers must report the value of a claim to periodic payments to the tax office,^80,81,82 premiums come from pensionable pay,^90,91 and surrender is barred outside listed cases.^85,89 The contribution limit is open, because the 30% cap decides what counts as pension rather than barring more being paid in,^94,92 a plan not yet converted keeps the old articles with no 30% test until 1 January 2028,⁹⁵ and a plan under art. 38r has limits by age from 19% to 40%.⁹⁶ The employer condition's three parts turn on the plan.^97,98

The proposed regulations, which you may rely on now if you apply them in full and consistently with related persons,⁹⁹ let a value test stand in for a contribution limit: "the aggregate value of the trust(s) in the trust's jurisdiction", at or under US$600,000 at every point in the year (adjusted for inflation from 2026).¹⁰² On our reading that adds together all your trusts in the Netherlands, but a pooled fund read as one trust may fail on that wording. The employer condition stays.¹⁰⁴

Whether Article 19(10) or 19(7) reaches a PPI is not confirmed; neither would end this reporting.

Whether Article 19(10) reaches a PPI is not confirmed. It needs an exempt pension trust that the U.S. competent authority has agreed corresponds to a U.S. one,^113,114 Article 35 wants a body whose income is generally exempt from tax,¹⁸⁸ and the competent authorities list bodies by reference to the corporation tax exemption, not by name.⁴⁰ A PPI could be argued in, since that exemption turns on the body's object and wage tax law treats a PPI as an insurer of pensions,^79,187 but we found no competent authority statement naming a PPI, and even for a pension fund the link is not settled. If a PPI does qualify, Article 19(10) works as in the pension fund block. Article 19(7), for a U.S. resident, uses the same term, so it is not confirmed either.¹²⁰

Payouts fall under Article 19, subject to the saving clause,^124,111 with the credit and deduction the pension fund block describes.^126,128 Form 8833: the cautious reading is to disclose an Article 19(7) deferral unless the amounts are $10,000 or less in the year.^139,140 The IRS has said of Canadian plans that Forms 3520 and 3520-A still apply even where a treaty defers tax.¹⁴¹

Part II and Form 3520-A each year for the part your own money funds, once yours exceeds your employer's.

Read as a §402(b) trust: no Part I for any contribution.⁶⁶ No Part II or Form 3520-A for the employer-funded part, compulsory shares withheld from your pay included; once your own money, voluntary top-ups included, exceeds the employer's, Part II and Form 3520-A each year for the part it funds.^59,64,143 No Part III for payouts from the employer-funded part that you report as compensation income;^144,145 payouts from a part you own go on Part III, lines 24 and 27.¹⁴⁶ A payout traced to your own contributions that never exceeded the employer's is not settled, so the cautious course is Part III.^144,147 No Form 4970: payouts from a §402(b) trust are taxed under §72, not under the trust distribution rules, and the income of a part you own is taxed to you each year.^67,148,149 If the PPI does not file Form 3520-A, you attach a substitute to your Form 3520.¹⁵⁰

Moves follow the pension fund block's paragraphs: between a PPI and a fund or another PPI, both read as §402(b) trusts, no Part I, Part III on the cautious course for the money going out unless you report it as compensation income, and on the locked reading the money keeps its mix, while if you report the move as income, that amount is your own money and basis in the new plan; whether the move is taxable is not settled.^16,154 For a U.S. resident, Article 19(7) protects a move only to another exempt pension trust, which is not confirmed for a PPI.¹²⁰

If a PPI is not a trust, none of these apply, since Forms 3520 and 3520-A report foreign trusts.⁴⁸ Either way, an eligible individual whose plan qualifies under Rev. Proc. 2020-17 or the proposed regulations files none of them.^73,99 FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^171,172

The employer places the plan with a licensed insurer,^6,7 as a contract for a fixed benefit or an investment-linked premium plan (premie-uitkeringsovereenkomst).¹⁸⁹ The employer pays the insurer, with any employee share withheld from pay.⁹

Not a trust, resting on legal form: a contract with a licensed insurer. No IRS guidance addresses these plans.

Not a trust, resting on legal form, and no IRS guidance addresses these plans. A Dutch insurer is an N.V., a mutual insurance company or a European company,¹⁹⁰ the Code's corporations include insurance companies,¹⁸² and a trust for U.S. purposes needs trustees who take title to property to protect or conserve it for the beneficiaries,³⁰ which a contract does not create.

The strongest argument the other way is the private ruling that held a foreign pension entity to be a trust although its regulator also supervised insurers.^26,27 On our reading that entity served only covered employees, while a Dutch insurer sells policies as an insurer. In an investment-linked plan, who controls the investments can decide who is taxed on the assets,¹⁹¹ but that does not make a trust.

Applies only to a trust; employer premiums for an annuity contract are §403(c) income the earned income exclusion can't cover.

§402(b) reaches only an employer's contributions to an employees' trust,⁵² so on our reading it doesn't apply to a contract. An employer's premiums for an annuity contract are your income under the rules for property transferred for services;¹⁹² no IRS guidance says whether a Dutch group contract is an annuity contract. If it is instead a contract providing life insurance protection, its cash value and other rights, apart from current life protection, count as property under the same rules, so the result is much the same.¹⁹³ The foreign earned income exclusion cannot cover amounts included under §403(c).¹⁹⁴

Not needed for a contract.

Not needed: §6048 reaches only foreign trusts.⁴⁸

Not confirmed, and weaker than a PPI: an insurer's income isn't exempt. Plan on employer premiums having no treaty relief.

Whether Article 19(10) reaches this plan is not confirmed, and the case is weaker than a PPI's. "Exempt pension trust" includes what Article 35 treats as one, which doesn't make that the only meaning,¹¹⁴ Treasury's explanation of the competent authority step speaks of a "pension plan",¹⁹⁵ and the 2007 agreement invites bodies it doesn't list to apply.¹⁹⁶ But Article 35 wants a body whose income is generally exempt from tax,¹⁸⁸ which on our reading an insurer's isn't. So plan on a U.S. citizen working there having employer premiums taxable with no treaty relief. Article 19(7) uses the same term, so it is not confirmed for a U.S. resident either.¹²⁰ Payouts fall under Article 19, subject to the saving clause.^124,111

Nothing on Form 3520 or 3520-A.

No Part I, Part II, Form 3520-A, Part III, or Form 4970: Forms 3520 and 3520-A report foreign trusts, and a contract with an insurer is not one.^48,143,147

A move between an insurer and a fund, PPI or lijfrente in securities reports only at the end read as a trust, as the pension fund block's paragraphs on moves say, and whether it is taxable is not settled.¹⁵⁴ FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^171,172

A professional pension fund is a pension fund working for one profession, as the Pensions Act defines a pension fund,¹⁹⁷ and it runs a plan agreed among members of the profession rather than with an employer.¹⁹⁸ The notaries have their own fund.¹⁹⁹ A self-employed member pays in alone, on income the provider reports.²⁰⁰

This block also covers someone who pays alone into another pension fund, as a former employee can: a fund can run voluntary continuation for at most three years after a job ends,⁶³ or ten years in stated cases.²⁰¹ An employee in a professional fund with an employer paying in follows the pension fund block.

Not settled: private foundations with no members, yet you hold a claim on a body with a board. Cautious: a foreign trust.

Not settled, and no IRS guidance names one. The argument that it is a trust: an arrangement's nature, purpose and operations matter most, and its legal form is evidence but not decisive, as the Fifth Circuit said of a Liechtenstein Stiftung.^21,22 These are pension funds as defined in the Pensions Act,^197,1 so foundations with no members,²⁴ with one purpose,²³ and the IRS has ruled privately that a foreign pension entity is a trust.²⁶

The argument that it is not: you hold a claim against the fund, not an interest under a trustee,^29,30 the plan rests on rights agreed among members of the profession,¹⁹⁸ and a trust's beneficiaries cannot share in the responsibility for the property.³⁵ A fund must have a board, where IRS advice says a Stiftung has none.^32,33

With the question open and the penalty for a missing Form 3520-A large,⁴⁵ this guide takes the cautious course of reading one of these funds as a trust. Governed by Dutch law and run in the Netherlands, it would meet neither test for a domestic trust, so it would be foreign.^46,47 If it is not a trust, none of the answers above apply.⁴⁸

An employer has paid in for you: on the cautious reading, a §402(b) trust. None has: §402(b) taxes nothing to you.

Where an employer has paid in for you, on the cautious reading it is a §402(b) employees' trust, as in the pension fund block: employer money for you is U.S. income when vested,^52,53 which the foreign earned income exclusion cannot cover,⁵⁴ and you are not owner of the part it funds.⁵⁹ On Chief Counsel advice a share withheld from your pay counts as your employer's,⁶⁰ and a share you pay yourself rather than through withholding is outside that advice, so the cautious course counts it as yours. Once your own money exceeds your employer's for you, you are treated as owner of the part it funds, if the grantor trust rules are otherwise met.⁶⁴

Where no employer has paid in for you, §402(b) taxes nothing to you: it reaches only an employer's contributions.⁵² The Part I exception tests the trust, not who funded you,⁶⁶ and a regulation describes a nonexempt employees' trust as including one created on behalf of a self-employed individual,²⁰² so in a fund with employer money for other members Part I may not be due. No IRS guidance says whether a member with no employer money is within an employees' trust, so the cautious course reports each contribution; a missed Part I can cost the greater of $10,000 or 35% of it, capped at the amount.¹⁵⁸

Open: the same conditions as a pension fund, each fund's rules to check. Proposed regulations add a value test.

Open. Rev. Proc. 2020-17 exempts an eligible individual⁷² for a retirement trust that meets requirements established by the laws of its jurisdiction,^73,74 and these funds point toward the same ones as a pension fund. The premium and the income it is based on are items the provider must report,^200,82 contributions follow professional income,⁹¹ and surrender is restricted.^85,89 We did not read the Dutch income tax act's deduction for these premiums in full, so check that the plan is tax-favored,⁷⁷ and the contribution limit is open, as for a pension fund, with plans not yet converted and art. 38r plans on their own rules.^92,95,96 On our reading a fund for the self-employed is not maintained by an employer, so the employer condition does not apply to it.⁹⁷

The proposed regulations, which you may rely on now if you apply them in full and consistently with related persons,⁹⁹ let a value test stand in for a contribution limit: "the aggregate value of the trust(s) in the trust's jurisdiction", at or under US$600,000 at every point in the year (adjusted for inflation from 2026),¹⁰² which on our reading adds together all your trusts in the Netherlands.

Article 19(10) needs an employment, so it doesn't help the self-employed; Article 19(7) can defer for a U.S. resident.

Article 19(10) needs an employment,¹⁰⁶ so a U.S. citizen self-employed in the Netherlands gets nothing from it; self-employment appears only in Article 19(8).¹²²

Article 19(7) can defer the income of a part you own for a U.S. resident.^120,112 It needs an exempt pension trust under Article 35,¹¹⁴ and on our reading a compulsory professional fund is one: the corporation tax exemption the competent authorities list treats members of such a plan as employees.^203,204,40 No IRS guidance confirms it. Payouts fall under Article 19, subject to the saving clause,^124,111 with the credit and deduction the pension fund block describes.^126,128 Form 8833: the cautious reading is to disclose an Article 19(7) deferral unless the amounts are $10,000 or less in the year.^139,140 The IRS has said of Canadian plans that Forms 3520 and 3520-A still apply even where a treaty defers tax.¹⁴¹

No employer money for you: full reporting. Otherwise: Part II and Form 3520-A once your own money exceeds the employer's.

Where an employer has paid in for you, read as a §402(b) trust: no Part I for any contribution.⁶⁶ No Part II or Form 3520-A for the employer-funded part, compulsory shares withheld from your pay included; once your own money exceeds the employer's for you, Part II and Form 3520-A each year for the part it funds.^59,64,143 No Part III for payouts from the employer-funded part that you report as compensation income;¹⁴⁴ payouts from a part you own go on Part III, lines 24 and 27.¹⁴⁶ A payout traced to your own contributions that never exceeded the employer's is not settled, so the cautious course is Part III.^144,147 So a former employee continuing to pay into the same fund follows this paragraph.

Where no employer has paid in for you, on the cautious course you report it as a foreign trust you own. You are treated as its owner, including for money paid in before you became a U.S. person, because its income is held for you,^18,65 though in a pooled fund whether that is so is not settled. Part II and Form 3520-A are due each year,¹⁴³ and payouts go on Part III.¹⁴⁷ Each contribution you make as a U.S. person is a Part I transfer,⁴⁸ and one made within 5 years before your U.S. residency started is treated as made on your residency starting date and goes on Part I for that year.²⁰⁵ Part I also applies at your death as a U.S. citizen or resident, if any part of the fund is then treated as owned by you or is in your gross estate: your executor reports it, whether or not the executor is a U.S. person.²⁰⁶

No Form 4970 either way: the income of a part you own is taxed to you each year, or when paid out under the treaty, and payouts from a §402(b) trust are taxed under §72, not under the trust distribution rules.^{149,120,67,148} For a U.S. heir of a saver who was not a U.S. person, whether a payment can carry out income kept in earlier years is not settled.¹⁶² If the fund does not file Form 3520-A, you attach a substitute to your Form 3520.¹⁵⁰

A move follows the pension fund block's paragraphs on moves: between funds read as §402(b) trusts, no Part I, Part III on the cautious course for the money going out unless you report it as compensation income, and on the locked reading the money keeps its mix, while if you report the move as income, that amount is your own money and basis in the new plan; money moved in from an employer's plan puts you in the first paragraph above, with no Part I. Whether it is taxable is not settled.^16,154

If it is not a trust, none of these apply, since Forms 3520 and 3520-A report foreign trusts.⁴⁸ Either way, an eligible individual whose plan qualifies under Rev. Proc. 2020-17 or the proposed regulations files none of them.^73,99 On our reading the exemption also spares your executor the report of your death, if you were an eligible individual and the plan qualified: it covers an eligible individual's transactions with, or ownership of, the trust, and an eligible individual can be someone who at any time was a U.S. citizen or resident.^207,208,209 No IRS guidance names executors, and the revenue procedure's scope speaks of the eligible individual who would otherwise report.²¹⁰ FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^171,172

Net pension is a pension built up on pay above the pensionable pay limit, €137,800 for 2026,^93,211 and its claims are not among your assets for Box 3.²¹² A pension fund, a PPI or an insurer can run it,²¹³ and on our reading it is an add-on to an employer's plan paid with your own money. The premium is one of the items the provider reports.²¹⁴ A net lijfrente, which is individual, is in the individual plan blocks.

Follows the provider: a pension fund or PPI, not settled, cautious; an insurer, a contract and no trust.

It follows the provider. In a pension fund or PPI, whether it is a trust is not settled, and this guide takes the cautious course in those blocks.^23,26,45 With an insurer it is a contract: not a trust, resting on legal form,^190,30 and the answers above do not apply. Governed by Dutch law and run in the Netherlands, a fund or PPI read as a trust is foreign.^46,47

On our reading your own money: counted with the employer's for you under §402(b); with none, §402(b) taxes nothing to you.

On our reading all of it is your own money, so §402(b)(1) doesn't tax it as employer money,⁵² and money you elect to pay in is yours.⁶² We did not read a rule that it must be voluntary or that the premium must burden you, as there is for a net lijfrente; on Chief Counsel advice a share a plan compels and withholds from pay would count as your employer's.⁶⁰ Where an employer has paid in for you in the same fund or PPI, count it with that money: once your running total exceeds the employer's, you are treated as owner of the part yours funds, if the grantor trust rules are otherwise met.⁶⁴ Where none has, §402(b) taxes nothing to you and it is a trust you own on the cautious course.⁵² The Part I exception tests the trust, not who funded you,⁶⁶ and a regulation describes a nonexempt employees' trust as including one created on behalf of a self-employed individual,²⁰² so in a fund with employer money for other members Part I may not be due. No IRS guidance says whether a member with no employer money is within an employees' trust, so the cautious course reports each contribution; a missed Part I can cost the greater of $10,000 or 35% of it, capped at the amount.¹⁵⁸

Open, plan by plan, and an add-on for high pay is the doubt under the employer condition.

Open. Rev. Proc. 2020-17 exempts an eligible individual⁷² for a retirement trust that meets requirements established by the laws of its jurisdiction.^73,74 The first, second and fifth conditions point the same way as for a pension fund, with no Box 3 charge,^212,77 the premiums reported,^214,82 and surrender restricted.^85,89 The premium is capped at the same percentage of the pay above the limit, times a net factor,^211,92 so the limit test is open for the reason in the pension fund block, and plans not yet converted and art. 38r plans are on their own rules.^95,96 The doubt is the employer condition, since on our reading an add-on for high pay is by nature not open to rank and file.⁹⁷

The proposed regulations, which you may rely on now if you apply them in full and consistently with related persons,⁹⁹ let a value test stand in for a contribution limit,¹⁰² but the employer condition stays.¹⁰⁴

Not settled whether Article 19(10) reaches it: a Box 3 exemption may not be the relief the article means.

Article 19(10) applies "only to the extent that the contributions or benefits qualify for tax relief in the Netherlands".¹⁰⁸ Net pension gets a Box 3 exemption and, on our reading, no deduction for the premium,²¹² so it is not settled whether that is the relief the article means. Article 19(7) can defer income of a part you own for a U.S. resident where the provider is a pension fund.^120,112 Payouts fall under Article 19, subject to the saving clause.^124,111 The IRS has said of Canadian plans that Forms 3520 and 3520-A still apply even where a treaty defers tax.¹⁴¹

In a fund or PPI: Part II and Form 3520-A for the part you own. With an insurer: nothing.

In a pension fund or PPI where an employer has paid in for you, it follows the pension fund block: no Part I for any contribution,⁶⁶ and Part II and Form 3520-A once your own money exceeds the employer's for you there.^64,143 Payouts from a part you own go on Part III.¹⁴⁷ Where none has, on the cautious course you report it as a foreign trust you own: each contribution as a U.S. person is a Part I transfer,^48,65 Part II and Form 3520-A are due each year,¹⁴³ and payouts go on Part III.¹⁴⁷ Part I also applies at your death as a U.S. citizen or resident, if any part of the pension is then treated as owned by you or is in your gross estate: your executor reports it, whether or not the executor is a U.S. person.²⁰⁶ No Form 4970: the income of a part you own is taxed to you each year, or when paid out under the treaty.^149,120 If the provider does not file Form 3520-A, you attach a substitute to your Form 3520.¹⁵⁰

A move follows the pension fund block's paragraphs on moves, with the money keeping its mix, and whether it is taxable is not settled.¹⁵⁴ With an insurer, none of these apply, since Forms 3520 and 3520-A report foreign trusts.⁴⁸ An eligible individual whose plan qualifies under Rev. Proc. 2020-17 or the proposed regulations files none of them.^73,99 On our reading the exemption also spares your executor the report of your death, if you were an eligible individual and the plan qualified: it covers an eligible individual's transactions with, or ownership of, the trust, and an eligible individual can be someone who at any time was a U.S. citizen or resident.^207,208,209 No IRS guidance names executors, and the revenue procedure's scope speaks of the eligible individual who would otherwise report.²¹⁰ FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^171,172

Two older items a U.S. person may still have. A director-shareholder's pension in their own company could stay as an old-age obligation on the company's books, raised each year by a market rate set by ministerial order.²¹⁵ A stamrecht is a tax-favored annuity for severance benefits,²¹⁶ under a wage tax rule the current text shows as repealed.²¹⁷ The only terms we read are a bank's, for a blocked account in your name, and they point to that rule as it read on 31 December 2013.²¹⁸

Not a trust, resting on legal form: a company's promise or a deposit. Held any other way, a stamrecht stands apart.

Not a trust, resting on legal form. A trust for U.S. purposes needs trustees who take title to property to protect or conserve it for the beneficiaries,³⁰ and a promise on a company's books and a deposit create none. An unfunded and unsecured promise to pay is not even property under the rules for property transferred for services.²¹⁹

A stamrecht held any other way stands apart, and we read no terms for one. A contract with an insurer would follow the insurance block. If a company you own holds it, the argument the other way is that a company with one purpose and your money resembles a personal fund, but it is an ordinary company with shares, a corporation by default if its members have limited liability,²²⁰ and the Fifth Circuit, classifying a Stiftung as a trust, contrasted such companies.²²¹ U.S. reporting for foreign companies may then apply, which this guide doesn't cover.

§402(b) does not apply: nothing is paid to a trust.

§402(b) reaches an employer's contributions to an employees' trust,⁵² and nothing is paid to a trust here.

Not needed.

§6048 reaches only foreign trusts.⁴⁸

Payouts fall under Article 19, subject to the saving clause.

A payment from one of these falls under Article 19, subject to the saving clause.^124,111

Nothing on Form 3520 or 3520-A.

No Part I, Part II, Form 3520-A, Part III, or Form 4970: Forms 3520 and 3520-A report foreign trusts, and none of these is one.^48,143,147 FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^171,172

The AOW is a state old-age pension. You are insured while you live in the Netherlands, or don't but are on Dutch wage tax for work there,²²² and the pension is cut by 2% for each calendar year you were not insured.²²³

Not a trust: a statutory entitlement built by years of insurance, with nothing held for you.

Not a trust. A trust for U.S. purposes needs trustees holding property for the beneficiaries,³⁰ and this right turns on insured years under a statute,^222,223 so on our reading no account or assets are held for you.

§402(b) does not apply: there is no trust to contribute to.

§402(b) reaches an employer's contributions to an employees' trust,⁵² and this scheme has no trust.²²³

Not needed.

§6048 reaches only foreign trusts.⁴⁸

Taxable only in the Netherlands, for a U.S. resident and for a U.S. citizen, and the saving clause spares that rule.

A payment under a public social security system to a resident of the U.S. or a U.S. citizen is taxable only in the Netherlands,²²⁴ and the saving clause spares that rule.¹¹² The same rule covers any other payment under a Dutch public social security system; this guide doesn't list those, and we did not read their acts.

Nothing on Form 3520 or 3520-A.

No Part I, Part II, Form 3520-A, Part III, or Form 4970: Forms 3520 and 3520-A report foreign trusts, and this pension is not one.^48,143,147 Form 8938 does not count a foreign government's social security.²²⁵ FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^171,172

A lijfrente is a Dutch tax-favored annuity for a pension shortfall, and only you pay in.²²⁶ One form is a premium to an insurer.²²⁷ Another is money on a blocked account at a bank (lijfrenterekening),²²⁸ and one bank's terms describe it as a blocked account from which you can't withdraw money in the meantime.²²⁹ The money can be used only to buy an annuity or be paid in fixed terms,²³⁰ and the claim can't be surrendered or assigned.²³¹ Doing so anyway makes what was deducted and its return negative expense,²³² plus 20% revision interest,²³³ with small amounts up to €5,513 (2026) excepted.²³⁴

A gross lijfrente is deducted within limits: 30% of a premium base of business and work income and taxable periodic payments, up to €137,800 less €19,172, less pension accrued,^235,236 with a 10-year catch-up of at most €42,753 (2026 figures).²³⁷ A net lijfrente uses the same forms and is not among your assets for Box 3.²³⁸ It must be voluntary,²³⁹ and its premium must burden you, get no deduction and stay within its own limit,²⁴⁰ which is the same percentage times a net factor, on income above €137,800 (2026).²⁴¹

The same provisions also allow a premium to a body exempt as a pension fund, and to the buyer of a business as part of the sale.^242,243 We found no such lijfrente in use and don't analyze them: the first would follow the pension fund block, and the second is a promise by the buyer, with nothing held for you, on our reading.

Not a trust, resting on legal form: an insurance contract or a deposit the bank owes you.

Not a trust, resting on legal form, and no IRS guidance addresses Dutch lijfrentes. An insurance contract is a promise by an insurer, which the Code treats as a corporation,^190,182 and on a deposit the bank owes a sum. A trust for U.S. purposes needs trustees who take title to property to protect or conserve it for the beneficiaries,³⁰ and here no one holds property for you.

The argument the other way is that the lock is the same as on a securities account, so the line looks formal. It is formal, but the question is whether anyone holds property for the member, and a depositor holds a claim on the bank. Where the same product also lets you invest, under a separate agreement,²⁴⁴ that part moves to the next block.

§402(b) does not apply: no employer pays in.

§402(b) reaches only an employer's contributions to an employees' trust,⁵² so it does not apply to a contract or deposit only you pay into.

Not needed for a contract or a deposit.

Not needed: §6048 reaches only foreign trusts.⁴⁸

Article 19 can reach an annuity, though that is not settled, and the saving clause keeps U.S. tax; Article 19(10) doesn't apply.

"Any annuity" is taxable only in the country where you live,¹²⁴ and the treaty defines an annuity as a stated sum payable periodically in return for adequate and full consideration.²⁴⁵ A lijfrente can fit that, but no IRS guidance says so, so it is not settled. The rule is subject to the saving clause, so the U.S. still taxes its citizens and residents,¹¹¹ with a credit for Dutch tax, except on a lump sum taxed under Article 19(2), which the Netherlands relieves by a deduction.^126,128 Article 19(10) doesn't apply: Treasury says the relevant Dutch plans correspond to employer plans, not individual ones.²⁴⁶

Nothing on Form 3520 or 3520-A.

No Part I, Part II, Form 3520-A, Part III, or Form 4970: Forms 3520 and 3520-A report foreign trusts.^48,143,147

A move from a contract or deposit into a lijfrente in securities reports only at that end, as the next block says, and whether it is taxable is not settled.¹⁵⁴ FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^171,172

A lijfrente can also be held as a blocked account at a bank or investment firm kept for transactions in financial instruments (lijfrenterekening), or a blocked unit bought directly from a fund manager (lijfrentebeleggingsrecht).^228,247 Only you pay in, gross or net, and the limits and the lock are those in the block above:^235,238 it can be used only to buy an annuity or be paid in fixed terms,²³⁰ and the claim can't be surrendered or assigned.²³¹ Real terms show how it works, and they vary. One bank's lijfrente terms let you use the money to buy fund units under a separate agreement, on an investment account where you buy and sell yourself.²⁴⁸ Terms under that agreement's name from a trade name of another bank, which define the product only by tax rules and don't use the word lijfrente, open the account in your name and have the bank hold the units,²⁴⁹ and you can dispose of them as far as tax rules allow.²⁵⁰ Another provider's account is in one person's name, blocked until the last conversion date.^251,252

Some providers' terms refuse U.S. persons. One bank-saving product's terms have the customer state they are not a U.S. resident or possible taxpayer,²⁵³ rules for a general goal-investing account let the bank sell the units at once if a holder becomes taxable in the U.S.,²⁵⁴ and two other sets of terms bar or restrict U.S. persons on opening.^255,256 Check the terms before you open an account, and if you already hold one.

Not settled: title is in your name, but the account is locked for retirement by tax law. Cautious: a foreign trust you own.

Not settled, and no IRS guidance addresses Dutch lijfrentes. Federal law, not the Dutch label, decides.¹⁹ The argument that it is not a trust: the account is in your name,^249,251 book-entry law makes a client a co-owner of a collective deposit,²⁵⁷ you choose the investments, and the closest IRS ruling holds that an arrangement whose title-holder only holds and transfers title at the owner's direction is not a trust.²⁵⁸

The argument that it may be one: an arrangement's purpose distinguishes a trust from other entities,²¹ the statute locks this one for retirement,²³⁰ a provider holds the units and you can act only as tax rules allow,^249,250 that ruling does not apply where the holder does more than hold title,²⁵⁹ and in private rulings the IRS has treated funds with retirement limits as trusts, one of which let its members choose their investments.^26,183

With the question open and the penalty for a missing Form 3520-A large,⁴⁵ this guide takes the cautious course of treating it as a trust you own, and a foreign one.^46,47 If a giro foundation holds title in its own name for a blocked account, the same answer follows, for a stronger reason.²⁶⁰ If it is not a trust, none of the answers above apply.⁴⁸

§402(b) does not apply: no employer pays in.

§402(b) reaches only an employer's contributions to an employees' trust,⁵² so it does not apply to an account only you pay into.

Rev. Proc. 2020-17: not settled, leaning against, since Dutch law limits what is deducted. Proposed regulations: possible.

Not settled, leaning against, and no IRS statement names a Dutch lijfrente. Rev. Proc. 2020-17 covers an eligible individual's retirement trust that meets requirements established by the laws of its jurisdiction,^72,73,74 so one bank's contract, which allows only the room the law gives,²⁶¹ adds nothing to the law. Some conditions point the right way. It is tax-favored: deductible within limits,^226,77 or if net, outside Box 3.²³⁸ The yearly amounts paid in are listed items a provider must report.^262,82 The employer condition does not apply.⁹⁷

The contribution limit leans against. Rev. Proc. 2020-17 wants contributions limited,⁹² but art. 3.127 limits what can be taken into account as a deduction, not what you pay in,²³⁵ as in France, even with a catch-up of up to €42,753 (2026).²³⁷ A net lijfrente's limit decides what counts as net,^240,241 not what can be paid in. Contributions follow earned income only roughly: the base also counts taxable periodic payments.^236,91

The payout condition splits gross and net.⁸⁹ For a gross lijfrente the account is blocked, and surrender makes what was deducted and its return negative expense, plus 20%,^232,233 but payments can start before pension age, on a longer term, with no penalty.²⁶³ For a net lijfrente nothing was deducted, so on our reading art. 3.133 and the 20% don't apply, and we did not read the net form's own rule on a breach.²¹⁴

The proposed regulations, which you may rely on now if you apply them in full and consistently with related persons,⁹⁹ let a value test stand in for a contribution limit: "the aggregate value of the trust(s) in the trust's jurisdiction", at or under US$600,000 at every point in the year (adjusted for inflation from 2026),¹⁰² which on our reading adds together all your trusts in the Netherlands. So they are possible if that total stays under the threshold, subject to the payout condition.²⁶⁴

Article 19 can reach an annuity, though that is not settled, and the saving clause keeps U.S. tax; Article 19(10) doesn't apply.

"Any annuity" is taxable only in the country where you live,¹²⁴ and a lijfrente paid in terms can fit the treaty's definition,²⁴⁵ but no IRS guidance says so, so it is not settled. The rule is subject to the saving clause, so the U.S. still taxes its citizens and residents,¹¹¹ with a credit for Dutch tax, except on a lump sum taxed under Article 19(2), which the Netherlands relieves by a deduction.^126,128 Article 19(10) doesn't apply: Treasury says the relevant Dutch plans correspond to employer plans, not individual ones.²⁴⁶ The IRS has said of Canadian plans that Forms 3520 and 3520-A still apply even where a treaty defers tax.¹⁴¹

On the cautious course, full reporting, as for a foreign trust you own.

On the cautious course, you report it as a foreign trust you own: you are treated as its owner, including for money paid in before you became a U.S. person, because its income is held for you,^18,65 so Part II and Form 3520-A are due each year,¹⁴³ and payouts go on Part III.¹⁴⁷ Each contribution you make as a U.S. person is a Part I transfer,⁴⁸ and one made within 5 years before your U.S. residency started is treated as made on your residency starting date and goes on Part I for that year.²⁰⁵ Part I also applies at your death as a U.S. citizen or resident, if any part of the account is then treated as owned by you or is in your gross estate: your executor reports it, whether or not the executor is a U.S. person.²⁰⁶ If the provider does not file Form 3520-A, you attach a substitute to your Form 3520.¹⁵⁰ No Form 4970, because the income is taxed to you each year.¹⁴⁹ For a U.S. heir of a saver who was not a U.S. person, whether a payment can carry out income kept in earlier years is not settled.¹⁶²

A move between lijfrente accounts held in securities or units²⁶⁵ follows the pension fund block's paragraphs on moves: read on the cautious course as trusts you own at both ends, Part I for the money going in, and Part III, lines 24 and 27, for the money going out, as a protective Part III.^48,146 Where the other end is a bank deposit or an insurer,¹⁷⁰ only this end reports. Reading the move as a payout means U.S. tax that year on the amount above your basis; reading it as locked means none now. That is not settled, the forms don't decide it, so keep the records.^16,154