Retiring in Croatia looks simple from the terrace: sun, sea, euro. Behind the picture are three technical questions that decide your comfort: residence, health cover and tax. The good news for a European pensioner is that all three are answerable with official pages. The bad news is that the tax rules vary by country of origin, so the answer to the third question is yours alone. This article collects what the Croatian authorities say. It is not personal tax advice.
How do you start retiring in Croatia as a retiree?
For three months your ID card or passport is enough. If you stay, declare your temporary stay to the police no later than 8 days after the first three months, with a copy of your ID, health insurance, proof of sufficient funds (the Ministry of the Interior mentions a pension statement as an example) and proof of accommodation. The certificate is free. The steps are in residence in Croatia for EU citizens, and the order of the first weeks in the guide to moving to Croatia.
What about healthcare with an S1?
Ask your pension institution for an S1 before you leave. Once registered with the HZZO, you receive care on the same terms as Croatian insured persons, and you can see any primary care doctor contracted with the HZZO; you do not choose a registered one. The European card alone only covers short visits. A foreign pensioner with a temporary stay who is not covered anywhere else is insured with the HZZO and pays health contributions personally, on a monthly base that depends on the pension. Supplementary insurance is 15 euros a month since February 2026. See healthcare in Croatia for expats.
How is a foreign pension taxed when retiring in Croatia?
If you become a tax resident (a home or 183 days of stay), Croatia taxes your worldwide income, unless the double-taxation convention leaves your pension taxable only in your former country. The tax administration names pensions from Canada, China, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Morocco, Mauritius, Germany, Oman, Poland and San Marino among those Croatia cannot tax; for any other pension, government pensions included, check the text of your convention. Croatia has conventions with, among others, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg and Ireland.
Where the pension is taxable in Croatia, you pay yourself advance payments on it, since the foreign fund does not withhold Croatian tax. Where it is exempt, you do not file INO-DOH, but outside the ten countries above, ask your tax office how to declare the pension. The practical steps:
- Register as a tax resident with the questionnaire for residents.
- Read the convention for your country and your type of pension.
- If the pension is taxable in Croatia, pay the advance according to the tax administration's decision, and ask your tax office for the payment dates.
- File INO-DOH by 31 January of the following year to credit tax paid abroad, with a certificate from the foreign tax office by 30 November.
A pension can have several parts: a state pension, a private pension, a government pension. Each may be taxed in a different place. Moovy can set out the questions to ask about each of them and point you to the right convention and form. It does not calculate your tax or replace a cross-border tax adviser.
What are the tax rates?
Each town fixes two rates: from 15 to 23% up to 60,000 euros of taxable income a year, and from 25 to 33% above, after a personal allowance of 600 euros a month. In some places there is a 50% reduction of the annual tax on the part linked to a pension or salary if you live in a first-group development area or Vukovar. The annual calculation is done by the tax administration and the provisional decision arrives by 30 June, with until 31 July to object. More in income tax in Croatia for new residents.
A second home is subject to the property tax since 2025; see buying property in Croatia as a foreigner.
Will you get a Croatian state pension?
Only if you worked in Croatia. EURES gives the age as 65 with at least 15 years of insurance, or 60 with 35 years for early retirement, with transitional terms more favourable for women until 1 January 2030. Periods in other EU countries count to open the right, and each country pays its own share. Apply to the pension institution of the country where you live or where you last worked; if you never worked where you live, it passes the claim to your last country of work, which gathers the periods from every country. In Croatia the institution is the HZMO. Ask for information at least six months before you retire.
Where should you live when retiring in Croatia?
The choice of town changes your bill more than most newcomers expect. Each town sets its own income tax rates, from 15 to 23% on the lower band and 25 to 33% on the higher one, and the property tax on a second home goes from 0.60 to 8.00 euros per square metre. Rents, according to EURES, range from about 923 euros a month in Zagreb and 904 in Split to 763 in Rijeka and 487 in Osijek. A retiree with a modest pension may find the east or the smaller towns more comfortable, while the coast offers the sea and a larger community of foreign residents but higher costs. See the best places to live in Croatia and the cost of living in Croatia.
Think also about care. If you have a long-term health condition, check where the nearest HZZO-contracted doctor and hospital are before you pick a village, and read the HZZO notice on supplementary insurance, which costs 15 euros a month since February 2026. Language is a factor too: Croatian is the language of the surgery and the counters, so a neighbour or friend who can interpret is worth finding early.
What about Swiss and British retirees?
Swiss citizens benefit from the coordination of pensions and the S1, and Croatia has a convention with Switzerland. British citizens need a residence permit as third-country nationals. Croatia applies a convention with the United Kingdom, and GOV.UK says to claim your UK State Pension through UK guidance and contact the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute for a Croatian pension. Ask the HZZO how a British S1 is registered. See moving to Croatia from the UK.
What paperwork should you gather before retiring in Croatia?
A retiree's file is mostly about proving things that happen elsewhere. Before you leave, collect from your pension institution the S1 and an annual pension statement showing the gross amount and any tax withheld; the statement serves both as proof of funds for the police and as the basis of the INO-DOH form. Ask your tax office whether it can issue a certificate of tax residence, which the Croatian administration may ask for. Keep your marriage certificate if a spouse will follow, with certified translations for official use. Any foreign document that you give to the Croatian tax administration must be accompanied by a certified translation into Croatian.
Then build the Croatian file: police certificate, OIB, lease or title deed, HZZO registration, bank account and, if you pay advance tax, the tax administration's decision. Our guide to moving to Croatia sets the order, and opening a bank account in Croatia explains why having your pension paid into a Croatian account can bring the free service package.
What mistakes should you avoid?
- Assuming your pension is taxed nowhere.
- Paying twice. If your former country still withholds tax that the convention reserves to Croatia, ask for a refund and a stop.
- Forgetting INO-DOH when you want credit for foreign tax.
- Living on the European card.
- Overlooking the tax on a second home.
Before you decide, ask your pension body, or a tax adviser who knows both countries, to confirm how your own pensions will be taxed, and confirm every deadline on the Porezna uprava site.