“AEGON: the piggy bank for many Dutch people living abroad.”

Hi Nick,

First of all: the costs of insuring against illness can indeed be called high when living in the Netherlands or in a treaty country, such as Belgium. Then we are talking about the nominal premium to be paid to a health insurer, the Long-Term Care Act premium and the income-related Healthcare Insurance Act. With a reasonable income, you will soon arrive at an amount, which can be compared to a health insurance policy to be taken out when living in Thailand. This is often lost sight of. The advantage of living in the Netherlands or a treaty country is the obligation to accept the basic package.

When living in Belgium, you pay a treaty contribution to the CAK. This contribution consists of:
1. The fixed contribution under the Health Insurance Act, to be determined annually by the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport and to be compared with the nominal premium for living in the Netherlands.
2. The income-related contribution to the Healthcare Insurance Act. The percentage for this corresponds to what you would have to pay in the Netherlands and is calculated over your Dutch income and any foreign (Belgian) income. You also owe the income-related contribution/premium under the Long-Term Care Act.

Ad 1. For 2021, this contribution has been set at €123,17. For Belgium, a country of residence factor of 0,7347 applies, which means that the nominal contribution for living in Belgium amounts to € 90,49.

Ad 2. The income-related contribution under the Healthcare Insurance Act amounts to 2021% for 5,75, with an income limit of €58.311.
The income-related contribution for the Long-Term Care Act amounts to 2021% for 9,65 and is calculated over a maximum of the upper limit of the second income tax bracket (even if you do not owe any income tax in the Netherlands).

Now it is also possible that the CAK has the income-related contributions settled via your pension provider. I have come across that often. But of course you never pay twice (both via the pension provider and to the CAK). However, if this has been the case, you can indeed reclaim the overpaid contribution from the Tax Authorities/Utrecht office. This is not done via a declaration for income tax/national insurance contributions.

Are you also thinking about a possible healthcare allowance as a contribution to the costs of the treaty contribution? You can apply for this healthcare allowance at the Tax and Customs Administration and it depends on the level of your own income or assets and that of any partner.

Hi Tarud,

A few things aren't right here.

From your response I conclude that you have designated the (annuity) payment in question as being taxed in the Netherlands, because otherwise a deduction will have no effect. As a result, you will only receive a percentage of the undue Zvw contribution (presumably 9,7% of lower income tax) on assessment.

My advice is to change the declaration on this point. In addition, I would not in advance classify the benefit in question as having been taxed in the Netherlands. 6 to 7 years ago, a number of judgments were made by the District Court of Zeeland – West-Brabant and the Court of Den Bosch, to the effect that an annuity payment from Achmea would be taxed in the Netherlands because it would be charged to the profit of this insurer (article 18(2) of the Treaty) but the situation has subsequently changed considerably following the judgment of the Supreme Court of 14 July 2017. Read what I wrote about it in my article.

If the inspector thinks otherwise, but which I have not encountered in my practice in recent years, he will have to demonstrate that this is still the case ('he who asserts must prove'). It is then up to you to demonstrate what should be excluded from the levy, in view of the aforementioned judgment. And perhaps that is much more than what is possible on the basis of this judgment, since in many cases the deposited/paid premium for an annuity payment could not be deducted from the income to be taxed due to insufficient annual margin and therefore not taxed later is for income tax purposes. I dare to say that 95% of the recipients of an annuity payment pay too much income tax as a result of not being able to deduct the deposit/premium paid in the past.

Do not get ahead of yourself by designating this payment as being taxed in the Netherlands. Now you make it very easy for the inspector. That is not usually my habit!

Success.