News

As a result, your first payslip or pension benefit of the year may be different from the one you received last year. The same gross amount may result in you having more or less money left over at the month compared with last year. This depends on your personal circumstances.

Personal overview

Money Wise teamed up with the Nationaal Instituut voor Budgetvoorlichting (Nibud, National Institute for Family Finance Information) to develop an online question and answer list (only available in Dutch) in that addresses all changes to legislation and how they can affect your finances. You answer a series of short questions about your personal circumstances, after which you receive an overview of the new rules that will have an impact on you.You can download this overview as a PDF file and keep it with your paperwork.

In the overview

The overview contains information on the following topics:

• The Dutch state pension
  You should see when you are first expected to receive your state pension.
• Changes to the income taxes
  In 2018 the Dutch government changed the tax rates. Most tax payers will save money on their taxes compared with last year. You can see whether this applies to you by using this Money Wise calculator tool (only available in Dutch).
• Changes to wealth tax
  This year, wealth tax is slightly lower than the previous year. You can read up on the most important details on the Money Wise website (in Dutch).
• Changes to care benefits
  Care benefits will be increased slightly this year. You can receive up €10 extra per month. If you would like to know much you could receive in care benefits, use the calculator tool (in Dutch) provided by the Dutch tax administration. The calculator tool is only available in Dutch.

Changes relevant to pensioners

Here are some of the most important changes that can affect pensioners:

• The state pension will be increased. This happens twice a year to compensate for price rises. This is to ensure that your state pension retains its value.
• Your contribution towards the Zorgverzekeringswet (Zvw, Dutch Healthcare Insurance Act) will increase. As a pensioner, you will pay more taxes for healthcare in 2018. Your contributions to healthcare will rise by a maximum of €50 compared to 2017.

Not included in the overview

The Money Wise website overview does not provide insight into changes to your Astellas Pension Fund that may affect your pension or pension accrual, that can be found on our website. The overview will also not contain information on any extra bank or insurer pension policies you may be contributing towards.

Checking up on what will change for you

If you would like to know what will change for you, visit the Money Wise website and answer the questions on the ‘Wat betekent dit voor mij?’ ('What does this mean for me?'; in Dutch) section. Please note that this tool is only available in Dutch.

Source: Money Wise