Anw survivor benefit - If you do not comply with the rules

Report changes within 4 weeks so that you never receive too much Anw survivor benefit. As soon as you report a change, the SVB will reassess your entitlement. The most important changes to report are:

• someone joins your household, or you join someone else's household
• you leave someone's household, or someone leaves your household
• there is a change in your income
• you are moving to another country

More information

We check the details you provide. For example, we check with the municipal population register how many people are registered as living at your address, and we check the income details you give us with the Tax Administration.

Even if you do not report changes, we will still check your domestic situation and income. If you have not reported changes in your income for more than a year, we will automatically contact you.

Visits to clients at home

If we are informed that your domestic situation has changed, we may check this by visiting you at home. Many clients will never receive a visit from the SVB, but if we do pay you a housecall, the SVB officer concerned will always show proof of identity. If you do not trust the situation, you can phone your SVB office.

The SVB officer will ask to look inside your home. If you refuse the SVB officer entry to your home, this will not have any direct consequences for your pension or benefit but we may carry out further investigations.

We sometimes make housecalls based on a random selection. This means that you could receive a visit from us even if you have not reported a change.

Checks outside the Netherlands

The SVB is automatically informed by municipal authorities about important events such as births, marriages, divorces and deaths concerning clients living in the Netherlands. If you live outside the Netherlands, we will not receive this type of information for you. That is the reason we send clients outside the Netherlands an annual life certificate, which has to be completed and signed by a competent authority, e.g. your municipality or a notary public. How to do this is explained on the form.

We also visit clients outside the Netherlands to check their domestic situation. You can read about our housecalls in our six-monthly magazine, ‘svb.nl’ .

Are you staying outside the Netherlands temporarily?

You must always let us know if you will be outside the Netherlands for a long period of time, as this may affect your pension or benefit.

If you are often outside the Netherlands, or if you are outside the Netherlands for more than 13 weeks, the SVB may no longer consider you to be living in the Netherlands. If you receive child benefit or an AIO supplement, for example, that will stop. In some countries, your pension or benefit may be reduced. It is not enough to be registered as living in the Netherlands; we take account of where you are actually living.

If you receive too much pension or benefit from us, you must repay the amount that was overpaid. If you receive too much because you gave incorrect information or because you withheld information, you will also be fined. The amount of the fine will be 10% of the amount that you received unduly, with a minimum of € 52.

For amounts over € 10,000, the SVB will set up a fraud investigation. If necessary, the SVB will report a case of fraud to the Public Prosecutor. It is therefore very important to report changes to us within 4 weeks.

If we suspect fraud, we can request information from other organizations and from your bank. We can do this if we have permission from the Public Prosecutor. If our investigation shows that you may have committed fraud, you will be called up for a hearing.

The hearing procedure

The purpose of the hearing will be to find out whether you have made an error and if so, whether the error was deliberate. You wiIl have the opportunity to clarify your position, and we will ask you to explain anything that may be unclear to us. You can bring a lawyer with you if you wish. You will receive a report of the hearing.

Public prosecutor

If it appears likely that you have committed fraud, we will report the case to the Public Prosecutor. The court will then decide whether or not you are guilty of fraud. If the Public Prosecutor decides not to prosecute, you will still have to repay the overpaid amount to the SVB. You may also be fined.

If you think someone is receiving too much pension or benefit from the SVB, let us know. You can do so anonymously, or you can give us a phone number so that we can call you back for more information.

To report fraud, call number +31 (0)30 - 264 98 80.

We will not be able to inform you about the results of an investigation because we are obliged to safeguard the privacy of our clients.