Child benefit - If you do not comply with the rules

Report changes within 4 weeks so that you never receive too much child benefit. If you live outside the Netherlands, you must report changes within 6 weeks. As soon as you report a change, the SVB will reassess your child benefit entitlement. The most important changes to report are:

• your child starts living away from home, or starts living with you again
• there is a change in your child’s income
• you are moving to another country

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.

We may visit you at home

If we are informed that your domestic situation has changed, we may visit you at home to check this.

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 sometimes visit clients outside the Netherlands to check their domestic situation. You can read about when we make house calls abroad in our twice-yearly magazine, ‘SVB info extra’.

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 then 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 the same as the amount you were overpaid. You will therefore have to repay the amount that was overpaid, and pay the same amount again as a fine. The minimum fine is € 150.

For amounts over € 50,000, 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 you live outside the Netherlands, you must report changes within 6 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.