Fines and sanctions
A change in your situation can affect your pension or benefit, or your child benefit. The amount you can get may go up or down. This is why you must always report changes in your situation to us within 4 weeks (6 weeks if you live outside the Netherlands). If you do not report a change on time, you may get a fine or a sanction.
Fines
You will get a fine if you have received too much pension or benefit because:
- you did not report a change on time
- the information you gave us was incorrect or incomplete
The standard fine is half of the amount of pension or benefit that we overpaid to you. But the fine can also be higher or lower. If it is not the first time that you have been late in reporting a change, the fine will be higher. If you have a good reason for not reporting the change on time, the fine will be lower.
Warning
If you were late in reporting a change, but you did not receive too much money as a result, you will only get a warning. We will also give you a warning if:
- you received too much, but the overpayment was less than €150, or
- you informed us of the change of your own accord (within 60 days after the end of the 4-week time limit)
But if you received a warning from us before in the past two years, you will still get a fine.
Sanctions
If you do not respond to our questions on time, you may get a sanction. This means that we can deduct a minimum of €25 from your pension or benefit or your child benefit. If it is not the first time that you failed to respond on time, the sanction will be higher.