International Programs
Totalization Agreement with Netherlands
Introduction
For Netherlands, the Agreement covers invalidity insurance, general old-age insurance, general surviving spouse's and orphan's insurance, sickness insurance (cash benefits and benefits in kind), unemployment insurance, and children's allowances. The Agreement does not cover social or medical assistance schemes or special schemes for civil servants or persons treated as civil servants.
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Eliminating dual coverage for self-employment
- Self-employed workers who reside in the United States are assigned U.S. coverage.
- Self-employed workers who reside in Netherlands are assigned Dutch coverage.
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Dutch certificates for employees and self-employed workers
Employers and self-employed workers must request a certificate of coverage (form NL/USA 101) to establish an exemption from U.S. Social Security contributions.
Please mail your request to:
Sociale Verzekeringsbank
(Social Insurance Bank)
Department For International Secondment
Van Heuven Goedhartlaan 1
Postbus 357
1180 KJ Amstelveen
THE NETHERLANDS
Please provide the following information:
- Worker's full name (including maiden name);
- Worker's date of birth;
- Worker's place of birth;
- Worker's country of citizenship;
- Worker's country of permanent residence;
- Worker’s U.S. Social Security number;
- Worker's Netherlands social security number, if applicable;
- Date of hire, if employed;
- Country of hire, if employed;
- Nature of self-employment activity, if applicable;
- Name and address of the employer in the United States and the Agreement country (if self-employed, address of trade or business in both countries);
- Date of transfer and anticipated date of return of employment or self-employment in the Agreement country;
- Spouse first and last name;
- Spouse's Netherlands social security number (if known);
- Spouse date of birth; and
- All children’s first and last names; date of birth, and social security numbers (if known).
U.S. employers should retain certificates of coverage in case of an audit by the IRS. Employers should not send a copy to the IRS unless the IRS specifically requests the certificate of coverage.
Self-employed workers should attach a copy of the certificate of coverage to their U.S. tax return every year as proof of the exemption.
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Monthly benefits
Dutch benefits are paid under the following laws:
- AOW (General Old-Age Pensions Act);
- ANW (Surviving Dependent Act);
- WIA (Work and Income According to Labour Capacity Act);
- Wajong (Disablement Assistance Act for Handicapped Young Persons);
- WAO (Disablement Insurance Act [previous scheme]); and
- WAZ (Self-Employed Persons Disablement Benefits Act).
Under the U.S. Social Security system, you may earn up to four credits each year depending on the amount of your covered earnings. For example, in 2022, you receive one credit for each $1,410 of your covered annual earnings up to a maximum of four credits per year. The amount needed to earn a work credit goes up slightly each year.
Under the Dutch system, credits are measured in months. To simplify the information in the table, requirements are shown in years of credits.
|
Retirement or old-age benefits |
|
United States |
Netherlands |
Worker—Full benefits at full retirement age. *Reduced benefit as early as age 62. Required work credits range from 1 ½ to 10 years (10 years if age 62 in 1991 or later). |
Worker—Full benefits payable at age 65 with 50 years of coverage under the AOW; proportionately reduced pension if fewer than 50 years. Minimum of one year of AOW coverage needed to qualify. |
*The full retirement age is 66 for people born in 1943-1954 and will gradually increase to age 67 for people born in 1960 or later.
Disability benefits |
|
United States |
Netherlands |
Worker—Under full retirement age* can get benefit if unable to do any substantial gainful work for at least a year. 1 ½ to 10 years credit needed, depending on age at date of onset. Some recent work credits also needed unless worker is blind. |
Worker - Four types of benefits are payable.
|
*The full retirement age is 66 for people born in 1943-1954 and will gradually increase to age 67 for people born in 1960 or later.
|
Family benefits to dependents of retired or disabled people |
|
United States |
Netherlands |
Spouse—Full benefit at full retirement age* or at any age if caring for worker’s entitled child under age 16 (or disabled before age 22). Reduced benefit as early as age 62 if not caring for a child. |
Spouse—No provision. However, beneficiaries who are married or share a household with a person under age 65 may receive a benefit supplement in addition to their pension. |
Divorced spouse—Full benefit at full retirement age. *Reduced benefit as early as age 62. Must be unmarried and have been married to worker for at least 10 years. |
Divorced spouse—No provision. |
Children— If unmarried, up to age 18 (age 19 if in an elementary or secondary school full time) or any age if disabled before age 22. |
Children—No provision. |
*The full retirement age is 66 for people born in 1943-1954 and will gradually increase to age 67 for people born in 1960 or later.
|
Survivors benefits |
|
United States |
Netherlands |
Surviving Spouse—Full benefit at full retirement age* or at any age if caring for deceased’s entitled child under age 16 (or disabled before age 22). Reduced benefit as early as age 60 (or age 50 if disabled) if not caring for child. Benefits may be continued if remarriage occurs after age 60 (or age 50 if disabled). |
Surviving Spouse or living with partner—Benefit payable to survivor if: Surviving relative is under age 65; partner was insured under ANW on the date of death is caring for child(ren) under age 18, or is at least 45% occupationally disabled. |
Divorced Surviving Spouse—Same as surviving spouse if marriage lasted at least 10 years. |
Divorced Surviving Spouse—Benefit payable if not remarried or sharing a household with someone and would have met the requirements for a surviving spouse benefit if the former spouse had died before the divorce was final. |
Children—Same as for children of retired or disabled workers. |
Children—Benefit payable if both parents are deceased and the child is: Under age 16; or under age 18 and disabled; or under age 21 and a student. Note: If only one parent is deceased, a reduced orphan's benefit is paid to the person caring for a child who meets the above requirements. |
Lump-sum death benefit—A one-time payment not to exceed $255 payable on the death of an insured worker. |
Lump-sum death benefit—A one-time payment equal to one monthly benefit and holiday allowance payable on death of the worker. |
*The full retirement age for survivors is age 66 for people born in 1945-1956 and will gradually increase to age 67 for people born in 1962 or later.
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How benefits can be paid
If you have social security credits in both the United States and the Netherlands, you may be eligible for benefits from one or both countries. If you meet all the basic requirements under one country’s system, you will get a regular benefit from that country. If you do not meet the basic requirements, the Agreement may help you qualify for a benefit as explained below.
- Benefits from the United States - If you do not have enough work credits under the U.S. system to qualify for regular benefits, you may be able to qualify for a partial benefit from the United States based on both United States and Dutch credits. However, to be eligible to have your Dutch credits counted, you must have earned at least six credits (generally one and one-half years of work) under the U.S. system. If you already have enough credits under the U.S. system to qualify for a benefit, the United States cannot count your Dutch credits.
- Benefits from the Netherlands - Under the Agreement, people who meet certain conditions can get an increased Dutch old-age pension, or use their U.S. Social Security credits to help qualify for a Dutch disability or survivors pension.
- Old-age pension—A person can qualify for a Dutch old-age pension with as little as one year of Dutch coverage. Therefore, work credits under the U.S. system will not be counted when determining eligibility for the old-age pension.
The Agreement does permit certain people to qualify for a higher benefit amount based on special credits for periods they resided in the Netherlands before 1957. To qualify for these special pre-1957 credits, you must have earned some Dutch social security coverage after 1956 and meet certain eligibility requirements. - Disability and survivors pensions - Although there is no minimum coverage requirement for Dutch disability or survivors pensions, the worker must have been covered under the Dutch system at the time the disability began or at the time of death for a benefit to be payable.
Under the Agreement, the worker may meet this requirement if the worker has credit for a minimum of 12 months of Dutch coverage and had recent U.S. coverage (or was eligible for a U.S. benefit) at the time the disability began or at the time of death.
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Claims for benefits
If you live in the United States and wish to apply for United States or Dutch benefits:
- Visit or write any U.S. Social Security office.
- Phone our toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday - Friday. People who are deaf or hard of hearing may call our toll-free TTY number, 1-800-325-0778.
- Complete SSA-2490-BK (Application for Benefits Under a U.S. International Social Security Agreement) and mail to your local Social Security Administration office.
If you live in Netherlands and wish to apply for benefits, contact:
Federal Benefits Unit
United States Embassy
42 Elgin Road
Ballsbridge
Dublin 4
IRELAND - Any Dutch social security office to file for U.S. or Dutch benefits.
You can apply with one country and ask to have your application considered as a claim for benefits from the other country. Information from your application will then be sent to the other country. Each country will process the claim under its own laws—counting credits from the other country when appropriate—and notify you of its decision.
If you have not applied for benefits before, you may need to provide certain information and documents when you apply.
These may include:
- The worker’s United States and Dutch social security numbers;
- Proof of age for all claimants;
- Evidence of the worker’s U.S. earnings in the past 24 months; and
- Information about the worker’s coverage under the Dutch system.
You may wish to call the social security office before you go there to see if you need any other information.
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Payment of benefits
Each country pays its own benefit. U.S. payments are made by the U.S. Department of Treasury each month and cover benefits for the preceding month. The Netherlands also pays benefits each month for the preceding month. For more information, contact the Dutch authorities at the address in the section titled, “For more information.”
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For more information about Netherlands's social security programs
For more information about the Dutch social security programs, visit the Sociale Verzekeringsbank’s website at https://www.svb.nl/nl/ or contact any social security office in the Netherlands.
If you do not live in the Netherlands and you want information about retirement, survivors or child’s benefits, write to:
Sociale Verzekeringsbank
Postbus 18606
3501 CR Utrecht
THE NETHERLANDS
If you live outside the Netherlands and want information about disability benefits, write to:
GAK NL BV
Postbus 8300
1005 CA Amsterdam
THE NETHERLANDS