Totalization Agreement with the Netherlands

An agreement effective November 1, 1990, between the United States and the Netherlands improves Social Security protection for people who work or have worked in both countries.  It helps many people who, without the agreement, would not be eligible for monthly retirement, disability or survivors benefits under the Social Security system of one or both countries.  It also helps people who would otherwise have to pay Social Security taxes to both countries on the same earnings. 

The agreement covers Social Security taxes (including the U.S. Medicare portion) and Social Security retirement, disability and survivors insurance benefits.  It does not cover benefits under the U.S. Medicare program or the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.

This document covers highlights of the agreement and explains how it may help you while you work and when you apply for benefits.

• While you work–If your work is covered by both the U.S. and Dutch Social Security systems, you (and your employer, if you are employed) normally would have to pay Social Security taxes to both countries for the same work.  However, the agreement eliminates this double coverage, so you pay taxes to only one system (see Part II).

• When you apply for benefits–You may have some Social Security credits in both the U.S. and the Netherlands but not have enough to be eligible for benefits in one country or the other. The agreement makes it easier to qualify for benefits by letting you add together your Social Security credits in both countries. For more details, see the section on "Monthly Benefits" in Part IV.

Before the agreement, employees, employers and self-employed people could, under certain circumstances, be required to pay Social Security taxes to both the United States and the Netherlands for the same work.

Under the agreement, if you work as an employee in the United States, you normally will be covered by the United States, and you and your employer will pay Social Security taxes only to the United States.  If you work as an employee in the Netherlands, you normally will be covered by the Netherlands, and you and your employer pay Social Security taxes only to the Netherlands.

On the other hand, if your employer sends you from one country to work for that employer or an affiliate in the other country for five years or less, you will continue to be covered by your home country and you will be exempt from coverage in the other country. For example, if a U.S. company sends an employee to work for that employer or an affiliate in the Netherlands for no more than five years, the employer and employee will continue to pay only U.S. Social Security taxes and will not have to pay in the Netherlands.

If you are self-employed and reside in the United States or the Netherlands, you generally will be covered and taxed only by the country where you reside.

NOTE:  In addition to retirement, survivors and disability benefits, Dutch Social Security taxes cover several other programs including health and sickness insurance benefits, unemployment benefits and family allowances.  As a result, workers exempted from Dutch Social Security coverage by the agreement pay no Social Security taxes for these programs and generally cannot receive benefits from them.  If the agreement exempts you from Dutch coverage, you and your employer may wish to arrange for alternative benefit protection.

The following table shows whether your work is covered under the U.S. or Dutch Social Security system. If you are covered under U.S. Social Security, you and your employer (if you are an employee) must pay U.S. Social Security taxes. If you are covered under the Dutch system, you and your employer (if you are an employee) must comply with the Dutch contribution requirements. Part III explains how to get a form from the country where you are covered that will prove you are exempt in the other country.

To establish an exemption from compulsory coverage and taxes under the Dutch system, your employer must request a certificate of coverage from the U.S. at this address:

Social Security Administration
Office of International Programs
P.O. Box 17741
Baltimore, Maryland 21235-7741
U.S.A.

If preferred, the request may be sent by FAX to (410) 966-1861.   Please note this FAX number should only be used to request certificates of coverage. 

No special form is required to request a certificate but the request must be in writing and provide the following information:

-Full name of worker (including maiden name for married woman);
-Date and place of birth;
-Citizenship;
-Country of worker's permanent residence;
-U.S. Social Security number;
-Name (including maiden name of wife), relationship and date of birth of family members accompanying the worker;
-Date of hire;
-Country of hire;
-Name and address of the employer in the U.S. and the Netherlands; and
-Date of transfer and anticipated date of return.

In addition, your employer must indicate if you remain an employee of the U.S. company while working in the Netherlands or if you become an employee of the U.S. company's affiliate in the Netherlands.  If you become an employee of an affiliate, your employer must indicate if the U.S. company has an agreement with the IRS under section 3121(l) of the Internal Revenue Code to pay U.S. Social Security taxes for U.S. citizens and residents employed by the affiliate and, if yes, the effective date of the agreement.

Your employer can also request a certificate of U.S. coverage for you over the Internet using a special online request form available at www.socialsecurity.gov/coc. Only an employer can use the online form to request a certificate of coverage. A self-employed person must submit a request by mail or fax.

To establish your exemption from coverage under the U.S. Social Security system, your employer in the Netherlands must request a certificate of coverage (form NL/USA 101) from the Netherlands at this address:

Sociale Verzekeringsbank
(Social Insurance Bank)
Kantoor Verzekeringen
Van Heuven
Goedhartlaan 1
P.O. Box 357
1180 KJ Amstelveen
THE NETHERLANDS

The same information required for a certificate of coverage from the United States is needed to get a certificate of coverage from the Netherlands except that you must show your Dutch Social Security number rather than your U.S. Social Security number.

If you are self-employed and would normally have to pay Social Security taxes to both the U.S. and Dutch systems, you can establish your exemption from one of the taxes.

• If you reside in the United States, write to the Social Security Administration at the address in Part III.A above; or

• If you reside in the Netherlands, write to the Sociale Verzekeringstaad at the address in Part III.A above.

Be sure to provide the following information in your letter:

• Full name (including maiden name for married woman);
• Date and place of birth;
• Citizenship;
• Country of permanent residence;
• U.S. and/or Dutch Social Security number;
• Name (including maiden name of wife), relationship and date of birth of family members accompanying you;
• Nature of self-employment activity;
• Dates the activity was or will be performed; and
• Name and address of your trade or business in both countries.

 

The certificate of coverage you receive from one country will show the effective date of your exemption from paying Social Security taxes in the other country. Generally, this will be the date you began working in the other country.

Certificates of coverage issued by the Netherlands should be retained by the employer in the United States in case of an audit by the IRS. No copy should be sent to the IRS unless specifically requested by the IRS.  However, a self-employed person must attach a photocopy of the certificate to his or her income tax return each year as proof of the U.S. exemption.

Copies of certificates of coverage issued by the United States will be provided for both the employee and the employer.  It will be their responsibility to present the certificate to the Dutch authorities when requested to do so.  To avoid any difficulties, your employer (or you, if you are self-employed) should request a certificate as early as possible, preferably before your work in the other country begins.

If you or your employer request a certificate of coverage, you should read the Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act Statements below.

The following table shows the various types of Social Security benefits payable under the U.S. and Dutch Social Security systems and briefly describes the eligibility requirements that normally apply for each type of benefit.  If you do not meet the normal requirements for these benefits, the agreement may help you to qualify (see Part IV.A below).

Dutch benefits are paid under the following laws:

• AOW (General Old-Age Act)
• ANW (General Survivors Benefits Act)
• WAO (Disability Benefits Act)
• WAZ (Self-employed Persons Disability Benefits Act)

This table is only a general guide. You can get more specific information about U.S. benefits here on our web site or at any U.S. Social Security office or by calling our toll-free number at 1-800-772-1213. You can get more detailed information about the Dutch system by writing to the appropriate Dutch address in Part VII of this document or by visiting the Sociale Verzekeringsbank's web site at www.svb.nl/internet/nl/index.jsp.

Under U.S. Social Security, you may earn up to four credits each year depending on the amount of your covered earnings. For example, in 2005, you get one credit for each $920 of your covered annual earnings up to a maximum of four credits for the year. Under the Dutch system, credits are measured in months.  To simplify the information in the table, requirements are shown in years of credits. 

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.

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 U.S. based on both U.S. 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 U.S. cannot count your Dutch  credits.

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.

1. 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.

2. 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 he or she 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.

You do not have to do anything to have your credits in one country counted by the other country.  If we need to count your credits under the Dutch system to help you qualify for a U.S. benefit, we will get a copy of your Dutch record directly from the Netherlands when you apply for benefits.  If Dutch officials need to count your U.S. credits to help you qualify for a Dutch benefit, they will get a copy of your U.S. record directly from the Social Security Administration when you apply for the Dutch benefit. 

Although each country may count your credits in the other country, your credits are not actually transferred from one country to the other. They remain on your record in the country where you earned them and can also be used to qualify for benefits there.

When a U.S. benefit becomes payable as a result of counting both U.S. and Dutch Social Security credits, an initial benefit is determined based on your U.S. earnings as if your entire career had been completed under the U.S. system.  This initial benefit is then reduced to reflect the fact that Dutch credits helped to make the benefit payable.  The amount of the reduction will depend on the amount of U.S. credits: the more U.S. credits, the smaller the reduction; and the fewer U.S. credits, the larger the reduction.

Medicare is the U.S. national health insurance system for people age 65 or older or who are disabled. Medicare has two parts: hospital insurance (also called "Part A" Medicare) and medical insurance (called "Part B" Medicare). You are eligible for free hospital insurance at age 65 if you have worked long enough under U.S. Social Security to qualify for a retirement benefit. People born in 1929 or later need 40 credits (about 10 years of covered work) to qualify for retirement benefits.

Although the agreement between the United States and the Netherlands allows the Social Security Administration to count your Dutch credits to help you qualify for U.S. retirement, disability or survivor benefits, the agreement does not cover Medicare benefits. As a result, we cannot count your credits in the Netherlands to establish entitlement to free Medicare hospital insurance.

For more information about Medicare, call our toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213, and ask for the booklet, Medicare (Publication #05-10043) or visit Medicare’s website at www.medicare.gov.

If you live in the United States and wish to apply for U.S. or Dutch benefits:

• Visit or write any U.S. Social Security office; or

• Phone our toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. any business day. People who are deaf or hard of hearing may call our toll-free TTY number, 1-800-325-0778.

You can apply for Dutch benefits at any U.S. Social Security office by completing application form SSA-2490.

If you live in the Netherlands and wish to apply for benefits, contact:

• The Federal Benefits Unit at the U.S. Embassy in Dublin, Ireland, (phone 353-1-6687-122 ext. 2112) to file for U.S. benefits; or
  
  
• Any Dutch Social Security office to file for Dutch benefits.

If you have not applied for benefits before, you may need to provide certain information and documents when you apply.  These include the worker's U.S. 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 any other information is needed. 

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.

Normally, people who are not U.S. citizens may receive U.S. Social Security benefits while outside the U.S. only if they meet certain requirements. Under the agreement, however, you may receive benefits as long as you reside in the Netherlands regardless of your nationality.  If you are not a U.S. or Dutch citizen and live in another country, you may not be able to receive benefits.  The restrictions on U.S. benefits are explained in the booklet,"Your Payments While You Are Outside The United States" (Publication #05-10137).

If you disagree with the decision made on your claim for benefits under the agreement, contact any U.S. or Dutch Social Security office.  The people there can tell you what you need to do to appeal the decision.

The Dutch Social Security authorities will review your appeal if it affects your rights under the Dutch system, while U.S. Social Security authorities will review your appeal if it affects your rights under the U.S. system.  Since each country's decisions are made independently of the other, a decision by one country on a particular issue may not always conform with the decision made by the other country on the same issue.

To file a claim for U.S. or Dutch benefits under the agreement, follow the instructions in Part VI.

To find out more about U.S. Social Security benefits or for information about a claim for benefits, contact any U.S. Social Security office or call our toll-free number at 1-800-772-1213. If you live outside the United States, write to:

Social Security Administration
OIO—Totalization
P.O. Box 17769
Baltimore, Maryland 21235-7769
U.S.A.

For more information about the Netherlands' Social Security programs:

• If you live in the Netherlands, visit any Social Security office in the Netherlands;
• If you live outside the Netherlands and want information about retirement, survivors, or child's benefits, contact:

Sociale Verzekeringsbank
Postbus 576
9700 AN Groningen
THE NETHERLANDS;  or

• If you live outside the Netherlands and want information about disability benefits, contact:

GAK NL BV
Postbus 8300
1005 CA Amsterdam
THE NETHERLANDS

 

If you do not wish to file a claim for benefits, but would like more information about the agreement, write to:

Social Security Administration
Office of International Programs
P.O. Box 17741
Baltimore, Maryland 21235-7741
U.S.A.