Dutch tax lessons while you sit back and relax

Thanks to the UT Nieuws and the Faculty Club Foundation, more than 50 foreign employees and family members gathered to learn more about the Dutch tax and social security system.

Hurrying to park their bikes one frosty October morning, the international crowd entered the Faculty Club and received a warm welcome from Bauke Visser, supervisor of the Bureau of Foreign Employees. ‘This initiative was born out of an article in the UT Nieuws and the generosity of the Faculty Club Foundation’, she explained handing me a cup of steaming coffee. ‘In the newspaper interview, I spoke about wanting to organize informal meetings, but not having the money to do so. A staff member of the Faculty Club Foundation then contacted me to offer a room, plus coffee and cake.’

This was the second gathering, and the first to focus on a practical aspect of living in the Netherlands. Ireen Miessen, who is the UT expert on labor conditions, social security, and pensions, was the guest speaker. ‘I’m interested in today’s topic because I plan to move to Germany and am wondering if there is a special way to handle my tax situation,’ said Dr. Ina Riansari who is Indonesian and working as a post-doc for the NanoElectronics Group.

During her talk, Miessen kept reassuring her audience that ‘even most Dutch people don’t understand their own tax system.’ She discussed a wide-range of issues, including child allowances, health insurance payments, pensions, income tax, tax refunds and tax credits. In addition, participants received a booklet ‘A short survey of Social Security in the Netherlands’ in English. All Miessen’s slides are also available on the internet at www.utwente.nl/pao/en.

‘I am here with my wife and two children,’ said Dr. Gonzalo Órdoñez who is Columbian and started working as an assistant professor in the Department of Management and Government in February. ‘Of course, I am interested in my tax implications. These meetings are very important in that they help us to better adapt to the city of Enschede and the Netherlands.’

Twenty-one percent of the UT employees have a foreign nationality and there are approximately 200 foreign guest researchers. ‘During the last two years,’ said Visser, ‘we have seen an increase in the number of foreign employees at the UT. Every year the bureau handles about 250 files. Each file is a researcher, with or without family members. Another plan we have is to establish a buddy or mentor program for new foreign employees to help them more easily adjust. Our goal is to help all of our foreign employees integrate into Dutch society.’

The monthly informal meetings will continue until January at which time the project will be assessed. ‘In November,’ said Visser, ‘we hope to invite a representative from the Enschede City Hall to talk about inburgering classes.’ These classes are social integration courses required by the Dutch government for certain foreign residents.

The success of the past two meetings is also due to the help of Nienke Nijenhuis, staff member of the Faculty Club Foundation. ‘We aim to bring people together on campus, and organize meetings between scientists, local industry, and government agencies,’ she said. Nijenhuis offered Visser tips on how to best organize the meetings to keep them informal and friendly.

Meanwhile, the diverse and global crowd chatted and mingled around us. Small children stayed close to their mothers, and, in true Dutch fashion, the coffee kept flowing.

For more information about the Bureau for Foreign Employees, see www.utwente.nl/pao/en

Irene Miessen advises foreign employees, ‘No matter where you are living when you reach retirement age, you are entitled to receive the funds in your Dutch pension.’ (Photo: Gijs van Ouwerkerk)