Fun extracts from insurance claim forms

  • “I started to slow down but the traffic was more stationary than I thought.”
  • “I pulled into a lay-by with smoke coming from under the bonnet. I realized the car was on fire so took my dog and smothered it with a blanket.”
  • Q: Could either driver have done anything to avoid the accident?
    A: Travelled by bus?
  • This Norwich Union customer collided with a cow. The questions and answers on the claim form were:
    Q: What warning was given by you?
    A: Horn
    Q: What warning was given by the other party?
    A: Moo
  • “I started to turn and it was at this point I noticed a camel and an elephant tethered at the verge. This distraction caused me to lose concentration and hit a bollard.”
  • “On approach to the traffic lights the car in front suddenly broke.”
  • “I didn’t think the speed limit applied after midnight”
  • “I knew the dog was possessive about the car but I would not have asked her to drive it if I had thought there was any risk.”
  • Q: Do you engage in motorcycling, hunting or any other pastimes of a hazardous nature?
    A: I Watch the Lottery Show and listen to Terry Wogan.
  • “Windscreen broken. Cause unknown. Probably Voodoo.”
  • “The car in front hit the pedestrian but he got up so I hit him again”
  • “I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment.”
  • “The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intention.”
  • “I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way”
  • “A truck backed through my windshield into my wife’s face”
  • “A pedestrian hit me and went under my car”
  • “In an attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole.”
  • “I had been shopping for plants all day and was on my way home. As I reached an intersection a hedge sprang up obscuring my vision and I did not see the other car.”
  • “I was on my way to the doctor with rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way causing me to have an accident.”
  • “To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front I struck the pedestrian.”
  • “My car was legally parked as it backed into the other vehicle.”
  • “An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished.”
  • “I was thrown from the car as it left the road. I was later found in a ditch by some stray cows.”

Information and Calculations

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Three types of income: the box system

For income tax purposes 3 types of taxable income are distinguished. These income types have been classified into 3 so-called boxes:

Box 1: taxable income from employment and home ownership;
Box 2: taxable income from a substantial interest;
Box 3: taxable income from savings and investments;

Box 1:

• Taxable income from employment and home ownership;
• Wages, pension payments, social benefits;
• Income from other activities;
• Company car;
• Profits from business activities;
• Owner-occupied property;
• Negative expenditure on income insurance;
• Negative personal allowance;
• Periodic benefits.

Deductible expenditure in Box 1:

• Employee’s allowance
• Deduction of mortgage interest and other deductible expenditure;
• Expenditure on income insurance: annuities and other premiums;
• Offsettable losses from employment and home ownership;

Tax rate in box 1:

• Progressive, with a maximum rate of 52%

Box 2:

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Update “pension accrual”

Sometimes news turns into old news within a few days. Two days ago we blogged hereabove that the the beneficial entitlement to pension accrual for tax purposes (deferred taxation system) can only be applied to a pensionable salary up to a maximum of €185,000. This now will not be implemented has been decided yesterday. For more info read this article. Unfortunately it’s only available in Dutch for the moment.


Salary Savings Scheme versus Life-Course Savings Scheme

(in Dutch: spaarloon versus levensloop) 

The Salary Savings Scheme

The Salary Savings Scheme (in Dutch: spaarloonregeling) will continue to exist alongside the Life-Course Savings Scheme. However, you are not allowed to participate in both schemes in the same year. If you have saved money under the Salary Savings Scheme in a particular year, you are only allowed to participate in the Life-Course Savings Scheme in the following year. It is possible, however, to withdraw money saved under both schemes in the same year. If you wish to stop participating in the Salary Savings Scheme, you must terminate your participation before 1 January of the year you no longer wish to participate.
It will depend on your personal needs and circumstances whether you will opt for the Salary Savings Scheme or the Life-Course Savings Scheme. Here are some of the differences between the schemes:

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Pension System Netherlands – The Institutional Architecture

Pension system in the Netherlands is characterized by the coexistence of different schemes. While no major reforms had been introduced in the last decade on old-age pensions, the trajectory of pension programmed radically altered after the Second World War. In the Dutch case, the public pension regime was completely changed in the 1950s: from the traditional Bismarckian model it shifted towards the universal social-democratic ideal-type realized in Scandinavian countries.

Then, its evolution was characterized by the presence of public and private institutions covering the old-age risk, in line with the multi-pillar paradigm. Thus, the first (public and mandatory) pillar consists of basic pensions covering all residents from the age of 65. These are flat-rate benefits indexed to wages but with the possibility for the government to suspend it in cases of rapid growth of beneficiaries.

Pensioen collectief maatwerk offerte

The first pillar in the Pension System Netherlands

The first pillar is financed by social contributions depending on taxable incomes (with premiums being part of the personal income tax). In 2000, the basic public pension represented around 50% of the retirement income, and 70% of the minimum wage for a single pensioner. In 1998, the government introduced the public pension savings fund (buffer fund) to face the expected future population ageing.

The fund is financed by public debt reduction. Total public pension spending was at 7.9% of GDP in 2000. It is expected to increase to a maximum level of 14.1% in 2040. A basic safety net is represented by the so-called social minimum: it is a means-tested programme for people in need. Local-level governments provide such social assistance.

The second (private and quasi-mandatory) pillar is then represented by supplementary funded pensions, taking the form of occupational funds at company and/or sectoral level. Admission rules for supplementary schemes are usually defined through collective agreements between employers and trade unions, even if the state defines by law their broad.

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