A man receives a back payment from his pension fund in 2018 covering a period of more than 11 years. The inspector counted this back payment in full as taxable income in 2018. As a result, the man has to repay the allowances he received in 2018. He also has to repay an amount to the UWV. Given the adverse consequences of allocating the back payment to the year 2018, the man wants the back payment to be spread over the years 2007 to 2018.
Receivable and collectible
The court ruled that it is not possible to remove the back payment from the 2018 income and still attribute it to previous years. Wages or periodic benefits are deemed to have been received at the time they were received, set off, made available, became interest-bearing or became receivable and collectible. The man did not apply for and was not awarded the pension benefit until 2018. Thus, although a claimable benefit existed in the earlier years, it was not yet immediately collectible. The inspector therefore correctly included the supplementary payment in the taxable income of 2018.