If you employ a benefit recipient aged 56 or older, you are entitled to a premium discount that can amount to €7,000 per year. As long as the employee is employed by you, you are entitled to this discount (with a maximum of three years). The amount of €7,000 applies to employment contracts of 36 hours or more. If the employment is for fewer hours, the amount is adjusted pro rata.
This premium discount on employer contributions was also applicable before 2015. Back then, a lower age limit of 50-plus applied. Did you not apply this premium discount in the past when you may have been entitled to it? If so, please contact us. You may still be able to apply for the premium discount retroactively. Parliamentary questions have been raised about abuse of the scheme where employees were hired twice in a row using the premium discount scheme, by letting them receive unemployment benefits for one day in between. New regulations on this will be introduced in the near future.
Tip! The increased age limit applies to the older worker you hire from 1 January 2015. Did you already receive a premium discount (or mobility bonus) in 2014 for a benefit recipient aged 50 or over who is younger than 56 in 2015? If so, nothing will change and you will remain entitled to the allowance.