{"id":466,"date":"2017-03-17T14:54:21","date_gmt":"2017-03-17T13:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/uncategorized\/vrijwilligersregeling-verruimd\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T10:32:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T09:32:56","slug":"volunteer-scheme-expanded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/vrijwilligersregeling-verruimd\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteer scheme expanded"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"VWGNijhof<\/p>\n

In a letter<\/a> State Secretary Jetta Kleijnsma of Social Affairs and Employment has informed the House of Representatives that the volunteer scheme is to be extended. This extension will come into effect on 1 April 2017<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Volunteer scheme<\/h4>\n

There is no single \u2018volunteer scheme\u2019. Most people associate the term \u2018volunteer scheme\u2019 with the tax scheme. Under that scheme, a volunteer may receive up to \u20ac150 per month and up to \u20ac1,500 per year tax-free. Any organisation that pays allowances to volunteers within these limits also runs no risk of (subsequent) income tax being levied. We explained in our article that these limits are strictly enforced. The volunteer scheme operates on a cash basis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, different rules apply to volunteers who are receiving unemployment benefit or social security benefits. And different maximum amounts apply. A person receiving social assistance may receive a maximum of \u20ac95 per month and \u20ac764 per year in remuneration as a volunteer. If the volunteer receives more than this, the excess will be deducted from their benefits.<\/p>\n

Volunteer scheme expanded<\/h4>\n

The increase announced by Klijnsma relates to the latter amounts. These will also be raised to the tax-free thresholds (\u20ac150 per month and \u20ac1,500 per year) for social assistance and unemployment benefit. These amounts will apply from 1 April 2017, regardless of whether the voluntary work contributes to the volunteer\u2019s reintegration into the labour market.<\/p>\n

All other rules remain unchanged. Anyone receiving unemployment benefit or social security must report their voluntary work to the benefits agency. Any remuneration received must be reported periodically. And each local authority retains its own discretion.<\/p>\n

A missed opportunity?<\/h4>\n

Although the measure now announced by the State Secretary helps to simplify the volunteer scheme, it could certainly be made a great deal simpler. Why is the definition of the term \u2018volunteer\u2019 used in tax legislation not declared to apply wherever a volunteer scheme is in force? Apparently, that is still a step too far at present.<\/p>\n

The idea floated in political circles to increase the maximum amounts under the volunteer scheme has not yet been taken up. Everyone emphasises that volunteers are important to our society. However, this is counterbalanced by the fear that volunteers might displace paid labour. Our neighbours to the east have already resolved this issue for years with the mini-job<\/a>. Perhaps we should put that in the politicians\u2019 suggestion box.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In een brief laat Staatssecretaris Jetta Kleijnsma van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid de Tweede Kamer weten dat de vrijwilligersregeling wordt verruimd. Deze verruiming gaat in op 1 april 2017. Vrijwilligersregeling D\u00e9 vrijwilligersregeling bestaat niet. De meeste mensen denken bij de vrijwilligersregeling aan de fiscale regeling. Op grond van die regeling mag een vrijwilliger belastingvrij maximaal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}