Benefits when you have children

To apply for benefits and arrange taxes, you need a DigiD. DigiD stands for Digital Identity. With your DigiD you can show who you are when you want to arrange something with a government organisation on the internet. You can apply for a DigiD yourself. If you need help, ask the municipality where you live and/or refugee work which organisation can support you with this. The DigiD manual will help you create a DigiD.

The child benefit is a contribution to your child's maintenance costs. If you live in the Netherlands and have one or more children under 18, you may be entitled to child benefit. One of the conditions is that you have a job. If you no longer work, you must also stop your child benefit. The easiest way is to send a message via WhatsApp to: +31 6 10646363 and indicate that you are no longer working. You can also pass this on at www.svb.nl by logging in with your DigiD.

If you do not report that you are no longer working, you will have to pay back the money you received in surplus later. If you change jobs, you do not have to report it. If you want to know if you are entitled to child benefit or have another question about child benefit, contact the Social Insurance Bank.

The child related budget is a contribution that comes on top of the child benefit. For the child related budget, your and your partner's income must not be too high and you must meet some requirements. If you would like to know if you are entitled to the child budget, check the website of the Dutch tax authorities for the conditions and all relevant information. If you would like to apply for child budget, you can do so through the website of the Dutch tax authorities.

Childcare allowance is a contribution to the cost of childcare for working or studying parents. You must meet certain conditions to apply for this benefit. You can download the toolkit explaining childcare allowance. This is a tool for parents that provides a step-by-step explanation. The toolkit is available to everyone and is free to download in Dutch, English, Russian and Ukrainian. The Toolkit was conceived and developed by BOinK, the Belangenvereniging van Ouders in de Kinderopvang.

The app is available for free to download in the App Store (Apple) and on Google Play (Android). After downloading, you can choose from Dutch, English, Ukrainian or Russian in the app.

Here you can read in brief whether you qualify for the childcare allowance. You can also check the conditions on the website of the Dutch tax authorities.

• The main condition is that you earn money from work and pay taxes on it. If you do not earn money with the work on which you pay taxes, then this does not count as work. For example: volunteer work or caregiver.

• In addition, your child must attend a registered daycare. The municipality checks whether the care is good and safe. Approved care is registered in the Dutch National Childcare Register (LRK) and has an LRK number. Without this number you cannot apply for childcare allowance.

• You always pay part of the cost of childcare yourself. You can pay one part of the costs with the childcare allowance. The other part you have to pay yourself. That is the compulsory contribution.

If you work and have children, you are entitled to child benefits. Sometimes you are also entitled to allowances. This is an extra amount of money. Single parents in the Netherlands can receive an extra amount in addition to the child benefit. This is called the 'allenstaande ouderkop' (ALO-kop). Not everyone can receive this amount of money.

You are only entitled to this amount if you:

• Work.

• Do not have a partner (abroad).

• Care for and raise a child under the age of 18.

• Do not have an allowance partner.

• Your application for child support has been approved.

The 'alleenstaande ouderkop' single parent cap is part of the child budget and child care allowance. How much money you get depends on your income and the number of children you have. The amount is paid each month. You can use the allowance to pay for clothing, school supplies and activities for your children, for example.

Please note: Allowances can be applied for online via the Dutch tax authorities. Sometimes the form is automatically filled out for you by the tax authorities. This is not always correct. If the form is not filled out correctly, the allowance may be incorrectly granted and you may have to pay money back. Above all, there is a risk that the system may wrongly see you as a single parent, and thus wrongly grant you additional single parent contribution.