FAQ Rules & Legislation on au pairs

Section 1: Basic Health Insurance

What can I do when the Basic Health Insurance company has rejected the application of my au pair?

• In case Zorg&Zekerheid is the insurance company, we will be able to assist you.
• In other cases we recommend you to contact the insurance company, explain to them that the application concerns the application of your au pair and point out the information on the website of SVB if necessary.

What does the deductible or excess (eigen risico) mean?

• This means that the insurance company does not reimburse for the costs made up to the amount of the excess.
• For example: You have an excess of 200 euros per year. In January and March you need to visit a doctor, that costs you 50 euros per treatment, a total amount of 100 euros. This is lower than the excess you have. This means that the insurance company will deduct the 100 euros of the total amount of 200 euros. In august you need a medical treatment that costs 400 euros. After the deduction of the excess that was still left, the insurance company will refund 300 euros in August.
• In other words, until you have reached the amount of your excess, the insurance company will not reimburse.

Does Basic Health Insurance provide the same coverage as the ISIS Au pair Insurance?

• No, these are two different insurances that cannot be compared.
• The Basic Health Insurance only covers costs for medical treatment. The content and reimbursement of the plan is set by the government (and thus, equal at all different Basic Health Insurance companies). The Basic Health Insurance covers for costs that are not covered under the ISIS Au pair Insurance, such as; treatment after drug abuse, STD and treatment for existing conditions.
• The Au pair Insurance covers, besides costs for emergency medical care, also for luggage, repatriation in case of calamities, arrival of family members in case the au pair would not be able to travel alone because of medical reasons and liability. These benefits are not offered by the Basic Health Insurance.
• Of course there will be an overlap in coverage in case the All-in Au pair Insurance and Basic Health Insurance are both active.
• This is why you can choose to adjust the coverage of the ISIS Au pair insurance from All-in coverage to Additional coverage, as soon as your au pair received the policy of the Basic Health Insurance. You will receive a discount on the remaining premium of the Au pair Insurance (refund).

Is it necessary to open a Dutch bank account for the au pair?

• In case your au pair wishes to apply for Health Care Allowance she will need a Dutch bank account.
• The bank account needs to be under the same name as the applicant of the allowance (your au pair).

Who needs to pay for the Basic Health Insurance?

• As far as we are aware, there are no regulations concerning the payment of the premium of the Basic Health Insurance.
• At the moment the Basic Health Insurance is applied for, the au pair might not have her Dutch bank account yet. It is not unusual that the host family pays for the Basic Health Insurance at first and changes the IBAN number into the number of the au pair as soon as she opens her bank account.
• As soon as your au pair received her Dutch bank account she will be able to receive the Health Care Allowance on her account and pay for the Basic Health Insurance herself.

Section 2: Legislation & Regulations

Is the au pair considered an employee?

• Assuming that the au pair is mediated by an official referent and only performs duties that are reported by the IND. The au pair is considered “au pair” and thus not an employee. Please note that the conditions of the official au pair program need to be met, the conditions are to be found on the website of the IND.
• In case one does fulfill duties as an au pair, but is not officially considered an au pair (does not meet the conditions of the program) she will be considered just an employee instead of an au pair. This can be avoided by using an official referent.

Does the au pair need to pay for payroll taxes?

• No, this is not the case. There is an official proclamation in which the State Secretary of Finance has determined that there is no need to collect premiums and taxes regarding social security.
• This proclamation states that certain fees the au pair receives are not taxable and because of that potential taxable fees will be limited (tax reduction taken into account) and too low to raise taxes from.

I received a letter from the Central Administration Office (CAK), what does this mean?

• In case you received a letter from the Central Administration Office (CAK), the letter will be in the name of your au pair. The CAK sends letters to people living and registered in the Netherlands without Basic Health Insurance.
• In this case the CAK probably noticed that your au pair is registered in the Personal Record Database (BRP) but has not applied for Basic Health Insurance yet. The au pair gets a certain period to arrange the Basic Health Insurance. JoHo could assist you with the application of the Basic Health Insurance of Zorg & Zekerheid.
• In case the au pair does not arrange the Basic Health Insurance within the set period, she risks a fine.

Is the au pair entitled to receive Health Care Allowance?

• The Tax and Customs Administration is the authority that assesses whether one is entitled to receive Allowance or not.
• The allowance is not arranged automatically, your au pair needs to apply for it after she arranged her Basic Health Insurance.
• Since the au pair receives a relatively low income (and usually does not have such a high amount of savings that this would exceed the set limit of the authorities) au pairs, in general, are entitled to receive Health Care Allowance.

How does an au pair apply for Health Care Allowance?

• As a rule, an au pair is entitled to a Health Care Allowance. After all, most au pairs do not have too much wealth or income, which means that they are entitled to compensation of the basic healthcare premium. All information about health care allowance can be found on the website of the Belastingdienst.
• What data do you need for this?
  • Taxable income (monthly allowance multiplied by the number of months in the relevant year)
  • Social Security Number (BSN)
  • Start date of the au pair duties
  • IBAN; this cannot be the host family's account number. The au pair must open their own bank account. If the au pair does not have an account number, you can call the tax authorities and submit a request or an exception can be made.
• By telephone: the easiest way to apply for this allowance at the Belastingdienst is by phone: 0800-0543.
• Online: healthcare allowance can be applied for online on the website of the Belastingdienst. This involves going through a number of steps, with a number of questions for each step that the au pair must answer. Only available in Dutch.
• Via a mobile app: This can only be used by people who do not have a benefit partner. If all goes well, the au pair will not have an benefit partner.

How to arrange Health Care Allowance in case of a single-parent family?

• An au pair that lives in a single-parent family might receive a rejection for the Health Care Allowance. The Tax and Customs Administration in those cases inform the au pair that she is not entitled to receive Health Care Allowance because the joint income is too high.
• This is caused by the fact that the Tax and Customs Administration recognises the au pair as the “toeslagpartner” (benefit partner). This is, of course, incorrect and the Tax and Customs Administration mentions this on their website as well.
• The Tax and Customs Administration requests you to contact them by phone in order to request them to assess your au pair as an “au pair” instead of your benefit partner.

What changes due to Covid-19?

• Of course the answer on this is subject to change because of lockdowns and changing rules and regulations. Different countries have different measures and because of that one au pair can easily travel from one country, while another au pair has to deal with a strict lockdown or strict visa requirements.
• Au pair agencies have to deal with those measures on a daily basis and know all about the regulations per country of residence. They will be able to inform you about this, as well as about the measures you need to take yourself.
• In case you want more information about the effect of Covid-19 on your au pair insurance, please check the information about coverage.