WIA benefit and UWV: Questions and answers

Questioner

Since June 2007 I have received a WIA benefit from the UWV. Because I have also lived and worked abroad, I have also been entitled to a monthly benefit from abroad since 2007, but I was not aware of this. I thought that would only pay from retirement age. When applying for WIA, I filled in ALL the paperwork correctly and the UWV should have requested the benefit abroad. This monthly benefit should therefore be deducted from the UWV benefit. This did not happen because the UWV did not request this abroad at the time. Unfortunately, the UWV has only requested this now (2018) and wants to collect the entire foreign benefit from 2007 to May 2018 and cut my benefit from June 2018. Because the benefit is tax-free abroad and is normally paid out monthly NET, I have paid too much tax in the Netherlands all those years. (approx. € 130 per month) So this is an error by the UWV. I can not ask the tax authorities in the Netherlands for a 'recalculation' over all those years. The question is: Is there also a statute of limitations here? Can and may the UWV reclaim the entire benefit for all years (net)? And can I charge/deduct my overpaid tax from the UWV?

Lawyer

You should file an objection to the latest decision of the UWV as soon as possible, preferably with the support of a specialized legal aid provider. Article 76 of the WIA Act states that in urgent cases the UWV may fully or partially refrain from revising the previous decision (from 2007). Perhaps a mediation process can be started after the objection, in which it can also be discussed that you provided all the information truthfully in 2007 and that the UWV did not apply the principle of due care. Offsetting should have taken place then; this should have been known at the time if the decision on your application had been carefully prepared. I couldn't find anything about the statute of limitations.

Lawyer

About prescription: a claim usually expires after 20 years. An exception to this is if the UWV knew about the claim. In that case, the prescription period is 5 years. It is therefore possible that part of the claim has expired.