The birth of a child is one of the most beautiful events in a family's life. We all know that bringing a child into the world involves some serious costs. The government of the Netherlands has announced that from 1 January 2025 there will be changes to childcare costs.
Under current legislation, working parents who opt for crèche, nursery or BSO (after-school care while parents are still working) benefit from a tax reduction known as IACK (inkomstenafhankelijke combinatiekorting), i.e. a combined income-related discount. In other words, thanks to this government measure, parents are currently saving around EUR 30 000 over a period of around 12 years.
Are childcare costs rising?
The Dutch government recently announced that in future. childcare costs (kinderopvang) will be considerably reduced to almost free. As a result, the government no longer sees the need for the tax cut known as IACK. Abandoning this measure, which was once intended to encourage parents to return to work as soon as possible after giving birth to a child, would mean a €1.7bn reduction in the cost to the Dutch government.
However, this raises concerns among some members of the government and the public. The measure will come into force on 1 January 2025, meaning that anyone who gives birth before that date will still be eligible for IACK, while parents who give birth after that date will be subject to the new rules. This leads many to believe that some parents will deliberately choose to bring their child into the world (prematurely) or that we could be facing a baby boom in the period up to the end of 2024. However, the government argues that the current reasons for concern are unfounded as the waiver of the combined income-related rebate will basically be replaced by significant reductions in the cost of nursery, kindergarten, BSO.
It remains to be seen how things will look by January 2025. What is creating waves now may later be accepted as normal or, on the contrary, cause even more uproar. Time will tell!
Information sources: I am Expat, AD, Het Parool.
