Individual choices model: all sources and targets

Sources

• Time (Article 2.1)

  As a source, time means the standard hours of holiday leave that are referred to in Article 4.7 of the collective labour agreement, and the compensatory leave hours in the event that the employee works an additional two hours per week on the basis of the ‘plus variant’ of the flexible working hours scheme. A maximum of 76 hours may be traded in. With regard to the above, part-time employees can trade in no more than 76 hours on a full-time basis. The value of the hours is calculated on the basis of the January salary of the calendar year in question, including any valid fixed allowances in that month. 

  Situations may occur in which it becomes apparent, during the course of the calendar year, that too many holiday hours have been used. In particular, this applies to student assistants who generally have short-term employment contracts and/or a low working time factor and therefore have significantly less time as a resource at their disposal. As a result, settlement must take place. After all, if employees use holiday leave hours that they do not accrue, they enjoy working conditions to which they are not entitled. Settlement must then take place at the end of the student assistantship.

  The same goes, for example, if a period of parental leave or partially or fully unpaid leave causes accrual to be reduced. According to Article 6.2, any such settlement must take place within a year after the end of the period of leave. 

  It may also be that, as a result of leave, employees who have obtained extra leave through their participation in the Individual choices model are unable to make use of it. The scheme provides for cases like this by allowing the individuals in question to convert these hours into money.

  Trading in time, as described in this article, can be combined with the trading in of another source, money, as described in Article 2.2.

• Money (Article 2.2)

  The sources to be used in money are:

  • salary (including any fixed applicable allowances) 
  • holiday allowance 
  • year-end bonus 

  subject to the restriction that the amount remaining must at least be equal to the minimum amounts cited in the Minimum Wage Act.

  Effects of trading in of sources (Article 5.2)

  The use of salary as a source in the Individual choice model may lead to the reduction (in accordance with employment law) of an employee's gross monthly salary and may affect salary-related allowances, social security benefits and pension. 

  Trading in the holiday allowance source or the year-end bonus source may affect social security benefits and pension. 

  Any such effects are borne by the employee, and are not subject to compensation. The various effects per source/target combination have been included in a summary matrix.

Targets

• Extra income (Article 2.3, paragraph a)

  A maximum of 38 holiday hours may be traded in for the target extra income. Part-timers may also trade in a maximum of 38 hours. 

  The decision to convert up to 38 hours into extra income results in an increase in salary. This choice offers no tax advantage. It is also a one-off choice; the source that has been traded in is exchanged in one go to the employee.

  Sold hours are depreciated from the Extra-statutory holiday leave entitlement account of the calendar year in which the holiday leave is sold.

  You can arrange this target yourself via the self-service option Individual choices model.

• Bicycle for commuting (Article 2.3, paragraph b)

  VU Amsterdam offers employees a one-off tax exchange for the purchase of an electronic or regular bicycle.

  A maximum of 2,000 euros applies (including VAT). The date on the purchase receipt determines the maximum amount that can be fiscally exchanged. The choice for the bicycle may be made no more than once per three calendar years.

  For more information, please visit the Bicycle scheme for employees page. 

  You can arrange this target yourself by going to the self-service option Individual choices model.

• Bicycle insurance for commuting to and from work (Article 2.3, paragraph c)

  VU Amsterdam offers employees a one-off tax exchange per calendar year for the premium for a bicycle insurance. Where this is the case, this bicycle insurance must relate to a bicycle exchanged via the self-service option Individual choices model. The entire insurance period on the policy or invoice has to apply to the year in which the tax exchange is taking place. In the event that the insurance period relates to multiple calendar years, the payment needs to have taken place in the year in which the tax exchange takes place.

  You can arrange this target yourself by going to the self-service option Individual choices model.

• Bicycle accessories for commuting to and from work (Article 2.3, paragraph d)

  VU Amsterdam offers employees a one-off tax exchange per calendar year of a maximum of 82 euros for the purchase costs of bicycle accessories. Bicycle accessories include at least all extras mounted to a bicycle, but also bicycle clothing and protection gear for the employee. These bicycle accessories must relate to a bicycle exchanged via the Individual choices model. 

  You can arrange this target yourself by going to the self-service option Individual choices model.

• Trade union contribution (Article 2.3, paragraph e)

  Any employee who is a member of a trade union may exchange the costs of the contribution for tax purposes. It concerns a one-off tax exchange per calendar year.

  The employee can select trade union contribution through the self-service option Individual choices model and select the desired source. The employee will then receive the exchanged amount as a lump sum payment with which to settle payment of the contribution with the trade union themselves.

  The invoice or letter of the trade union must be appended. It must include the employee’s name and the calendar year of the annual contribution.

• Study costs, (Article 2.3, paragraph f)

  In accordance with Article 5.1 (paragraph a) of the Training facilities Regulations, employees may be eligible for a reimbursement of 50% of the costs for a degree programme that, in the opinion of the employer, contributes to their career development. The remaining 50% of these training costs may be exchanged using the Individual choice model. The training agreement and a budget overview must be appended to this application.

  You can arrange this target yourself by going to the self-service option Individual choices model.

• School fees for staff members from abroad (Article 2.3, paragraph g)

  Under the terms of the Thirty percent ruling scheme, international employees who have been given permission by the Dutch tax authorities to make use of this ruling are eligible for reimbursement of the cost of the school fees charged by international schools. 

  This regulation forms part of the Individual choice model but cannot be requested using the self-service option Individual choices model. Please use the application form for this purpose.

  Given the complexity of processing, applications will be processed manually by the HR Service Desk. Only salary is available as a source for this target. 

  Which school fees are referred to?
  The actual cost of primary or secondary education at an international school or at the international department of a non-international school. The programme must be based on a foreign system, and the school or department in question should only be available to the children of employees who are working outside their country of origin. For the purposes of this plan, the costs of childcare, out-of-school care, or after-school care are not considered to be school fees.

• Donation to the UAF charity (Article 2.3, paragraph h)

  The Refugee Student Foundation UAF (University Assistance Fund) helps refugees in their studies and in finding work.

  Employees may exchange a maximum of 16 holiday hours as a donation to the UAF charity. VU Amsterdam will arrange the contribution to the UAF. Only the source holiday hours may be traded in for this target. This is a one-off option per calendar year, meaning it is not possible to exchange 8 holiday leave hours at the beginning of the calendar year and 8 holiday leave hours at the end of that same calendar year for this target, for instance.

  The self-service option Individual choices model will ask the employee whether VU Amsterdam may pass on the employee’s contact details to the charity, so that the UAF can directly inform donors of its activities. If the answer is yes, then the employee can indicate this in the self-service option Individual choices model. As a rule, contact details are not passed on to the UAF. 

• ABP Extra Pension (Article 2.3, paragraph i)

  The ABP Extra Pension can be used to save extra pension. This is possible as long as the employee is working and is accruing pension at ABP via their employer. The option to use the tax advantages that can be gained from the Individual choices model with regard to additional pension accrual depends on the tax scope. The employee can find the tax scope that applies to them in MijnABP. If no amount is shown here, then the employee can contact the ABP customer service. ABP will then calculate the tax scope manually. This overview of the tax scope must be appended with an application. Payments from the Individual choice model are made annually. Consequently, the choice must be made anew each calendar year. These are processed on a monthly basis, calculated from the month selected as the start date over the remaining months of the calendar year.

• Additional holiday hours (Article 2.3, paragraph j)

  It is possible to purchase additional holiday leave hours by trading in salary, holiday allowance or year-end bonus. The resulting salary reduction can affect social security benefits and pension. No maximum has been set; purchasing additional holiday leave hours is not restricted as long as the sources allow.

  Purchased hours are added to the Extra-statutory holiday leave entitlement account of the calendar year in which the hours were purchased.

  You can arrange this target yourself by going to the self-service option Individual choices model.

• Additional holiday hours for Long-term saving model (Article 2.3, paragraph k)

  It is possible to add extra hours of holiday leave for the purposes of the Long-term saving model as referred to in Article 5.5 of the collective labour agreement, which enables employees to save for a period of sabbatical leave over a period of between 3 and 5 years. To select this target in the Individual choice model, the employee must already be making use of Long-term saving model. In fact, the period of sabbatical leave is extended by trading in money and/or holiday hours, so that more holiday hours are purchased to extend the leave period. Purchased hours are added to the Long term saving account of the current savings period.

  However, the statutory maximum for long-term leave is still 250 days for a full-time employment contract. Above a certain level there is a tax-related impact on saving in time with the employer. Holiday leave entitlements are exempt insofar as these do not exceed the weekly working hours calculated over a period of 50 weeks at the end of the calendar year. This means 250 days leave based on a full-time contract (5 days per week during 50 weeks).

  You can arrange this target yourself by going to the self-service option Individual choices model.

• Tax-free allowance for funding of travel expenses (Section 3)

  Via the Individual choices model, the employee can opt for an (additional) tax-free allowance for funding travel expenses through the exchange of gross salary. The tax scope of a gross salary is possible up to the maximum of 24 cents per kilometre (for 2024, 23 cents has been exempted from tax and the remaining 1 cent is covered by the optional sections of the VU Amsterdam work-related expenses scheme). For the tax exchange, only salary can be used as a source. This reduction in salary is reflected only in the base for calculating the social insurance scheme premiums and does not affect salary-related allowances, holiday allowance, year-end bonus, or pension accrual.

  Applications
  The request for the exchange of travel expenses must be submitted via the self-service option Commuting allowance statement. Although this choice is part of the Individual choice model, the administrative request is organised via a different self-service option. The employee must select a date of commencement that is no more than two months prior to or later than the date on which they used this self-service option. The date of commencement they select must always be in the current calendar year. Please note that this choice is valid permanently until the employee turns off the tax exchange again via the self-service option Commuting allowance statement.

• Thirty percent ruling scheme (Section 4)

  Employees that comply with the requirements for a tax exchange can take part in the Thirty percent ruling scheme. In this way the employee lowers their salary and other gross emoluments, receiving a permanent net expense allowance. This fixed expense allowance is intended to cover the so-called extraterritorial expenses. Given the complexity of the Individual choice model, the Thirty percent ruling scheme will be processed manually by the HR Service Desk. For this reason the application will occur via another process. For more information, please visit the Thirty percent ruling scheme page. There is also a link to the self-service option.

• Flexible working hours

  The collective labour agreement includes flexible working hours as a target within the Individual choices model. VU Amsterdam has a separate scheme for flexible working hours: ‘Additional Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam rules on flexible working hours’ in which the choice (time for time) is not handled administratively through the self-service option Individual choices model, but by means of a work schedule change. The employee and manager will decide on a monthly schedule. The starting point is a basic variant of 38 hours a week (full-time employment). By opting for flexible working hours, the employee can work either two hours more (the plus variant) or two hours less (the minus variant) per week than the 38 hours. The salary will always be based on 38 working hours per week, and any hours worked in excess or below that number will be compensated with holiday leave hours. The hours generated in the plus variant are part of the source as determined in Article 2.1. A possible elaboration of flexible working hours for part-time employees is described in Annex G of the Collective Labour Agreement.

Are you looking for information on these topics too?