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Yes. The Commissioner will accept an amount equal to 25% of the gross annual pension as the deductible amount for those pensions.

Article 18 of the Australia/Netherlands Double Tax Agreement [F1] provides for the taxation of public social security system pensions only in the recipient's country of residence. Therefore, pensions received by Australian residents from the Sociale Verzekeringbank (SVB) under the Netherlands social security system are not to be taxed in the Netherlands but must be included in the recipient's assessable income for Australian taxation purposes under section 27H of the ITAA 1936.

The taxable amount of these pensions can generally be reduced by the pension's undeducted purchase price, or UPP. Broadly, UPP comprises non-employer contributions made to purchase a pension which were not allowable deductions as defined in section 6 of the ITAA 1936 and which, for contributions before 1 July 1983, did not give rise to a rebate of income tax. The UPP forms the basis of the 'deductible amount' (calculated under subsection 27H(2) of the ITAA 1936) which is excluded from the pension recipient's gross pension (under subsection 27H(1) of the ITAA 1936).

Under subsection 27H(3) of the ITAA 1936, the Commissioner has a discretion to substitute a deductible amount which is different from the amount calculated in accordance with the formula in subsection 27H(2) of the ITAA 1936. The Commissioner will exercise his discretion if he considers the deductible amount calculated in accordance with subsection 27H(2) of the ITAA 1936 is inappropriate having regard to the terms and conditions applying to the pension and to any other matters he considers to be relevant.

Under the Netherlands social security system, residents of the Netherlands are required to make compulsory social security contributions during their working lives, and former residents have the option of making voluntary social security contributions to maximise their pension entitlement. Netherlands social security pensions are subsequently paid by the SVB to those residents (or former residents) based on the number of years of contributions.

We accept that the old age pensions and the widows/widowers/orphans pensions paid by the SVB are contributory pensions and recipients of those pensions are entitled to have a deductible amount excluded from the pension received. However, the Ministry of Finance of the Netherlands has advised that complete data on actual contributions is often not available from the relevant Netherlands institutions. This means that it is often not possible to establish the full amount of actual contributions which form the 'purchase price' (as defined in subsection 27A(1) of the ITAA 1936) of such pensions.

We appreciate that it will be difficult for recipients of Netherlands social security pensions to calculate the exact amount of UPP because of the difficulties in obtaining all the necessary information. Therefore, having regard to the particulars of the Netherlands social security system and the general circumstances of Australian residents in receipt of these Netherlands social security pensions (including the average pension received and the period of time the former Netherlands residents have lived in Australia), the Commissioner will calculate the deductible amount as 25% of the gross pension paid (expressed in Australian currency).