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Grensoverschijdende kwalificatieproblematiek: tussen sociale zekerheid en aanvullend pensioen

The Halloween Brexit didn’t take place. However, the lead-up to Brexit made it clear that it isn’t so easy to just cut off EU ties. Because when the UK leaves, it will have big consequences for the way its borders work. Now it is quite easy to travel and move to the UK, whereas Brexit will make this much harder. The free movement of workers is an important idea that the EU is built upon.

Maastricht University researcher Bastiaan Didden, studied how the free movement of workers in The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany works in practice. He looked into how the EU borders affect pensions, social security and taxes when working across a border.

Didden, PhD candidate in tax law, has found out that there are quite some uncertainties when it comes to these subjects. This is because the EU-member states are in large part independent concerning their taxes, pensions and social security rules. With more than 1.4 million cross-border workers in the EU (in 2017), the pensions of a significant amount of EU citizens are at stake. Because it could be the case that the pension you are building up in Germany can’t be continued in Belgium when you start working there.

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