My APS
My APS

APS

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  • Paying In

Paying In

You accrue pension with APS via the contributions that you and your employer pay each month. These contributions are invested by APS.

The saved contributions and the investment returns ensure that you will later receive a life-long senior’s pension or disability pension and that there will be a benefit for your marriage partners and possible (under-age) children when you pass away.

What do you pay for your pension?

The total pension contribution is 18% of your salary. Your employer pays the greater part of this contribution. You pay 8% of the pension base. The pension base is your salary minus the offset. The offset is the part of your annual salary over which you do not accrue pension, as you will later also receive AOV from the government.

View All Pension Types

Example

Let us give an example. Suppose your annual salary is Afl. 50,000.

The total pension contribution is 18% x Afl. 50,000: Afl. 9,000 per year

Your share in the contribution:

Annual salary:

Afl. 50,000

Minus franchise:

Afl. 19,131

Pension base:

Afl. 30,869

Each year you pay 8% of

Afl. 30,869

Afl. 2,469.52

Each year your employer pays:

Afl. 6,530,48

Your monthly pension contribution is Afl. 2,469,52 : 12 = Afl. 205,79.

Your share in the pension contribution is deducted from your salary by the employer. You can see this on your salary slip.
Your employer pays the total pension contribution to APS.

Your situation Changes

Certain events in your life and career have influence on your pension. Below you will find an overview of these events. Click on the links to read what the influence on your pension is and what you have to do yourself.

Marriage

When you get married, it is important that you inform APS. You can do this via the amendment and correction form in which you report changes in your personal situation.

As a participant of APS you accrue a senior’s pension. In addition, the pension plan has a widow(er)’s pension for your husband/wife and an orphan’s pension for your children until the age of 18 or 27 if they are still studying or are incapacitated for work.

When you get married before you reach the age of 65, your partner will be entitled to a widow(er)’s pension. The children that are born from the marriage will be entitled to an orphan’s pension if you pass away.

Living together

Are your going to live together without being married? Then your partner will not be entitled to a widow(er)’s pension. Your children will be entitled to an orphan’s pension.

Important to know

More information about the widow(er)’s pension and the orphan’s pension can be found under Widow(er)’s pension, Orphan’s pension and under Death. Information about the rules for the widow(er)’s pension and the orphan’s pension after a divorce can be found under Divorce.

Birth

If you have a child it is good to notify APS of the happy occasion. The pension plan of APS has an orphan’s pension that ensures that your underage children are not left unattended financially if you should pass away.

How about orphan’s pension?

The orphan’s pension is for children up to the age of 18 or 27 if they are still studying or are unable to provide for themselves due to illness or disability. An orphan who is married is not entitled to a orphan’s pension. For the orphan’s pension, a distinction is made between full and half orphans. For half orphans – if the surviving parent derives pension rights from your death – there is an orphan’s pension per child that is 14% of the senior’s pension. For full orphans – children who do not have a parent who derives pension rights from the death of the participant – there is an orphan’s pension per child that is 28% of the senior’s pension to be reached.

The level of the orphan’s pension also depends on the widow(er)’s pension for your widow/widower and the orphan’s pension for your children in relation to your senior’s pension. The sum of the widow(er)’s pension and all orphan’s pensions can never be higher than your senior’s pension. Suppose you have a senior’s pension of Afl. 20,000 per year and that the sum of the widow(er)’s pension and the orphan’s pensions is Afl. 30,000 in total. In that case, the widow(er)’s pension and the orphan’s pensions are lowered proportionally so that the total sum does not exceed Afl. 20,000.

Important to know

Your will find all details in the  Pensioenlandsverordening overheidsdienaren (national ordinance pension of civil servants AB 2020 no.34).

Disability

If you are permanently unable to do your job due to illness or defects, your employer can dismiss you. You are then entitled to a disability pension. The decision for this is taken by the board of APS based on a medical examination by a medical committee consisting of three members to be appointed by the board.

If you have been ill for a long time, your employer is entitled to dismiss you after some time (the period varies per type of employer). Before this date of dismissal, an request is made for a medical examination. You have to make an appointment for this yourself. The outcome of the examination is valid for a maximum period of one year. The disability pension starts at the moment of dismissal. The disability pension is life-long.

Level disability pension

The level of the disability pension from the date that you start to receive this pension is equal to the amount of senior’s pension that you could have reached if you had continued to work until your retirement. The disability pension is re-calculated  as of the retirement date as you will also start to receive AOV then.

Changes in the disability pension resulting from the 2020 pension reform

Re-examination of the diagnosed disability and (subsequent) ending of the disability pension will become possible, and the possibility of introducing partial disability, and subsequent partial pension, in the future are included in the ordinance of the 2020 pension reform.

Important to know

More detailed information about this disability pension can be found in the Pensioenlandsverordening overheidsdienaren (national ordinance pension of civil servants AB 2020 no. 34).

If you wish to apply for a disability pension, you can submit an application for this yourself via an application form that you have completed and signed. You can also have this done via your employer on behalf of you.

Death

What has been arranged for your surviving family members when you pass away? The pension plan of APS has a widow(er)’s pension and an orphan’s pension. Therefore, when you pass away, your husband/wife and children are not left unattended financially.

When you cohabitate without being married, there is no widow(er)’s pension for your partner. Neither is there a widow(er)’s pension for your marriage partner if you get married after you have reached the age of 65.

Report a death of a participant to APS

Many things have to be arranged if someone passes away. One of these things is that surviving family members inform APS as soon as possible of the death of a participant in order to apply for a widow(er)’s pension and/or orphan’s pension. Surviving family members must also submit documents such as a death certificate, a marriage certificate and a certificate of residence.

What will your partner receive?

When you die while you are still employed by your employer, your partner will receive a life-long widow(er)’s pension that is 70% of the senior’s pension that you would have reached on the retirement date.

When you pass away at the moment that you have already retired or are no longer employed by an employer who is affiliated with APS, your partner will receive a life-long widow(er)’s pension that is 70% of the senior’s pension that you have accrued with APS.

Are you divorced?

There is no widow’s/widower’s pension for ex-spouses,  unless you have divorced after 1 August 1990 and before June 30 2020.

What will your children receive?

If a participant passes away, his or her children may be entitled to an orphan’s pension. This pension is paid until children reach the age of 18 or 27 if they are still studying or are unable to provide for themselves due to illness or disability. Children with whom you have a family relationship or children for whom you have a maintenance obligation or foster care are entitled to an orphan’s pension.

For the orphan’s pension, a distinction is made between full and half orphans. For half orphans – if the surviving parent derives pension rights from you death – there is an orphan’s pension per child that is 14% of the senior’s pension. For full orphans – children who do not have a parent who derives pension rights from the death of the participant – there is an orphan’s pension per child that is 28% of the senior’s pension to be reached.

Bereavement allowance (Smartengeld)

When you pass away after your retirement, your marriage partner will receive a bereavement allowance to the amount of three monthly pension benefits. If you do not or no longer have a partner, your children until the age of 18 receive this bereavement allowance. If that does not apply too, the benefit goes to possible other children or to parents or brothers and sisters for whom you were the provider.

Important to know

On this website we only give the main points of the pension plan. You can read all the details in the Pensioenlandsverordening overheidsdienaren (national ordinance pension civil servants AB 2020, no. 34).

The sum of the widow(er)’s pension, the special widow(er)’s pension (the pension for your ex-spouse if you divorced after 1 August 1990 and before June 30 2020) and the orphan’s pension cannot be higher than the total senior’s pension. If this is the case, both the widow(er)’s pension and the orphan’s pension are reduced proportionally.

Work more or less

If you reduce your number of working hours in order to have more time for other things, this has consequences for your pension.

When you start to work part-time, your pension accrual is linked to the part-time percentage in which you work. So, if you work 50% of a full-time employment, you accrue 50% of the pension that you would accrue if you worked full-time. When you reduce your number of working hours and your annual salary falls under Afl. 19.131 (the level of the offset), you will no longer be a participant of the pension fund and will no longer accrue pension.

When you first worked full-time and then a number of years part-time, your total pension will be lower than if you had worked full-time until the end of your career. The opposite is, of course, also true. When you first worked part-time and later full-time, your pension will be higher. If you already worked part-time but increase your number of working hours somewhat, your part-time percentage will increase and, therefore, your pension will also be higher. You can see this on your annual pension overview. 

Unemployment

If you become unemployed, this will affect your pension. Your pension accrual is stopped when you are dismissed. You will remain entitled to the pension that you have already accrued with APS. You can find more information under Retirement.

Value transfer

Are you going to work with another employer after you dismissal? In that case you can have the you pension accrued with APS transferred to the pension provider of your new employer if you apply for this value transfer within two years after your dismissal. Certain conditions apply to such value transfer. You can read more about it under Value transfer.

Tide-over allowance (wachtgeld)

If you cannot continue you function due to, for instance a reorganization, but if you receive a tide-over allowance, other rules apply. When you receive a tide-over allowance, you continue to accrue pension with APS. The time spent on tide-over allowance counts as half the normal working time for the pension accrual. So, if you receive a tide-over allowance for a year, you only accrue pension for a half year during that year.

New Job

If you change employers, you can choose to transfer your accrued pension to the pension provider of your new employer. This is called value transfer. An advantage of value transfer is that you keep your total pension together. But the comparison of the pension plans of your old and new employer mainly determines if value transfer is favorable for you or not. This is often not easy and, therefore, it is recommendable to call in the assistance of an independent financial adviser.

Do you wish to transfer your pension from another pension provider to APS? Then, you have apply for this within two years after the start of your participation with APS.

Do you wish to transfer your pension from APS to another pension provider? Then, you have to apply for this within two years after your dismissal. Value transfer is only possible from or to a pension provider as described in the Pensioenlandsverordening overheidsdienaren (national ordinance pension of civil servants AB 2020 no. 34).

Divorce

If you divorced after 30 June 2020, there is no special widow(er)’s pension for your ex-spouse if you pass away. The special widow(er)’s partner was abolished in the 2020 pension reform.

If you divorced before 30 June 2020, your ex-spouse may be entitled to a special widow(er)’s pension if the divorce took place between 1 August 1990 and 30 June 2020. Furthermore, the marriage needed to be concluded before your 62nd birthday. The level of the special widow(er)’s pension equals the widow(er)’s pension that you have accrued until the end of the marriage. If you married a new spouse after your first divorce and  divorced for a second time, then the second spouse is entitled to a special widow(er)’s pension that equals the widow(er)’s pension accrued during the second marriage.

If you divorced before 1 Augustus 1990, your ex-spouse is not entitled to a special widow(er)’s pension. 

Retirement

The retirement age has increased in the past years as the average life expectancy has also gone up in Sint Maarten. As a result, the pensions must be paid for a longer period of time than had been anticipated previously.

At this moment, the retirement age is 65. There are also participants who have a retirement age of 60 or even 55 on the basis of older pension plans.

Retirement age

As a result of the pension reform, which the social partners agreed in 2017,  the retirement age  has increased from 62 to 65 as of 1 July 2020. As compensation for the fact that the pension payments start three years later, all pension entitlements accrued until 30 June 2020, have been increased by 10%.

Participants who wish to retire earlier than age 65 can do so, but their pension will then be lower.

The retirement age remains 60 for participants who already enjoy early retirement on June 30, 2020. For participants who retire at 55, that arrangement remains in place.

Transitional arrangements

There are transitional arrangements and guarantees for a limited number of civil servants who can still make use of the VUT (early retirement scheme) based on the letter they received on 1 March 2013.

These arrangements also apply to civil servants who have already accumulated a full pension on 1 July 2020 and did (or could) not make use of the above-mentioned transitional VUT arrangements.

Apply for pension

When you retire, you have to apply for the senior’s pension via an application form three months before your retirement. You have to attach several documents:

  • A resignation letter from your employer stating that you retire
  • An extensive extract from the Population Register
  • Salary overviews from your employer for the past three years
  • A copy of your identification document

After receipt of your application, APS will inform you of the further procedure.

 

 

Moved House

If you are going to move house, we appreciate it if you inform us. Please send us your new address via the amendment and correction form. You will then receive your pension information and later your pension benefit at the new address.

If you live abroad, you must send APS an ‘Attestatie de Vita’ (life certificate), to prove that you are still alive)  twice a year, in the months of June and December,  in order to be able to continue to receive your pension payments. You can apply for such a document with the Population Register. You do not have to submit such a document when you live in Sint Maarten.

Are you going to emigrate outside the Kingdom of the Netherlands? Then, it is possible to have your entire accrued pension paid via a lump sum. Your marriage partner must give his or her written consent to this.

If you are going to live in the Netherlands, you must have an ING Bank account for the payments of your pension.

Your personal data

In order to ensure that you receive your pension payments correctly, it is important that APS has your correct personal data.

Intee- en uittreebericht (entry and exit statement)

When you start working with an employer affiliated with APS, this employer must register you as a participant of APS with a registration form. Your employer will then receive an ‘intreebericht’ (entry statement) within a few months. You will receive a copy of that. 

Please check the data on the ‘intreebericht’ carefully. The same goes for the ‘uittreebericht’ (exit statement) that you receive if you longer work with an employer affiliated with APS.

If you are younger than 18, you will first become a prospective participant. You will receive a letter about this. When you reach the age of 18, you will become a participant and start to accrue pension. You will then also receive an offical ‘intreebericht’.

Annual pension overview

Each year you will receive a pension overview from APS. This states how much pension you have accrued at the end of that particular year. Read this overview well and check if your data are correct. If something is wrong, please contact APS.

Report changes in your situation

Please report changes in your personal situation to APS. You can do this with the amendments and correction form. Click here to download this form. Please inform us if you are going to move house, get married, will have a child or get a divorce. If you should pass away, it is important that your spouse informs APS as soon as possible.
When you have another bank account in which you wish to receive your pension, you must also inform us of this yourself.

When you resign we also ask you to report this to APS. The reason is that sometimes employers forget to notify us.

Value transfer

If you change employers, you can choose to transfer your accrued pension to the pension provider of your new employer. This is called value transfer. An advantage of value transfer is that you keep your total pension together. But the comparison of the pension plans of your old and new employer mainly determines if value transfer is favorable for you or not. This is often not easy and, therefore, it is recommendable to call in the assistance of an independent financial adviser.

Do you wish to transfer your pension from APS to another pension provider? Then, you have to apply for this within two years after your dismissal. Value transfer is only possible from or to a pension provider as described in the Pensioenlandsverordening overheidsdienaren (national ordinance pension of civil servants AB 2020, no. 34).

Update my situation

(Former) participants’ Q&A

1

If you are no longer working with an employer affiliated with APS but still have pension entitlements with APS, your will receive a Pension overview from APS once in every five years. This states how much pension you have accrued with APS. Please check the data in this overview carefully and if something is wrong, please contact us.

When you have retired later on you will, as of that moment, receive an annual pension overview from APS stating the pension that APS has paid to you. You can also use this overview for your tax declaration.

You can remain updated on the developments at APS via our website.

2

Will my pension be increased?
 Will my pension be increased?

As of 1 July 2020, the system of automatic indexation, which was linked the indexation of the civil servants’ salaries, will be replaced by indexation that is linked to the increase of the cost of living and to the pension fund cover ratio. Indexation is only granted if the financial position of APS is strong enough. The pension fund cover ratio needs to be higher than 105%. If indexation can be granted, both the pensions and the future pension rights will be increased.

 

Duurtoeslag will cease to exist
The ‘duurtetoeslag’ (cost of living adjustment) which applied to employees in the old pension scheme (prior to 1998) will cease to exist. Accrued rights will be upheld. However, there will be no further accrual. In addition, the accrued rights will not be increased by 10% due to the increase of the retirement age, nor will they be reduced if a participant opts for early retirement. Indexation of the ‘duurtetoeslag’ will be the same as the conditional indexation of the pension.

Recovery plan
The yardstick for measuring the financial position of APS is the cover ratio. It is the ratio of the assets and liabilities of the pension fund expressed in a percentage. If the cover ratio drops below 100%, APS has to draw up a recovery plan to bring the ratio back to at least 100% within a period of 5 years. If the recovery does not materialize within these 5 years, the employers and the participants (employees, former employees and pensioners) have to make a contribution to the fund that will restore the cover ratio to 100%. The employer will have to provide a capital injection, while the participants will see their pension and future pension rights reduced. The progress of the recovery plan will be monitored each year.

3

If you still have pension entitlements with APS as a former participant, there is also a widow(er)’s pension for your spouse and an orphan’s pension for your possible under-age children.

Widow(er)s pension
The widow(er)’s pension is a benefit for your husband/wife after your death. The marriage must be concluded before you reached the age of 65. If you cohabitated without being married, there is no widow(er)’s pension for your partner. Your spouse receives the widow(er)’s pension from the moment of your death until his or her death.

When you die when you are no longer working with the government, your partner will receive a widow(er)’s pension that is 70% of the senior’s pension that you have accrued with APS. This percentage can be different if you were married before.

Click here for more information about the widow(er)’s pension.

Orphan’s Pension
The orphan’s pension is a benefit for your children if you pass away. The orphan’s pension is paid to children up to the age of 18 or 27 if they are still studying or are unable to provide for themselves due to illness or disability.

Click here for more information about the orphan’s pension.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE: 
The pension plan of APS is probably going to change in 2019. The social partners reached an agreement about this in 2017. The changes still have to be approved by Parliament. 

Yogesh Commercial Complex Unit 1A/1B A.J.C. Brouwersweg #4 Cul-de-Sac Sint Maarten, Dutch Caribbean

  • Phone: +1 721 543-0003 (8:30AM-5PM)
  • Hours: 8:30 AM -3:30 PM
  • Email: info@apsxm.org
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