Chermaine (38) was wrongly accused of tax fraud: “The tax authorities ruined my life”

Chermaine Leysner (38) is one of the victims of the childcare allowance affair. The tax authorities wrongly suspected her of fraud. Whether she just wanted to repay 96 thousand euros. “It's the years of fighting against an unwieldy agency that breaks you up.”

TEXT MARIEKE BOOTAUGUST 20, 2020

“I still hear the Secretary of State say: 'If parents want to contact the tax authorities, they can just call the Tax Telephone. ' In the public gallery in the House of Representatives, where I also sit during the debate about the benefits affair, people immediately start laughing. The performance of Menno Snel, the Secretary of State for Finance, hits me deeply. How can he be so cold, so callous? My life and that of hundreds of other parents has been turned upside down for 8 years due to mistakes by the tax authorities. Normal contact with this organization is almost impossible, I found out a long time ago. I'm furious and I feel powerless. This years-long fight against a government agency is grueling.”

THE SHOCK OF MY LIFE

“8 years ago, I received a letter from the tax authorities. Over the past 4 years, I would have wrongly received childcare allowance and the allowance was stopped immediately. I got the shock of a lifetime when I saw the amount: I had to pay back 96 thousand euros. Nearly a ton! However, I wasn't very worried, this was probably a mistake that could be corrected quickly. After all, I was sure that I was entitled to this allowance. My youngest son was 2 years old and my twins, a boy and a girl, almost 5. All 3 of them went to daycare and I worked as an intermediary. I immediately filed an objection and in the meantime just let my children go to daycare.

The letters from the tax authorities kept coming, I couldn't make sense of them. One letter had the message: you will be deferred from payment. In the following condition: you must pay immediately. When I called, I was sent from the cabinet to the wall. The nursery — a well-known childcare organization in the The Hague region that was well regarded — also started sounding the alarm. They had not been paid for 3 months. I now had almost ten thousand euros onus built by them. My children were no longer allowed to come. With the help of family and friends who looked after my children, I was still able to start studying Social Services that I wanted so much to do. I still assumed that everything would be fixed soon.”

RELATIONSHIP IN DIRE STRAITS

“But that moment failed to materialize. According to the tax authorities, I provided incorrect information when applying for the childcare allowance. Exactly what was wrong remained unclear. It seemed strong that I had made a mistake, but I did start to doubt myself: maybe I had accidentally entered something wrong? I submitted the correct data again, and again, and again. One day, I even stood in the office of the tax authorities to demand a stamp on my papers so that I was sure they had received them. The tax authorities continued to insist that I had wrongly received that allowance. Not only had they stopped the childcare allowance, my so-called debt was also offset against my housing allowance, health allowance and income tax. I was still struggling to pay my fixed costs. The problems were piling up, the tension at home was easy to cut. The relationship with the father of my children, who was already turbulent, came under severe pressure. Because of all the stress and quarrels that resulted from the problems with the tax authorities, we went permanently apart.”

BAG OF GROCERIES

“I've always led a good life. Not very luxurious, but we were able to go on vacation with the family and occasionally get away for a weekend. The last trip we had made together was to Curaçao. I was always an independent, independent woman. That changed completely when the tax authorities seized my salary. I now worked as a counselor for homeless women and had only a few hundred euros a month to live on. I just couldn't do it anymore. Groceries, rent, health insurance, private loans; it became too much. Bailiffs rang the bell, letters from collection agencies flooded in. I couldn't buy clothes for my children anymore, new shoes became too expensive.

I am someone who finds it difficult to ask others for help, but now I had to. Luckily, I had lovely friends and family who supported me. I could always join my mother for a meal, friends provided a bag of groceries or a gift for my children. That's what I found most difficult: that I couldn't give them what their friends did get.

I knocked on the door of debt restructuring, so I would at least get help in the form of an administrator. But that requires a clear insight into your debts, and that was not the case in my case. Also with others responders I walked with my head against the wall. According to them, I was self-reliant enough to arrange everything myself. But in the meantime, I felt very alone in my fight against the large, impenetrable tax authorities. David vs. Goliath. I couldn't even stop by for an interview, I didn't have a contact person. When I called, I was told to just read the letters carefully. Like I was retarded. I wasn't treated like a person, I was treated like a number.”

AFRAID OF THE MAILBOX

“Then my mother and grandmother, two women who were my supporters and helpers, also died. I became depressed. I sat at home for 2 years. I was afraid of the mailbox: what if there was another letter? For a while, I was afraid to open the envelopes, they ended up unread in a drawer. Until I realized: I have to keep my kids safe. I have to open those letters, keep everything, organize it perfectly and, above all, not give up the fight.

I quickly went back to work, made appointments with bailiffs and collection agencies and wrote down all my income and expenses. I had to get back to being the strong, positive woman that I always was. To this day, I am still fighting that fight. I get up and go to bed with it. Sometimes it doesn't make me sleep. It exhausts me, but I do it for my kids. I try to keep them out of it as much as possible, but by now they pretty much know what's going on. The twins are 13, my youngest is 11, and I hate that they learn this way that you can't trust 'the system'.

Nevertheless, I have noticed that, despite everything, there are still things we can enjoy. Things that cost nothing but are very valuable: picnicking in the park with the kids, a movie night with popcorn on the couch, walking with a friend. We have a roof over our heads, we eat on the table every night and we are healthy, that's the most important thing. Through my work, I know that this is not obvious. I'm sticking to that. But it's a small consolation.”

LOST YEARS

“The tax authorities have ruined my life. All the plans and goals I had were thwarted by them. I often have no need to sell to my kids, I've never been able to set aside a dime for their studies. My mother did not die peacefully because she was so worried about me. I really hate that. It is incredible that something like this can happen in a country like the Netherlands. All I want, and what I'm also legally entitled to, is insight into my file. That was promised, but for now I haven't seen anything. I'm not even so much about the money. Even if I get those hundred thousand euros retroactively, I won't get my lost years back. It's the years of fighting against a cumbersome agency that you're breaking up. In principle, I am someone who is good at finding my way around institutions and with emergency workers, that is even part of my job. But even I can't get through to the tax authorities, that's so frustrating.

In the summer of 2019, the SP opened a hotline for victims of the allowance affair. I feel heard by this political party, now I am not alone. They fight for reparation for all victims. I also benefited a lot from peer contact. It's so nice to talk to people who understand what you're going through. At the same time, it is distressing that these are such large numbers. Some of them have now been promised compensation. For me, the time has not come yet. But when it comes, I can finally go back to life instead of surviving.”

Interview: Krista Izelaar. Photography: Esmée Franken.

Hair, makeup and styling: Ronald Huisinga. M.M.V.: Sisters Point, Etro.