The tax office pays out some €45m a year to the wrong bank accounts, according to finance ministry figures, quoted by news website nu.nl.

Although the money can be reclaimed, Socialist MPs have asked junior tax minister Jan Kees de Jager to find out how much of the money does not make it back to the treasury.
In 2007, there were 25,000 wrongly-paid out claims, in 2008 19,000. These account for less than 0.002% of all tax payouts, ministry figures show.