Employee benefitsin Belgium

Every employee is covered by Belgium's compulsory health and disability insurance, the public scheme that reimburses a large part of doctor visits, hospital stays and medicines and pays replacement income during sickness, maternity and birth leave. Employees register with a health insurance fund (mutualité / ziekenfonds), a non-profit body that pays reimbursements and benefits on behalf of the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance. Employers cannot opt out.

The scheme is funded through payroll. Within the employee's 13.07% social security contribution, 3.55% funds healthcare and 1.15% funds sickness and disability benefits; the employer pays 3.80% and 2.35% for the same branches. Patients still pay a personal share (ticket modérateur) and supplements, which is why many employers add hospitalisation insurance. Dependants who live with an insured person can be registered on that person's cover.

Employers covered by Joint Committee 200 must give white-collar employees eco-cheques worth EUR 250 a year, paid in June. Eco-cheques are electronic vouchers, worth at most EUR 10 each and valid for 24 months, that can only be spent on ecological products and services on the list attached to the national collective labour agreement no. 98, such as energy-saving appliances, bicycles, second-hand goods and short-chain farm produce. They are not meal or grocery vouchers.

Part-time employees receive EUR 250 from four-fifths time, EUR 200 from three-fifths, EUR 150 from half-time and EUR 100 below half-time. The reference period runs from June of the previous year to May, with pro-rata amounts for incomplete periods; leavers are told what remains due. A company can convert the eco-cheques into an equivalent benefit of the same total employer cost by 31 October for the following year, through a written agreement with the union delegation or prior information to employees where there is none.

The Act of 4 August 1996 on wellbeing at work obliges every employer, from the first employee, to manage workplace safety, health protection, psychosocial risks such as stress, violence and harassment, ergonomics and hygiene. The employer must carry out a risk analysis, set a prevention policy, and rely on a prevention adviser, either internal or through an approved external service for prevention and protection at work, to which most small employers must belong. Health surveillance by an occupational physician applies to safety, vigilance and certain exposed roles, and the occupational physician also runs return-to-work assessments after long sickness absence.

Collective hospitalisation insurance is one of the most widespread employer benefits in Belgium. It reimburses what remains to be paid after the public health insurance refund for a hospital stay: the patient's own share, room and doctor supplements, medicines and implants, plus outpatient costs for a period before and after the stay (often one month before and three months after) and treatment for listed serious illnesses. Most modern plans have no ceiling on reimbursement, offer direct billing between hospital and insurer, and include repatriation if the employee is hospitalised abroad.

In employer plans membership is usually compulsory for the employee and the employer pays the employee's premium; partners and children can almost always be added, typically at the employee's own cost. Some plans have an excess for single or double rooms. Employer-paid premiums are not taxable for the employee, while the company cannot deduct them. Employees who leave can continue the cover individually at a rate set by law. Some plans extend to outpatient and dental care, which is less common.

Eco-cheques are electronic vouchers for ecological products and services, such as energy-efficient appliances, bicycles and repairs, second-hand and recycled goods, sustainable leisure and short-chain farm produce, from the exhaustive list attached to national collective labour agreement no. 98. Each cheque is worth at most EUR 10 and is valid for 24 months. They are exempt from tax and social security up to EUR 250 per employee per year. They are typically granted under sector agreements as a fixed annual amount of EUR 250 for a full-time employee, often paid in June, and many companies convert them into an equivalent benefit such as meal vouchers. About half of private-sector employees (51.7%) received eco-cheques according to the National Social Security Office study published in April 2026. The product list was revised from 1 June 2026, and their future has been debated without any decision to abolish them.

Some employers extend hospitalisation insurance with outpatient cover, which refunds a share (typically 60% to 100%) of doctor visits, medicines and other costs not linked to a hospital stay, up to an annual ceiling, and with dental cover and contributions towards glasses or lenses. In a 2022 survey of employer medical plans, 26.5% combined hospitalisation, outpatient and dental cover, 4.7% hospitalisation and dental, and 2.2% hospitalisation and outpatient care, while two-thirds covered hospitalisation only. Outpatient and dental plans usually have an annual ceiling and sometimes an excess and waiting period; the plan sets which family members are included and who pays their premiums.

Belgian social security is funded by contributions on gross pay with no upper earnings ceiling for the employee. Employees pay 13.07%: 7.50% for pensions, 3.55% for healthcare, 1.15% for sickness and disability benefits, and 0.87% for unemployment. The contribution also funds child benefits and holiday pay rights through the global system.

Employers in the private sector pay a basic contribution of 24.92% plus a wage moderation contribution. For most private employers the structural reduction lowers the basic rate to 19.88%, and with wage moderation the effective employer rate is roughly 25% of gross pay. Employers with an average of at least 10 workers add 1.60%, and sector funds add further small contributions. For blue-collar workers (manual workers) both contributions are calculated on 108% of gross pay, because their holiday pay is paid by a holiday fund.

Since the third quarter of 2025 the employer's basic contribution is no longer due on the part of an employee's quarterly base salary above a ceiling of EUR 86,700 a quarter in 2026 (EUR 85,000 before indexation). Employee contributions and special employer contributions remain due on the full salary.

The statutory state pension (first pillar) is an earnings-related pension financed by the 7.50% employee and 8.86% employer pension contributions. The legal pension age rose to 66 in 2025 and rises to 67 from 2030, depending on the year of birth. Early retirement requires a long career under specific conditions. The state pension replaces a modest share of past earnings, which is why the second pillar, a supplementary pension usually arranged by the employer through group insurance or a pension fund, is a standard part of Belgian packages.

Employees are insured against unemployment through the 0.87% employee and 1.46% employer contributions. Benefits are paid by the National Employment Office via a payment body chosen by the jobseeker.

For claims made from 1 March 2026, benefits are limited in time under the Act of 18 July 2025. To qualify, a worker must show 312 days of work or assimilated days within 36 months. Benefits then run for a base period of 12 months, extended by one month for every 104 days of past work, up to 12 extra months, so most people receive at most 24 months. Workers with a long enough career (for example 31 years at age 55) keep unlimited benefits, and transitional rules apply to people already receiving benefits before 1 March 2026. A worker who resigns or is dismissed for serious misconduct can face a sanction period before benefits start.

Belgium has no separate statutory severance fund or gratuity. An employer that ends an open-ended contract either lets the employee work the notice period or pays a termination indemnity equal to the current pay for the notice period, or the remaining part of it. The indemnity includes fixed pay and benefits the employee is entitled to under the contract, such as company car, group insurance and meal vouchers; variable pay is averaged over the previous 12 months. Weekly pay is calculated as monthly pay multiplied by 3 and divided by 13.

Employees dismissed with a notice period or indemnity of at least 30 weeks must be offered outplacement, a job-search support programme paid by the employer, and part of the notice is converted into employability measures. A separate outplacement regime applies to employees aged 45 or older with at least one year of service. Collective dismissals add consultation duties, a special indemnity and an employment unit to help those affected.

Supplementary pensions, the second pillar of Belgian retirement income, are very widespread. About 80% of active employees were building rights in an employer or sector pension plan at the start of 2025, usually through group insurance with an insurer or through a pension fund; some sectors run compulsory sector plans. Most plans are defined contribution, with the employer paying a percentage of salary, often with a higher rate on pay above the state pension ceiling. Contributions are modest for many workers: in 2021 half of active members had a contribution below 2% of pay. Employer contributions carry an 8.86% special social security contribution and are exempt from personal tax as long as the projected pension respects the 80% rule: statutory and supplementary pensions together may not exceed 80% of final gross salary. Benefits are paid when the employee takes the statutory pension. Plans frequently include death cover and disability cover. Joint Committee 200 has no general sector plan, but requires plans for white-collar employees where blue-collar colleagues already have one. The 2025 government agreement aims at a 3% employer contribution for all workers by 2035, but no implementing measure has been adopted.

Many group insurance plans pair the supplementary pension with death cover, which pays a lump sum or annuity to the employee's beneficiaries if the employee dies before retirement. The plan rules set the benefit, for example as a multiple of annual salary or as the pension reserve built up, and whether partners and children are covered by orphans' pensions. The employer usually funds the premium as part of the group insurance contribution, and the benefit is subject to the plan's tax rules. Separately, the state pension system pays a survivor's pension to a surviving spouse under its own conditions.

Guaranteed income insurance tops up the public sickness and invalidity benefit when an employee is unable to work for a long period. Group plans start after the guaranteed-salary month, typically require incapacity of at least 25%, treat 67% or more as total incapacity, and pay a share of salary using either a step-rate formula (a percentage of salary up to the public ceiling and a higher percentage above it) or an offset formula (a target percentage of salary minus the public benefit). Plans often continue pension contributions during incapacity through premium waiver. In surveyed plans, more than 95% of companies paid the full premium. The cover matters most for higher earners, because the public benefit is capped.

Full-time employees are entitled to four weeks of paid annual leave: 20 days on a five-day week or 24 days on a six-day week. Leave is earned in one year (the holiday service year) and taken the following year, so the number of days depends on the days worked or assimilated in the previous calendar year; part-timers earn leave in proportion to their schedule. A new employee with little or no prior work in Belgium can be short of statutory leave in the first year. Two schemes fill the gap: supplementary holidays (European holidays) for those starting or resuming work, paid as an advance on next year's double holiday pay, and senior holidays for workers aged 50 or over returning from unemployment or invalidity, paid by the National Employment Office at 65% of theoretical gross pay in the first month. Leave should be taken in the calendar year; carrying it over is generally not allowed, though employers often agree arrangements for illness or maternity.

An employee who falls ill keeps a guaranteed salary paid by the employer for the first 30 calendar days of incapacity. A white-collar employee on an open-ended contract or a fixed-term contract of at least three months receives 100% of normal pay for the full 30 days. A blue-collar (manual) worker, or a white-collar employee on a contract of less than three months, needs at least one month's service and receives 100% for days 1 to 7, 85.88% (86.93% for white-collar employees) for days 8 to 14, and for days 15 to 30 a 25.88% (26.93%) employer top-up on capped pay plus 85.88% (86.93%) of the pay above the cap, alongside the health fund benefit.

From day 31 the health insurance fund pays incapacity benefit of 60% of gross daily pay, capped at EUR 189.36 a day (six-day week) from 1 September 2026. After one year the invalidity benefit is 65% with dependants, 55% for a person living alone or 40% for a cohabitant. The employee must tell the employer immediately and provide a medical certificate if the work rules require it.

Changes from 1 January 2026: a relapse with the same cause within eight weeks no longer starts a new guaranteed-salary period, the certificate exemption for one-day absences is limited to two days a year, employers with at least 50 workers pay a responsibility contribution of 30% of the health fund benefit for two months from day 31 for workers under 55, and employers with at least 20 workers must start a return-to-work plan within six months. A government plan to extend the guaranteed salary to eight weeks has not been enacted.

From 1 January 2026, Joint Committee 200 adds two paid days to national bereavement leave. White-collar employees receive 12 days on the death of a spouse, legally cohabiting partner or child (three days between the death and the funeral and nine within the following year), and five days on the death of a parent or a spouse's parent (three around the funeral and two within the year). The sector agreement also sets three days for the employee's own marriage and other short-leave durations; dates can be moved at the employee's request with the employer's agreement.

Besides the five days of carer leave a year, employees can suspend or reduce work to assist a seriously ill member of their household or family: full suspension for up to 12 months per patient, or a one-fifth or half-time reduction for up to 24 months per patient, taken in blocks of one to three months. Single parents caring for a seriously ill child aged 16 or under can double these limits. The employer does not pay salary; the National Employment Office pays an interruption allowance. Employers with 50 or fewer workers can refuse further leave for organisational reasons once six months of full suspension or 12 months of reduction have been taken. The employee is protected against dismissal until three months after the leave ends. Separate palliative-care leave is also available.

Employees may be absent with normal pay for family events and civic duties listed in the Royal Decree of 28 August 1963, known as short leave (petit chômage / klein verlet). Examples include the employee's own marriage, the death of a family member, a child's ceremony and jury service. The national minimum for the death of a spouse, partner or child is 10 days, and three days for the death of a parent; sector agreements, the contract or work rules can add days. The employee must notify the employer in advance where possible.

In addition, employees can take unpaid leave for compelling reasons, such as an unforeseen illness of a family member or damage to their home, which needs urgent attention. Within that leave, up to five days a year can be used as carer leave to give personal care to a seriously ill household or family member.

Time credit lets employees in the private sector stop work or reduce it to half-time or four-fifths for a recognised motive, such as caring for a young child, a seriously ill relative or a disabled child, or following approved training. The national collective labour agreement no. 103 sets the framework and the National Employment Office pays an interruption allowance; the employer pays no salary. The maximum is 51 months for care motives and 36 months for training, subject to service conditions that sector agreements can relax; Joint Committee 200, for example, grants 36 and 51 months to white-collar employees with at least five years' seniority and has extended end-of-career time credit from age 55 until 30 June 2029.

Many Belgian employees have more than the 20 statutory days. The most common source is working-time reduction: when a company keeps a 39- or 40-hour week in a sector limited to 38 hours, employees receive compensatory rest days (often 6 or 12 a year). Some sector agreements also grant extra days for seniority or regional holidays, and employers add contractual days to attract staff, sometimes linked to age or service. These extra days are paid at normal salary but do not generate double holiday pay unless the agreement says so.

A pregnant employee is entitled to 15 weeks of maternity leave, or 17 weeks for a multiple birth (up to 19 weeks in some cases). It consists of up to six weeks before the due date (eight for multiple births), of which the last seven days are compulsory, and nine compulsory weeks after the birth. Optional prenatal weeks not taken can be moved to after the birth, and the leave can be extended if the baby stays in hospital for more than seven days after birth. The employee must give the employer a medical certificate stating the due date at the latest seven weeks before it (nine weeks for multiple births).

The employer pays no salary during maternity leave. The health insurance fund pays maternity benefit of 82% of uncapped gross daily pay for the first 30 days and 75% of capped pay from day 31; from 1 September 2026 the maximum from day 31 is EUR 141.63 a day (six-day week). The employee keeps the right to paid absence for prenatal examinations that cannot take place outside working hours, and is protected against dismissal for reasons linked to pregnancy.

The father or co-parent of a newborn is entitled to 20 days of birth leave (formerly paternity leave) for births since 1 January 2023, to be taken within four months of the birth, all at once or spread out. The employer pays full salary for the first three days; for the remaining 17 days the health insurance fund pays 82% of gross pay, subject to the benefit pay ceiling (EUR 188.67 a day from 1 September 2026). The employee must inform the employer in advance, at the latest before the start of the working day, with proof of the birth. A multiple birth gives the right only once. Employees are protected against dismissal for reasons linked to the leave. A bill to add leave while a newborn remains in hospital was tabled in July 2026 and is not law.

An employee who adopts a minor child is entitled to an individual credit of up to six weeks of adoption leave, which cannot be transferred to the other adoptive parent; it is doubled to 12 weeks for a child with a qualifying disability. On top of this, adoptive parents share additional weeks: four weeks for leave starting from 1 January 2025, rising to five weeks from 1 January 2027, with two extra weeks for simultaneous adoption of several children. The employer pays normal salary for the first three days; the health insurance fund pays an allowance for the rest. Equivalent rights exist for long-term foster care through foster-parent leave.

Each parent may take parental leave for each child until the child's 12th birthday (21 for a child with a qualifying disability). The employee chooses one of four formats: four months of full-time leave (which can be split by month, or into weeks within three months); eight months at half-time; 20 months at four-fifths time; or, with the employer's agreement, 40 months at nine-tenths time. Formats can be combined using equivalents, for example one month full-time equals five months at one-fifth reduction.

The employee needs 12 months of service with the employer in the 15 months before the request and must give written notice two to three months in advance. The employer does not pay salary; the National Employment Office pays a flat-rate interruption allowance. The employee is protected against dismissal from the written request until three months after the leave ends.

Employers covered by Joint Committee 200 pay full-time white-collar employees a gross annual premium every June, introduced in 2016 at EUR 250 and indexed since; the indexed amount for 2026 is EUR 330.84. The reference period runs from June of the previous year to May, and the premium is reduced pro rata for days not worked or assimilated (birth and maternity leave count as worked). Part-time employees receive it in proportion to their working time. Companies can replace it with an equivalent purchasing-power benefit agreed with the union delegation, and employers that grant an employer-funded supplementary pension under the sector's newer pension agreements stop paying it.

Employers covered by Joint Committee 200, the auxiliary joint committee for white-collar employees, must pay an end-of-year premium equal to one month's salary. It is paid at the latest in December unless the company sets another date. To qualify, the employee must be under contract when the premium is paid, have at least six months' seniority (prior temporary agency work in a similar role counts) and have started no later than the first day of the year; later joiners with at least six months' presence receive a pro-rata premium by months worked.

From 1 January 2026, absences reduce the premium only beyond protected absences, including annual leave, public holidays, birth leave, maternity rest, work accidents and up to 60 days of illness or accident. Leavers receive a pro-rata premium if dismissed other than for serious misconduct, if they retire, or, from 2026, if they resign or leave by mutual agreement after at least three years' seniority. Sales representatives on variable pay receive an average monthly salary capped by the sector scale. The premium is subject to ordinary social security contributions and income tax.

Belgian employees receive holiday pay in two parts. Simple holiday pay is the normal salary that continues while the employee takes statutory leave. Double holiday pay is an extra payment: for white-collar employees it equals 92% of one month's gross salary for a full year of service in the previous calendar year, reduced pro rata for a part year. For example, an employee earning EUR 2,000 a month who started on 1 April of the previous year receives 2,000 x 92% x 9/12 = EUR 1,380. Employers usually pay it in May or June. A special 13.07% employee social security contribution applies to most of the double holiday pay.

Blue-collar (manual) workers receive both parts from the National Holiday Office or a sector holiday fund between 2 May and 30 June, financed by an employer contribution of 15.84% of gross pay calculated at 108%. When a white-collar employee leaves, the employer pays departure holiday pay of 7.67% simple plus 7.67% double holiday pay on the earnings that have not yet generated leave, and the next employer deducts it.

Most Belgian employees receive an end-of-year premium, often called the 13th month, usually equal to one month's salary and paid in December. It is not required by national law, but most joint committees, including Joint Committee 200 for white-collar employees, make it compulsory for their sector, and many employers outside those agreements pay it by contract. The premium is pro-rated for part years and subject to normal social security and income tax. Combined with double holiday pay (92% of a month), it means Belgian annual salaries are commonly expressed as about 13.92 times the monthly salary.

Collective labour agreement no. 90 lets employers pay a non-recurring bonus linked to collective results, such as turnover, profit, safety or customer satisfaction targets that are measurable and uncertain when set. In 2026 the bonus is free of employee income tax up to EUR 3,701 net per employee per year (EUR 4,255 gross including the 13.07% employee contribution); the employer pays a 33% special contribution instead of normal social security. The plan is introduced by company collective agreement or, without a union delegation, by an online accession act filed with the joint committee, and targets cannot relate to individual performance. In 2024 about 8% of employers paid such a bonus, reaching nearly 18% of workers, with an average of EUR 1,375 and a median of EUR 1,000 gross. Individual performance bonuses and commissions are also common in commercial roles; they are taxed as ordinary pay, and contractual bonuses cannot be changed without the employee's consent.

Belgian employers, including startups and listed groups, use stock options and warrants under the Act of 26 March 1999, which gives a favourable flat-rate tax regime. The benefit is taxed at grant, deemed to be the 60th day after the offer if the employee accepts in writing, rather than at exercise. For unlisted shares the taxable amount is 18% of the underlying share value, plus 1% per year if the exercise period exceeds five years; it is halved to 9% when conditions are met, such as no exercise in the first three years and an exercise price fixed at grant. That amount is taxed at the employee's marginal rate, and no social security is due when the plan complies. Tax at grant is final even if the options are never exercised. Since 1 January 2026 gains on resale are subject to the new 10% capital gains tax, calculated from the higher of the value when the instruments become transferable and the amount already taxed, with an annual exemption of EUR 10,000. Vesting, exercise windows and leaver rules are set in each plan.

Joint Committee 200 improves the national commuting rules for white-collar employees. From 1 January 2026 the employer pays 100% of the second-class train season ticket from the first kilometre (previously 80%), and is encouraged to sign a third-party payment agreement with the railway. For other public transport the sector applies the national flat-rate grid capped at 75% of the price, or 71.8% of a flat fare. The bicycle allowance is EUR 0.32 per kilometre actually cycled, capped at EUR 12.80 a day (40 kilometres round trip), from 1 October 2026, and cannot be combined with other commuting allowances except for public transport. Employees using their own car or motorbike for at least 3 kilometres receive a flat-rate contribution based on the train fare, unless their gross annual pay exceeds EUR 36,688 (indexed from 2027).

Employers must contribute to employees' commuting costs by public transport. For train season tickets, the national collective labour agreement no. 19/9 (as amended by no. 19/11 from 1 June 2024) sets flat-rate employer contributions by distance, indexed automatically when rail fares rise. An employer that signs a third-party payment agreement with the national railway pays at least 71.8% of the season ticket, or 80% so that the employee travels free in second class with the state paying the rest. For other public transport the contribution is also compulsory from the first kilometre: up to 75% of the actual price when the fare depends on distance, or 71.8% of a flat fare, capped at the train rate for 7 kilometres.

Since 2023 every private-sector employee who cycles to work is also entitled to a bicycle allowance, either under their sector agreement or, failing that, the national agreement no. 164, which set EUR 0.29 per kilometre for 2025. Sector agreements may be more generous; employer contributions to commuting by private car are not compulsory nationally and depend on the sector or company. Commuting contributions are exempt from tax within legal limits.

Belgian law distinguishes structural telework from occasional telework. Structural (regular) telework is governed by the national collective labour agreement no. 85 and requires a written agreement setting out how it works, including frequency, equipment and costs; employees keep the same rights as office staff. Occasional telework, for unforeseen needs, is covered by the Act of 5 March 2017 on workable and agile work. An employer cannot unilaterally cancel an agreed structural telework arrangement. Since 2023, companies with more than 20 workers must agree rules on the right to disconnect, meaning when employees need not respond to work communications, by collective agreement or in the work rules. There is no general legal right to work from home; hybrid patterns are agreed per company.

Since the 2022 labour deal, employees have an individual right to training. In companies with at least 20 workers, each full-time employee is entitled to five days of training a year from 2024 (pro rata for part-timers), and smaller entitlements apply in companies with 10 to 19 workers; sector agreements may adjust the number of days but not below the legal floor. Companies with more than 20 workers must draw up an annual training plan before 31 March, including training for groups at risk such as workers over 50. Regional schemes add paid educational leave, which lets employees follow recognised courses with pay reimbursed to the employer by the region.

Meal vouchers are the most widespread extra-legal benefit in Belgium. They are electronic vouchers, loaded onto a card for each day the employee actually works, that can be spent on meals or food products and are valid for 12 months. To be free of tax and social security, the employer's share may not exceed EUR 8.91 per voucher, the employee must contribute at least EUR 1.09 through payroll, and the voucher may not replace salary. From 1 January 2026 the maximum face value rose to EUR 10, but a sector or company agreement must provide for the higher value. They are granted by a sector agreement, a company collective agreement or, without a union delegation, an individual written agreement. About 76.5% of private-sector employees received meal vouchers in 2024. In 2025, 62% of employers granted them and two-thirds of those gave the then-maximum value; the average beneficiary received about EUR 1,125 a year. A full-time employee working around 220 days at the 2026 maximum receives roughly EUR 1,960 a year of employer value.

Hybrid work is well established among Belgian office-based employers. In 2024 about a quarter of workers (26.4%) worked from home one or two days a week and about one in ten three or four days, for an average of one day a week; employees would like 1.5 to 2 days. Homeworking is above average in information and communication technology, finance, real estate and administrative services, and lower in retail, hospitality, construction and care. Arrangements are set in a company telework policy and, for structural telework, an annex to the employment contract, often with a home-office allowance. Many employers set minimum office days for team collaboration, while 27% of employers rank flexible work among their five most pressing challenges.

Company cars remain a significant part of Belgian pay packages, especially for managers, sales staff and senior professionals: about 22% of employees had a company car for private use according to the National Social Security Office study published in April 2026. Fleets are shifting fast to electric: at the end of 2025, 37% of company cars were fully electric, 31% hybrid and 32% petrol or diesel.

The employee pays income tax on a benefit in kind based on the car's list price and emissions, and the employer pays a monthly solidarity contribution; for cars ordered after 30 June 2023 it is multiplied by 4.00 in 2026 (5.50 from 2027) with a minimum of EUR 42.34 a month, while zero-emission cars pay the minimum. For the employer's corporate tax, fully electric cars ordered in 2026 remain 100% deductible (95% for orders in 2027, falling gradually to 67.5% from 2031). Fossil-fuel cars ordered from 1 July 2023 to the end of 2025 lose deductibility in stages (50% in 2026, 25% in 2027, nothing from 2028), cars with emissions ordered from 2026 are no longer deductible, and fuel for plug-in hybrids ordered from 2026 is not deductible. Employees entitled to a car can be offered a mobility budget instead.

Employers can pay employees who work from home structurally, at least the equivalent of one day a week, a tax-free home-office allowance covering heating, electricity and office costs. The maximum is EUR 164.21 a month from 1 September 2026 (EUR 160.99 from March 2026), plus up to EUR 20 for a private internet connection and EUR 20 for a private computer, or EUR 5 per device up to EUR 10 for a screen and printer. Office furniture and equipment can also be reimbursed against receipts. Payroll data show that 14.1% of employees received such an allowance in 2026, up from 6.9% in 2021, with an average of EUR 860.52 a year, higher in Brussels at EUR 1,103.

The mobility budget lets an employee who is entitled to a company car (or eligible for one) swap it for a budget based on the car's total annual cost. In 2026 the budget must be between EUR 3,233 and EUR 17,244 a year and no more than one-fifth of gross annual pay. Pillar 1 is a smaller company car, which from 1 January 2026 must be fully electric; pillar 2 covers sustainable mobility such as bicycles, public transport, shared mobility and, under conditions, housing costs near work, free of tax and social security; pillar 3 pays the unused balance in cash once a year, subject to a 38.07% special contribution paid by the employee. Take-up remains limited: 22,618 workers at 1,965 employers used one in 2025, with a total budget of nearly EUR 224 million; most spend it in pillar 2. The government plans to make offering it compulsory, from 2027 for employers with at least 50 workers and from 2028 for 15 to 49, but in September 2026 this was still a draft and is not law.

Belgian labour law distinguishes employees, who work under an employer's authority, from self-employed people, who work under a service contract without subordination. Among employees, the law still defines blue-collar workers (mainly manual work) and white-collar employees (mainly intellectual work). Since 2014 they share the same notice periods, but holiday pay, social security on 108% of pay and sector committees still differ.

The Act of 27 December 2006 on the nature of working relationships lets parties choose their status, provided actual practice matches it. Courts and the administrative commission assess general criteria: the parties' intention, freedom to organise working time, freedom to organise the work, and the possibility of hierarchical control; certain sectors carry a presumption of employment. False self-employment is treated as social fraud: reclassification leads to back payment of employer and employee contributions, fines and the application of employment protections.

An open-ended employment contract can be concluded orally, although written contracts are standard. Fixed-term contracts, contracts for a specific task, replacement, part-time, student and telework contracts must be in writing for each employee at the latest when work starts; without that, a fixed-term or task contract is treated as open-ended. Employers must also give new hires written information on essential terms, such as the joint committee, pay, working time and leave.

Successive fixed-term contracts are presumed to form an open-ended contract unless justified. Two exceptions allow them: up to four successive fixed-term contracts of at least three months each with a total of no more than two years, or, with prior authorisation from the social law inspectorate, contracts of at least six months each up to three years in total. Fixed-term contracts end automatically at their term; ending one early requires compensation equal to the pay for the remaining period, capped at twice the notice that would apply to an open-ended contract.

Belgian wages rise automatically with inflation. Each joint committee applies its own mechanism tied to the smoothed health index, a consumer price index that excludes tobacco, alcohol and motor fuel. In Joint Committee 200, minimum scales and actual salaries are indexed every 1 January; the increase was 2.21% on 1 January 2026, and payroll forecasts point to roughly 3.4% in January 2027. Other sectors index when the pivot index is exceeded or at fixed dates. The 2026 budget agreement plans to limit indexation in 2026 and 2028 for the part of salaries above EUR 4,000 gross a month; it was not applied in Joint Committee 200 in January 2026 because the legislation was not final.

Wages must be paid at regular intervals by bank transfer. The Wage Protection Act of 12 April 1965 requires payment at least twice a month, no more than 16 days apart, for blue-collar workers; white-collar employees must be paid at least monthly, and in practice salaries are paid monthly around the end of the month. Commissions for non-sales staff must be paid at least every three months. Employers issue a monthly pay statement showing gross pay, deductions and net pay, and keep payroll records. Late payment can give the employee a right to interest.

Joint Committee 200 sets minimum monthly salaries by job class (A to D, from executive tasks to more complex roles) and years of professional experience. From 1 January 2026, after indexation of 2.21%, scale 1 for the first year with the employer starts at EUR 2,242.81 for class A, EUR 2,336.25 for class B, EUR 2,369.31 for class C and EUR 2,555.73 for class D, rising with experience to EUR 2,459.89, 2,820.99, 3,175.61 and 3,622.42 after 26 years. After one year with the same employer, scale 2 applies, starting at EUR 2,310.30 (class A) and EUR 2,642.08 (class D) for one year of experience. The separate youth scale was abolished from 1 January 2024. Amounts are gross for full-time work and are indexed every 1 January.

Belgium's national minimum wage is the guaranteed average minimum monthly income set by the National Labour Council's collective labour agreement no. 43, for full-time workers aged 18 and over. It is EUR 2,233.61 gross a month after the 2% indexation triggered when the pivot index was exceeded in June 2026, applied from July 2026 in payroll tables. Earlier in 2026 it was EUR 2,154.11 (January to March) and EUR 2,189.81 from 1 April after a planned increase of EUR 35.70.

It is a monthly average over the calendar year: end-of-year premiums and other annual bonuses count towards it, and any shortfall is paid as a supplement. Part-timers receive a pro-rata amount. Under agreement no. 50, workers under 18 and students under 21 on student contracts receive a percentage (for example 90% at age 20 on a student contract). Most joint committees set higher sector minimums, which prevail; the national figure applies only where no sector minimum is higher.

The standard maximum is 38 hours a week on average and generally 8 hours a day, under the Labour Act of 16 March 1971; many sector agreements set shorter weeks or grant extra rest days to bring a longer schedule back to 38 hours. Work beyond the normal limits is allowed only in listed situations and must be compensated with rest; overtime is paid at a premium of at least 50%, or 100% on Sundays and public holidays. Flexitime systems may not exceed 9 hours a day or 45 hours a week. Employees must have 11 consecutive hours of daily rest, combined with Sunday rest into a weekly rest of 35 hours.

Since 1 April 2026, employees can agree to work up to 360 hours of voluntary overtime a year (previously 120), under a written agreement valid for one year and renewed tacitly; 240 of those hours are intended to be paid without premium and free of social security and tax, pending the tax and social security texts. From 1 June 2026, the minimum weekly hours for part-timers fell from one-third to one-tenth of full time, and the general ban on night work (8 pm to 6 am) was lifted for employees hired from that date.

Belgium abolished probation clauses for ordinary employment contracts on 1 January 2014; they remain only for student, temporary and temporary agency work. Instead, notice periods are short at the start of employment. For contracts whose performance starts on or after 1 August 2026, the Act of 3 June 2026 sets notice at one week, for both dismissal and resignation, throughout the first six months of service, whatever the start date written in the contract. For contracts that started earlier, employer notice in the first six months is 1 week under three months and 3, 4 or 5 weeks for months three to six. Seniority from earlier contracts with the same employer counts.

Since 2014 blue- and white-collar workers have the same notice periods, counted in weeks from the employee's uninterrupted seniority. For employer dismissal under contracts started from 2014, notice is 6 weeks at six months' service, 8 weeks at one year, 12 weeks at two years, 15 weeks at four years, 18 weeks at five years, then 3 weeks more per year to 60 weeks at 19 years, 62 weeks at 20 years and 1 week per year after that. For contracts whose performance starts on or after 1 June 2026, employer notice is capped at 52 weeks from 17 years' seniority; existing contracts keep the uncapped scale. For contracts starting from 1 August 2026, notice is also one week throughout the first six months.

Employees who resign give much shorter notice, capped at 13 weeks: for example 3 weeks at six months, 6 weeks at two years and 13 weeks from eight years. Notice must be given in writing with its start date and length; an employer must send it by registered post or bailiff, and notice starts on the Monday after the week in which it is served. Contracts started before 2014 combine the old and new scales. The employer can instead end the contract immediately with an indemnity equal to the pay for the notice period.

Belgium has no at-will dismissal, but an employer does not need prior approval to dismiss. Under national collective labour agreement no. 109, a private-sector employee with at least six months' seniority can ask by registered letter for the concrete reasons for dismissal within two months after the contract ends (or within six months of notice, if working it); the employer must reply within two months. Failing that, the employer owes a flat civil fine of two weeks' pay. If a labour court finds the dismissal manifestly unreasonable, it awards 3 to 17 weeks' pay, which can be added to the fine.

Dismissal for serious misconduct ends the contract immediately without notice or indemnity, but must be notified within three working days of the employer learning of the facts, with reasons given in writing within the same period. Special protection applies to pregnant employees and those on maternity, birth, adoption or parental leave, employee representatives, whistle-blowers and those who file discrimination complaints. Final pay is due no later than the next usual payday after the contract ends and includes accrued holiday pay, any pro-rata premiums and the indemnity where applicable; the employer issues the unemployment certificate (C4) and holiday certificate. Collective dismissals require information and consultation of employee representatives and notification of the regional employment authorities.

Before an employee starts, the employer must register with the National Social Security Office and file an electronic Dimona declaration (the immediate declaration of employment) before the first working hour; a Dimona 'out' is filed when employment ends. The employer must join a joint committee according to its main activity, take out occupational accident insurance and join an external prevention service. Contributions are paid as monthly provisions and reconciled in a quarterly declaration, and professional withholding tax is paid monthly. Most small employers use a social secretariat, an accredited payroll agency.

As a rule of thumb, employer social security adds about 25% of gross pay, before sector funds, occupational accident premiums and the 1.60% contribution for employers with at least 10 workers. On top come double holiday pay (92% of a month), any end-of-year premium (one month in many sectors) and benefits such as meal vouchers, eco-cheques, group insurance and hospitalisation cover, so the total yearly cost of a white-collar employee is commonly 35% to 50% above gross salary depending on sector and package. New employers receive reductions for their first hires; the first employee qualifies for a large exemption from the basic employer contribution.

Employers withhold professional withholding tax from each salary payment and pay it to the tax authority monthly; it is an advance on the employee's annual personal income tax. For income earned in 2026 (assessment year 2027) the federal rates are 25% up to EUR 16,720 of taxable income, 40% up to EUR 29,510, 45% up to EUR 51,070 and 50% above. The first EUR 11,180 is tax-free, more with dependent children. Municipalities add a surcharge on the federal tax, typically between about 6% and 9% depending on where the employee lives. Employee social security contributions and a flat-rate allowance for professional expenses are deducted before tax. Non-residents pay non-resident tax and receive the full tax-free allowance only if at least 75% of their professional income is taxable in Belgium.

Benefits in kind and allowances are normally taxable pay and subject to social security, but several Belgian benefits are exempt when legal conditions are met. Meal vouchers (employer share up to EUR 8.91 a day worked) and eco-cheques (up to EUR 250 a year) are exempt from tax and social security. Non-recurring result-linked bonuses under collective labour agreement no. 90 are exempt from employee income tax up to EUR 3,701 net in 2026, with an employer contribution of 33%. Home-working allowances are exempt up to EUR 164.21 a month from 1 September 2026 plus EUR 20 for internet and EUR 20 for a private computer. Employer premiums for collective hospitalisation insurance are not taxed for the employee but are not deductible for the company. Employer contributions to group insurance are exempt from personal tax within the 80% rule, under which projected statutory and supplementary pensions together may not exceed 80% of final gross salary, and carry a special employer social contribution of 8.86%. Company cars are taxed as a benefit in kind based on list price and carbon dioxide emissions, and the employer pays a monthly solidarity contribution.

Belgian employment terms come from three layers: national law; interprofessional collective labour agreements of the National Labour Council, which apply to the whole private sector (for example on the minimum wage, reasons for dismissal and eco-cheques); and sector agreements negotiated in joint committees (commissions paritaires / paritaire comités). Every private employer belongs to at least one joint committee determined by its main activity; there are around 160, with numbers starting with 1 generally for blue-collar workers, 2 for white-collar employees and 3 for both. Agreements declared binding by royal decree apply to all employers in the sector.

Joint committees set minimum pay scales, indexation, end-of-year premiums, extra leave, commuting allowances, eco-cheques and sometimes sector pension plans, all on top of the statutory baseline. Many technology businesses and startups without a more specific sector fall under Joint Committee 200, the auxiliary joint committee for white-collar employees, which requires a one-month end-of-year premium, EUR 250 of eco-cheques, an indexed annual premium (EUR 330.84 in 2026), 100% reimbursement of train commuting and January indexation. Company agreements and work rules can add further terms; individual contracts may improve but not reduce sector minimums.

Citizens of the European Union, European Economic Area and Switzerland can work in Belgium without a permit but must register with the municipality for stays over three months. Other nationals normally need a single permit, combining work and residence authorisation, requested by the employer from the region where the employee will work, followed by a long-stay visa. Highly skilled roles and EU Blue Cards are subject to minimum salaries that differ by region.

For 2026 applications, the highly skilled threshold is EUR 48,912 gross a year in Flanders (80% for workers under 30), EUR 53,220 in Wallonia and EUR 3,703.44 a month in Brussels. The EU Blue Card requires EUR 63,586 a year in Flanders, EUR 68,815 in Wallonia and EUR 4,748 a month in Brussels; Flanders keeps its 2025 figures until new national salary statistics are published. Employers must also file a Limosa declaration before posted workers start work in Belgium.