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First employment in Belgium – no employers contributions due!

An interesting measure further to the so-called tax shift is the (almost full) exemption of employers contributions in case of a first employment in Belgium.

One of the goals of the taxshift is the reduction of the Belgian employment cost. Consequently the regulation has been implemented by which there are (almost) no employers social security contributions due in case of a first employment as of January 1 2016. Moreover this exemption is not restricted in time. 

The considerable Belgian employers social security cost (+/- 33% of gross remuneration for white-collar employees) was often a significant hurdle for foreign companies interested to invest in Belgium and thus to employ individuals. This has now (almost) been eliminated for white-collar employees. For the employment of blue-collar employees a very significant reduction applies. 

On top it is interesting to know that this exemption is not linked to a specific employee. Indeed, the employer can (on a quarterly basis) choose for which employee the exemption will be applied.

Furthermore, next to the exemption for the first employee additional exemptions exist for the 2nd to 6th employee. However these exemptions are limited in time.