Joining a Social Insurance Fund

Any natural person who exercises a professional activity in Belgium without being bound by an employment contract or statute is considered as a "self-employed person". This means that there is no subordinate relationship.

As a self-employed person, you have your own social statute and a specific social security scheme. In this capacity, you  are required to join a social insurance fund for self-employed persons of your choice and pay quarterly social security contributions.

Registration with a Social Insurance Fund for the Self-Employed

Registration as a Self-Employed Person

As a self-employed person, you are required to join a social insurance fund for self-employed persons of your choosing. This obligation also applies to people who are self-employed in a secondary occupation.

You must register before you actually start your self-employed activity.

If you do not meet this deadline, the National Institute for the Social Security of the Self-employed (NISSE) will ask you to regularise your situation. If you fail to do so, you will automatically be registered  with the National Auxiliary Fund for the Self-Employed.

In cases of non-compliance, administrative fines may be imposed.

At the time of registration, non-EU nationals must be in possession of a professional card (which can be issued via the Belgian diplomatic or consular post in your country of residence or the enterprise counter of your choice).

Registration as a Company

If you set up a company, you must also register it with a social insurance fund for the self-employed (even if you are already registered for your own account) within three months of setting up the company. An annual contribution will then have to be paid (due on 31 December of the year in question)  to the social statute of the self-employed.

Payment of Social Contributions

As a self-employed person, you have to pay social contributions to your social insurance fund. However, there are specific circumstances under which certain persons liable for contributions are not required to pay social contributions (self-employed in a secondary occupation, pensioners, students, etc.).

If you are a self-employed person in main occupation who has never been self-employed before or who ceased self-employment more than five years ago, you may be eligible for a reduced contribution scheme known as ‘primo starter’ during the first four quarters of your self-employment, subject to certain conditions.

You may also be eligible for this scheme if you resume self-employment after a period of incapacity or disability.

If you are a self-employed artist just starting out, the reduced contribution scheme is extended from four to eight quarters if you meet the eligibility requirements.

Social security contributions are calculated in two stages:

• In the contribution year itself, a provisional contribution is levied on the basis of the professional income of a self-employed person from three years ago. At the start of each quarter (in January, April, July and October), you will receive a payment notice from your social insurance fund stating the amount of the provisional quarterly contribution due;
  • What about the starting self-employed? As a starting self-employed person, you do not have any reference year. Your provisional contributions are therefore calculated on the basis of an income that you declare yourself or on the basis of a legal minimum;
• As soon as the tax authorities have determined your final professional income (in principle two years later), the social insurance fund will make a final calculation of your social security contributions based on your professional income in the contribution year.

Estimating Your Income

It is possible that your professional income from three years ago does not correspond to your current professional income. You must therefore estimate your current income as a self-employed person based on your payment notice and compare it with your income from three years ago.

Depending on the result, there are three possible scenarios:

• If your income has remained more or less stable or you have difficulty estimating how it will evolve, you should pay the contribution as indicated on the payment notice;
• If you estimate your current income to be higher than it was three years ago, you will need to you pay more social contributions;
• If you find that your current income is lower than it was three years ago, you may then be able to get a reduction on the basis of the income you have estimated for the year in question.  You must, however, provide supporting documents to your social insurance fund to prove that your income has fallen or will fall during the contribution year concerned, as the fund must give its approval.

Please note! If, when your contributions are finally calculated, your income exceeds the applicable threshold, the contributions still due will be increased accordingly.

Final Statement

As soon as the social insurance fund is aware of your total annual income, it will send a statement showing the final amount of social contributions due. If you have paid too little, you will be asked to pay the difference. If you have overpaid, you will be refunded.

No surcharge is applied to the contributions still due, except for self-employed persons who have been granted an undue reduction.

More Information?

If you want to learn more about the social statute of the self-employed and their rights and obligations, please contact:

Tel.: +32 2 528 68 11
Fax: +32 2 528 69 77
E-mail: zelfindep@minsoc.fed.be
Website of the FPS Social Security

Tel.: +32 2 546 42 11
Fax: +32 2 511 21 53
E-mail: social.security@minsoc.fed.be
Website of the NISSE

List of social insurance funds for the self-employed