Becoming self-employed in Belgium: conditions, steps and status

Key takeaways

• Becoming self-employed on a main basis requires being 18, enjoying your civil and political rights and affiliating with a social insurance fund before starting.
• Registration with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises is done via an approved enterprise counter and gives a 10-digit enterprise number.
• On a main basis, a minimum quarterly social contribution is due even without income, unlike the secondary status.
• The first year is prepared in cash flow: adjustable provisional contributions, advance tax payments and the distinction between turnover and profit.

Setting up on your own account attracts thousands of workers every year in Belgium, and the framework has clearly loosened: since 15 January 2024, proof of basic management knowledge is no longer required to launch a business in Brussels. Still, becoming self-employed in Belgium on a main basis entails concrete obligations from day one, notably a minimum social contribution due even without profit. This guide details the conditions, the registration steps, the choice of status and the figures to anticipate. For the variant where you keep a salaried job alongside, see our dedicated guide to the secondary self-employed in Belgium.

Becoming self-employed in Belgium: the conditions to meet

Three basic conditions apply to everyone. You must be at least 18, enjoy your civil and political rights, and not be subject to a prohibition on carrying out a self-employed activity. A civil servant must also request the prior agreement of their hierarchy before starting.

Nationality determines an additional formality. If you are a Belgian national, from a European Economic Area state or from Switzerland, no particular step is required on this front. A national of a third country must, on the other hand, obtain a professional card to operate, whether they act as a natural person, company agent or active partner. Some categories are exempt, for example recognised refugees or holders of an unlimited residence permit.

On a main or secondary basis: correctly situating your status

The status determines your contributions and your social protection. On a main basis, the self-employed activity is your main professional occupation: you build your own social rights (pension, sickness-invalidity insurance) and owe a minimum contribution, even in months without receipts. On a secondary basis, you operate alongside a salaried job of at least half-time or a public post, and your social cover rests on that main activity.

	Main basis	Secondary basis
Main activity	the self-employed activity	a salaried or public job
Minimum contribution due without income
Builds own social rights
Contributions on self-employed income	from the first euro	beyond an annual threshold
Registration steps (CBE, fund)	identical	identical

The choice is not fixed. If you reduce a salaried job below half-time, you automatically switch to the main basis, with the minimum contribution attached to it. Conversely, many start on a secondary basis to test the activity before moving to a main basis.

The registration steps, step by step

The formalities are the same whatever the status. They follow one another around registration with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises, which conditions everything else.

1. 1

   Open a professional bank account

   Before registration

   Distinct from the private account. Its number appears on all your commercial documents, with the enterprise number.

2. 2

   Register with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises

   Before starting

   Via an approved enterprise counter, which records your NACE codes and issues you a 10-digit enterprise number.

3. 3

   Activate the VAT number

   Before the first invoices

   With the FPS Finance, via form 604A on MyMinfin, unless under the exemption scheme.

4. 4

   Affiliate with a social insurance fund

   Before starting

   Mandatory and prior to starting. Failing this, an administrative fine and automatic affiliation with the National Auxiliary Fund.

5. 5

   Register with a health insurance fund

   At start-up

   On presentation of the affiliation certificate from the fund, for the reimbursement of care and incapacity benefits.

6. 6

   Take out the mandatory insurance

   Before operation

   Depending on the activity: civil liability, work accidents if you employ staff, sectoral cover.

The company-formation route via an approved counter can be wrapped up quickly, provided you have prepared your identity documents, your professional account number and a precise description of the activity.

VAT: choosing the right scheme from the start

Once the enterprise number is obtained, you activate it as a VAT number, unless you fall under the exemption. Below 25,000 € of annual turnover excluding VAT, the tax exemption scheme exempts you from charging and declaring VAT, in return for the loss of the right to deduction. Above this threshold, normal liability applies, with returns in principle quarterly, and monthly when turnover exceeds 2,500,000 €.

This choice is not neutral: the exemption simplifies the management of a small activity, but prevents you from recovering VAT on your purchases and investments. Our guide obtaining and managing a VAT number in Belgium details the thresholds, the options and the declaration obligations.

Social contributions: what changes on a main basis

This is where the main status weighs the most. Contributions are calculated on your net professional income, at the rate of 20.5% up to a first annual ceiling, then a reduced rate beyond. Above all, on a main basis, a minimum contribution is due even if your income is low or nil, because it is calculated on a legal floor income.

For the first three years, you pay provisional contributions: lacking a reference income, they first rest on the legal floor or on an income estimate you communicate. Once your real income is known by the tax authorities, the fund adjusts, up or down.

Setting up as self-employed?

Monsiegesocial supports you in registering with the CBE and the company-formation steps in Belgium.

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The first year: anticipating cash flow and taxation

The move from salaried employment to self-employment changes the tax logic. You no longer suffer a withholding tax deducted at source: it is up to you to organise advance tax payments, on pain of a surcharge applied by the FPS Finance. Your net professional income is subject to personal income tax on the progressive scale: the higher the income, the higher the marginal bracket.

To secure from start-up

• Distinguish turnover and profit

  The taxable and contributable income is the net profit after costs, not the turnover collected.

• Provision contributions and tax

  Set aside a share of each invoice to absorb the adjustment of contributions and tax.

• Plan advance payments

  Anticipate tax by quarter to avoid the FPS Finance surcharge.

• Check sectoral authorisations

  Depending on the activity: FASFC authorisation, alcohol or tobacco licence, itinerant trade, accreditations.

• Surround yourself with an accountant

  Support from the start limits the most costly management errors.

If the activity grows, the question of switching to a company will arise. Beyond a certain level of profit, an SRL may become more tax-advantageous and protect private assets. It is then a new undertaking, with a deed of incorporation and financial plan in support.

Going further

• Secondary self-employed in Belgium: the scheme to know if you keep a salaried job alongside your activity.
• Setting up an SRL in Belgium: the essential steps: when switching to a company becomes relevant for your activity.
• The financial plan of an SRL: the key document to prepare before incorporating a company.