Accounting obligations of an SRL: complete guide 2026

Key takeaways

• Every SRL is subject to ordinary double-entry accounting: journal, general ledger and inventory book, whatever its size.
• Three categories determine the filing schema: micro-company (art. 1:25 CAC), small company (art. 1:24 CAC) and large company, with thresholds raised on 1 January 2024.
• The annual accounts must be approved by the OGM within six months of the close, then filed with the NBB within seven months (art. 3:10 CAC).
• Accounting documents must be kept seven years (CEL) and ten years for tax documents (ITC 1992 and VAT Code) since 1 January 2023.
• A late filing with the NBB entails a tariff surcharge: up to 453 euros for small SRLs and 1,510 euros for large ones in 2026.

Keeping an SRL's accounts is not an optional administrative formality: it is a legal obligation whose breach can lead to financial penalties, or even the judicial dissolution of the company. The accounting obligations of an SRL are framed by two main bodies of rules: the Code of Economic Law (CEL, Book III) for the daily keeping of the books, and the Companies and Associations Code (CAC) for the drawing up, presentation and filing of the annual accounts.

The law of 28 March 2024 raised the company-classification thresholds for the first time since 2016, transposing the European delegated directive 2023/2775. Some SRLs until then considered large may now switch to small company or even micro-company, with lightened obligations as a result.

The three categories of SRL and their accounting regime

The company's size determines the annual-accounts schema to file with the National Bank of Belgium and whether or not an auditor must be appointed. The CAC distinguishes three categories defined in articles 1:24 and 1:25, applicable to financial years starting from 1 January 2024.

	Micro-company	Small company	Large company
Workers (annual avg.)	≤ 10 FTE	≤ 50 FTE	> 50 FTE (2 criteria)
Net turnover excl. VAT	≤ 900,000 €	≤ 11,250,000 €	> 11,250,000 €
Balance-sheet total	≤ 450,000 €	≤ 6,000,000 €	> 6,000,000 €
NBB filing schema	Micro-schema	Abridged schema	Full schema
Auditor mandatory
Management report

The rule deserves to be specified: a company may exceed one of the three criteria and stay in the corresponding category. An SRL with 8 workers, 1.3 million euros of turnover and 380,000 euros of balance-sheet total is a micro-company (a single criterion, turnover, exceeds the threshold). If it exceeds two, it moves to small company. The micro-company is a subset of the small company and cannot be part of a group (neither subsidiary nor parent).

For an SRL with a business address that engages our support services, the annual check of the thresholds is one of the reflexes to adopt from the close.

The mandatory accounting books

Whatever its size, every SRL is required to keep ordinary double-entry accounts (art. III.84 CEL). Three legal books form the minimum base. They must be kept in their original form (art. III.88 CEL).

The journal records chronologically all the company's operations: date, description, amounts debited and credited. When the volume of transactions justifies it, it may be replaced by auxiliary sectoral journals (purchases, sales, cash, bank), provided a centralising journal is kept.

The general ledger (or central ledger) groups the same entries by account: each accounting item appears there with its cumulative balance, which allows the asset and financial position to be tracked throughout the year.

The inventory book recaps at each close the company's assets, liabilities and off-balance-sheet commitments. It serves as the basis for drawing up the annual balance sheet.

These three books may be kept in digital format, provided the system guarantees the integrity and immutability of the records. Certified accounting software meets this requirement in practice.

Document retention. The Code of Economic Law requires keeping the legal books and supporting documents for seven years from 1 January following the close of the year to which they relate (art. III.86 and III.88 CEL). Since 1 January 2023, tax law raises this period to ten years for the documents needed to determine taxable income (art. 315 ITC 1992) and for VAT documents (art. 60 VAT Code), under the law of 20 November 2022. Keeping all documents for ten years avoids any discussion during an audit.

Annual accounts: composition by size

At the close of each year, the SRL draws up its annual accounts. Their exact content depends on the applicable schema, but the balance sheet, the profit-and-loss account and the notes are common to all models. The density of the notes varies: the micro-schema requires minimal information, the full schema requires detailed notes on each significant item.

Documents to file with the NBB by size

• Balance sheet

  Mandatory for all SRLs. Condensed presentation in micro and abridged, full in the entire schema.

• Profit-and-loss account

  Mandatory for all SRLs. Simplified version in micro and abridged, detailed in the full schema.

• Notes

  Mandatory for all SRLs. Minimal in the micro-schema, complete with explanatory notes in the entire schema.

• Management report

  Large companies only. Presents the evolution of activities, significant risks and information on dividends. Small SRLs and micro-companies are exempt.

• Auditor's report

  Mandatory for large SRLs and those required to appoint an auditor (approved company auditor).

• Social balance sheet

  Companies employing an average of twenty workers or more during the year. Recaps positions created, training and departures.

For the vast majority of SRLs created in Belgium, which remain small companies, the list is limited to the first three documents: balance sheet, profit-and-loss account and notes. This considerably simplifies the administrative burden compared to a large listed company.

Calendar and filing with the National Bank of Belgium

After approval by the general meeting, the annual accounts must be filed with the Central Balance Sheet Office of the National Bank of Belgium. Electronic filing has been mandatory since 1 January 2020: the XBRL format (structured data) is favoured, PDF remains accepted.

1. 1

   Close of the financial year

   31 December

   Drawing up of the accounts. For an SRL with a calendar year, the close falls on 31 December.

2. 2

   Approval by the ordinary general meeting

   By 30 June at the latest

   The managers convene the OGM, present the annual accounts and submit them to the approval vote. Legal deadline: six months after the close of the year.

3. 3

   Filing with the National Bank of Belgium

   By 31 July at the latest

   The approved accounts are filed with the Central Balance Sheet Office. Deadline: thirty days after approval and by seven months after the close at the latest (art. 3:10 CAC).

This calendar applies to an SRL whose year coincides with the calendar year. Companies whose year closes on another date simply shift the deadlines from the same principle: six months for the general meeting, seven months in total for the NBB.

The tariffs are indexed every year on 1 January on the basis of the consumer price index. The XBRL format is systematically cheaper than PDF. The data published above are the official tariffs of the National Bank of Belgium valid from 1 January 2026.

Penalties and consequences of a late filing

A filing beyond the legal seven-month deadline entails a tariff surcharge, calculated from the first day of the ninth month following the close of the year. For SRLs under the micro-schema or the abridged schema, the 2026 surcharge amounts to 151 euros from the ninth month, 227 euros from the tenth to the twelfth month, and 453 euros from the thirteenth month. For large SRLs (full schema), these amounts reach respectively 504 euros, 755 euros and 1,510 euros.

Beyond the financial surcharge, a persistent absence of filing over several consecutive years exposes the company to a judicial dissolution initiated by the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises. This procedure may result in the blocking of the professional bank accounts and the deregistration of the enterprise.

Structure your SRL on solid foundations

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Going further

• Financial plan of an SRL: content and legal obligations, to understand the financial projections required before the company's incorporation
• Setting up an SRL in Belgium: steps, costs and timelines, to structure your company well from its launch
• Deductible expenses for an SRL in Belgium, to optimise the tax burden from rigorous accounting
• FPS Finance: corporate income tax and accounting, the official source for the tax rules applicable to Belgian companies