Self-employed as your main occupation
Your social security contributions are calculated on the basis of the net taxable income you earned three years
ago. This means that your social security contributions for 2014 will be calculated on the income you earned in
2011. The government has set a contribution percentage for each income bracket.
Starting a self-employed activity
When starting a self-employed activity, you do not have three years of self-employed activities to look back on.
This is why the contributions you pay during your first three complete years are calculated on the basis of the
income of the year itself. However, the social insurance funds only receive this income from the tax authorities
after two years. Those starting a self-employed activity are therefore given the opportunity to pay the ‘fixed
minimum contribution’ during their first three years. This contribution is provisional and will be recalculated after
two years according to your actual income. Furthermore, self-employed persons who have not yet been active for
three years pay a lower percentage of contributions than established self-employed persons.
As from January, 1 2015 your social contributions will be calculated differently. Would you like further explanation
or information? Find out more at www.xerius.be/rsc2015.
Income bracket (EUR)
1st year
2nd year
3rd year
≤ 12,870.43: FMC
EUR 679.73
EUR 696.31
EUR 712.89
12,870.43 - 55,576.94
20.50%
21%
21.50%
1
55,576.94 - 81,902.81
14.16%
> 81,902.81
0%
Example of the first three years of a person who is self-employed as their main occupation and who pays the minimum
contribution:
Quarter and
year
Quarterly contributions
1/2/3/4-2014
EUR 679.73
Review in...
Contribution %
Reference income
Final quarterly
contributions
2016
20.50%
EUR 25,000
EUR 1,320.33
Additional payment per quarter
EUR 640.60
1/2/3/4-2015
EUR 696.31
2017
21%
EUR 30,000
EUR 1,623.04
EUR 926.73
1/2/3/4-2016
EUR 712.89
2018
21.50%
EUR 40,000
EUR 2,215.58
EUR 1,502.69
Social-security-contributions-main-occupation-20140210
You can also choose to pay increased provisional contributions based on your estimate of your income. This system has
the following advantages:
DD You will not be confronted with major adjustments as illustrated above.
DDYour professional expenses are higher, which reduces your taxes.
DDYour income will be lower because you will be paying more tax deductible social security contributions.
DDAfter the review, you receive a 0.75% bonus per quarter on the amount you have paid in excess of the
statutory minimum contributions.
Established self-employed person
As of your fourth year as a self-employed person, you pay the following social security contributions:
Income bracket (EUR)
≤ 12,870.43 = FMC1
Established selfemployed person
EUR 729.46 = FMC1
12,870.43 - 55,576.94
22%
55,576.94 - 81,902.81
14.16%
> 81,902.81
0%
Example 1: your annual net taxable income is EUR
82,000. You pay 22% social security contributions on
the income bracket up to EUR 55,576.94 and 14.16%
on the income bracket between EUR 55,576.94 and
EUR 81,902.81 You do not pay any social security
contributions on the amount over EUR 81,902.81.
1 FMC = fixed minimum contribution: ‘fixed’ because this contribution is provisional and will be reviewed after two years, ‘minimum’ because you
cannot pay less than this amount.
Business Counter
Social Security for the Self-Employed
Supplementary Social Insurance
Assisting spouse
(maxi status)
The social security contributions for a spouse who works in his/her partner’s one-person business are calculated
on the wages he/she receives from that spouse.
An assisting spouse who has been active for less than three years pays a lower percentage of social security
contributions than established self-employed persons.
Starting self-employed
Income bracket (EUR)
1 year
≤ 5,653.98 = FMC
EUR 298.61
20.50%
1
5,653.98 - 55,576.94
3 year
Established selfemployed person
EUR 305.88
EUR 313.17
EUR 320.45
21%
21.50%
22%
2
st
nd
year
rd
55,576.94 - 81,902.81
14.16%
> 81,902.81
0%
Social security contributions 2014
main occupation and assisting spouse
The social security contributions include a 3.05% management fee and must be paid per quarter.
The amounts in the table are the rates for 2014 and are adjusted every year according to the index.
Revaluation coefficient 2014: 1.05746.
Main occupation
Income bracket (EUR)
1st year (EUR)
2nd year (EUR)
3rd year (EUR)
Established selfemployed person
(EUR)
≤ 12,870.43
679.73
696.31
712.89
729.46
15,000
792.20
811.52
830.84
899.01
20,000
1,056.26
1,082.03
1,107.79
1,198.68
30,000
1,584.39
1,623.04
1,661.68
1,798.03
40,000
2,112.53
2,164.05
2,215.58
2,397.37
50,000
2,640.66
2,705.06
2,769.47
2,996.71
60,000
3,096.54
3,168.24
3,236.47
3,437.08
> 81,902.81
3,895.55
3,967.25
4,038.73
4,110.32
Starting self-employed person
Assisting spouse
Income bracket (EUR)
1st year (EUR)
2nd year (EUR)
3rd year (EUR)
Established selfemployed pseron
(EUR)
≤ 5,636.98
298.61
305.88
313.17
320.45
7,500
396.10
405.76
415.42
449.51
10,000
528.13
541.01
553.89
599.34
Starting self-employed person
> 12,870.43
See main occupation
1 FMC = fixed minimum contribution: ‘fixed’ because this contribution is provisional and will be reviewed after two years, ‘minimum’ because you
cannot pay less than this amount.
Business Counter
Social Security for the Self-Employed
Supplementary Social Insurance