Under the Belgian social security regime, employees contribute 13.07% and employers contribute around 27% of the employee’s remuneration to social security.
For blue-collar employees, these social security contributions are calculated on the basis of 108% of the gross amount. Blue-collar employees receive holiday pay from a holiday fund, not directly from the employer. This holiday fund doesn’t pay any social security contributions, so the social security contributions paid by the employer are calculated on an extra 8% as compensation. The part of the holiday pay subject to social security contributions is 8% of the annual remuneration.
These contributions used to be calculated on the basis of the uncapped remuneration. This is one of the main differences between the social security regime for employees and the social security regime for self-employed people. Under the latter regime, no social security contributions are due on revenues exceeding around EUR108,000 per year.
Both under the social security regime for employees and the one for self-employed people, social security benefits are calculated on the basis of a capped remuneration.
The current Belgian government announced in its government agreement that it would introduce a cap for calculating the employer social security contributions. The Programme Act of 18 July 2025, which was published in the Official Journal of 29 July 2025, effectively introduced this remuneration cap.
The Programme Act doesn’t stipulate the amount of the remuneration cap for calculating the employer’s social security contributions. It merely states the amount will be determined by Royal Decree. No such Royal Decree has been promulgated yet.
The National Office for Social Security has already announced that the remuneration cap will equal EUR85,000 per quarter and per employee. If the remuneration of an employee would exceed this amount of EUR85,000 per quarter, the normal employer social security contributions are not due on the part exceeding EUR85,000.
The remuneration cap only applies for normal employer social security contributions. Nothing changes for special contributions, for instance the contribution for the Closure Fund or the contribution for the Asbestos Fund. These are still calculated on the basis of uncapped remuneration. The same holds for the special social security contribution of 8.86% due on an employer contribution to a complementary pension scheme.
The employee social security contributions are also still calculated on the basis of uncapped remuneration.
The National Office for Social Security specified the remuneration cap is a fixed amount, independent of the working time. If an employee works for instance half-time, the amount of EUR85,000 isn’t reduced in line with the working time.
The Programme Act stipulates the amount of the remuneration cap is indexed by 2% each time the health index (the consumer price index excluding some products like fuel and cigarettes) increases by 2%.
This part of the Programme Act retroactively entered into force on 1 July 2025.
Written by Laurent De Surgeloose and Pierre Dion, DLA Piper Belgium
