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Info required for the Independent Status

nak

Hi all,

I've been working in Brussels for almost 1 and a half year and now want to change my tax status from employee to an Independent.

Is there any company / agency helping professionals in this process. I speak very very basic french so am unable to squeeze the required info from the townhall or other offices.

cheers

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hannahhadman

All i know on this that the taxes for someone self employed are very high. I should suggest just calling the tax people the flemmish ones here spoke english to me that or get an accountant

schoolmum

Follow the instructions here.

nak

Schoolmum and Hannah thanks for the help :)

simonlo

hannahhadman wrote:

All i know on this that the taxes for someone self employed are very high. I should suggest just calling the tax people the flemmish ones here spoke english to me that or get an accountant


All I know is that this is untrue and misleading.

Taxes for self-employed are very favourable.  Especially when done correctly with a competent accountant as, like most things in Belgium, it is not straight forward.

hannahhadman

Well i had a friend who became a self employed part time achutect(cant spell it lol) and had to pay over 700 euros in tax 4 times a year leaving her with 50 euros a month.

I also planned on setting up a small business from home probs earning less than a few 1000 a year and it turned out i would have to pay out more in tax than i would earn

Jemmy12

I've recently went from being an employee to being self employed
(werknemer to zelfstandig)
There are pro's and con's to it, the main downside is that you will loose your rights to "dop" (social security payments) should you lose your job, you also loose your pension (and should pay into one yourself)
At the very least you will need to pay your own social insurance quarterly, (minimum is €670 per Qtr if I remember correctly, i pay mine through Acerta)
Basically you should really speak to a competent accountant as they can tell you about all and any pitfalls and how to ensure you don't pay any more than you need to and tell you exactly what you can claim tax relief against because sure as the sun rises in the east the Belgian authorities WILL NOT be helpful to you.
Best of luck with whatever venture you are starting :)