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Belgium uses a progressive personal income tax system. This means that the more you earn, the higher your tax rate will be. 📈
To apply this in practice, there are different tax brackets. For example, in the 2026 income year (2027 assessment year), you will pay only 25% tax on your first €16,720 of income, and 40% on the part up to €29,510.
To calculate the personal income tax for a sole proprietor in secondary occupation, the taxable income as an employee is simply added to the taxable income from the self-employed activity. The brackets are then applied to that total taxable annual income.
➡️ So if you earned €10,000 in taxable income as an employee and €10,000 in taxable income as a self-employed person, you will be taxed the same as if you had earned €20,000 as an employee.
Tax brackets 💶
Below is an overview of the tax brackets for income earned in 2026 (assessment year 2027):
| Income bracket | Tax rate |
|---|---|
| From €0 to €16,720 | 25% |
| From €16,720 to €29,510 | 40% |
| From €29,510 to €51,070 | 45% |
| From €51,070 | 50% |
So, if you earned €20,000 (it doesn’t matter whether you were self-employed or an employee), you pay 25% on the first €16,720 and 40% on the remaining €3,280 (€20,000 – €16,720).
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Tax-free allowance
Every Belgian citizen is also entitled to a tax-free allowance each year. This can be interpreted quite literally as an amount of income on which you do not have to pay personal income tax. A kind of ‘discount’, so to speak.
For the 2026 income year (2027 assessment year) the tax-free allowance is €11,550. Under article 134 of the Belgian income tax code, that allowance is set off against your lowest income brackets rather than your highest rate, which means the benefit is the same for everyone: €2,887.50, or 25% of the tax-free allowance.
So if you earn less than this amount, you pay no tax at all. But even if you earn more, you only pay tax on the part above the tax-free allowance.
The above amount is the so-called minimum tax-free allowance. It applies to everyone, but can be increased depending on your personal situation. With one dependent child, for instance, the allowance goes up by €2,030, which works out to €507.50 less tax.
Did you know?
The above amount is the so-called minimum tax-free allowance.
It applies to everyone, but can be increased depending on your personal situation (e.g., dependent children).
Practical example of personal income tax
Suppose you have a taxable income of €20,000. How much personal income tax will you have to pay?
| Income bracket | Tax rate | Income in this bracket | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| From €0 to €16,720 | 25% | €16,720 | €4,180 |
| From €16,720 to €29,510 | 40% | €3,280 | €1,312 |
The total tax comes to €5,492 (4,180 + 1,312). But everyone is also entitled to the tax-free allowance, which amounts to a minimum of €2,887.50.
This means that you will pay €2,604.50 in personal income tax on a taxable income of €20,000, before municipal tax is added on top.
Additional taxes 💰
Unfortunately, there are other taxes in Belgium besides personal income tax, namely municipal and provincial taxes. These additional taxes are levied on top of the personal income tax mentioned above.
