Belgium operates a system of progressive personal income tax. This means that the more you earn, the higher tax rates you fall into. 📈
To apply this in practice, there are different tax brackets. For example, in 2024 you will pay only 25% taxes on your first 15,820 euros of income, and already 40% on the next 12,100 euros.
To calculate personal income tax for someone with a sole proprietor in secondary occupation, the taxable income as an employee is simply added together with the taxable income from self-employment activities. The brackets are then applied to this total taxable annual income.
So if you earned 10,000 euros of taxable income as an employee and 10,000 euros of taxable income as a self-employed person, you will therefore be taxed as much as if you earned 20,000 euros as an employee.
Tax brackets 💶
Below is a summary of the tax brackets for income from 2024 (assessment year 2025):
| Income disc | % taxed |
| From € 0 to € 15.820 | 25% |
| From € 15.820 to € 27.920 | 40% |
| From € 27.920 to € 48.320 | 45% |
| From€ 48.320 to … | 50% |
So for example, if you earned €20,000 (it doesn’t matter whether this was as a self-employed person or an employee), you paid 25% of €15,200 and 40% on the remaining amount of (€20,000 – €15,200).
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Tax-free allowance
On top of these brackets, there is an additional rule.
Every Belgian is entitled to a tax-free sum every year. You may interpret this quite literally as an amount of income on which you do not have to pay personal income tax.
For the 2024 income year (assessment year 2025), this amount is no less than €10,570.
So if you earn less than this amount, you pay no taxes at all. But even if you earn more, you only pay taxes on the part above the tax-free amount.
The amount mentioned above is the so-called minimum tax-free sum. It applies to everyone, but can be increased according to your personal situation (e.g. dependent children).
Did you know.
The amount mentioned above is the so-called minimum tax-free amount.
It applies to everyone, but can be increased depending on your personal situation (e.g. dependent children).
Additional taxes 💰
For completeness, we would also like to refer here to city and county taxes. These additional taxes are in addition to the personal income taxes mentioned earlier.
