Self-employed student: The 5 most important tax figures in 2024

Student life can be an exciting time, full of new experiences and challenges. For some, 1 of those challenges is starting your own business as a self-employed student. Whether you tutor, are a photographer or run an online webshop, understanding the tax aspects of self-employment is crucial to avoid financial surprises at the end of the year. Here are the 5 most important tax figures every self-employed student should know (figures income 2024).

1. Dependants are parents
2. Social security contributions
3. Personal income tax
4. VAT
5. Child benefit or growth package
   
   
   
   

Figure 1️⃣: When am I no longer fiscally dependent on my parents as a self-employed student?

As a self-employed student, you can still remain dependent on your parents under certain conditions. To remain fiscally dependent, your total net subsistence should not exceed €7,290.

Want to know how much this is gross? The calculations to go from gross means of subsistence to net subsistence are not easy, you can find more information here.

Tip:

Dexxter automatically does the calculations from gross to net for you, this way you can easily see if you are still dependants

Are your parents also self-employed and you work for their company? Then you may not be dependants anyway:

• One parent owns a company: in general, if the remuneration amounts to less than €2,000, you remain dependent on your parents. If the remuneration exceeds €2,000, you remain dependants if the remuneration does not account for more than half of your total income.
• A parent has a sole proprietor: from the moment your parent contributes your salary as a cost, you are immediately no longer dependants
  
  
  

What are the consequences if I am no longer fiscally dependent on my parents?

When your parents have dependent children, their tax-free allowance increases. This means they have to pay less taxes. By how much their tax-free sum increases and the consequence for their tax note, you will find in the table below.

Example: The only child of Pietje and Sam is no longer dependants so their tax-free allowance is no longer increased by €1,920. So they still have to pay 25% taxes on this amount, equivalent to €480.

Figure 2️⃣: How much social security contributions do I have to pay as a self-employed student?

As a self-employed student, you are required to close a social insurance fund and pay social security contributions. The amount of these contributions depends on your net taxable income. Your net taxable income is: turnover – expenses – social security contributions. For income from the year 2024, the next income limits apply:

In the first three starting years, you pay a flat-rate provisional minimum contribution of €98.52 quarterly. From the fourth year, your provisional contribution is calculated based on your income from three years ago.

Unless you estimate that your net taxable income remains below €8,430.73 on an annual basis. Then, as a self-employed student, you can immediately apply for an exemption from social security contributions through your social insurance fund.

As soon as your actual income is known, your final contribution will be calculated. This actual income is passed on automatically via the yearly personal income tax return. You submit those to the tax authorities and then your social insurance fund also gets access to those figures.

Tip:

Want more info on social security contributions for students? Then read our blog article with examples.

It is important to know that, like other self-employed people, you can have your provisional contributions increased or reduced if necessary.

Beware: if you start in the middle of the year, you have to recalculate the €8,430.73 yearly according to how many quarters you are enabled. Quarterly, you are allowed €2,107.68 of net taxable income to be exempted from social security contributions.

For example, if you start in the third quarter, you are enabled for 2 quarters of the year and will only be exempt from social security contributions if your taxable income is below €4,215.36.

Figure 3️⃣: How much personal income tax do I have to pay as a self-employed student?

As a self-employed student, you are also required to pay personal income tax on the income you generate from your self-employed activities. Personal income tax rates and scales vary depending on your total income. The brackets are indexed every year. In 2024, the tax brackets in Belgium are as follows:

So being a self-employed student is very advantageous! Up to €10,570, you do not have to pay personal income tax. People who are self-employed in secondary occupation will most likely already be in the 40%-50% segment due to their main occupation.

To avoid penalties, it is important to keep accurate records of your income and expenses to ensure that you do the right returns and calculate your personal income tax correctly. Make sure you use online accounting software to file your tax return accurately.

Reduce your taxable income by declaring expenses!

Don’t forget your office equipment, computer, business dinners… not.

An example: how much personal income tax do I have to pay?

Nina is a self-employed student photographer and made a turnover of €18,000 this year, a nice amount! She could also bring in €2,000 in business expenses: her camera, desk and photography software. This leaves €16,000. As this is above the €8,430.73 limit for social security contributions, she will pay €1,551.7 (=20.5%*(16,000-8,430.73)) in social security contributions.

Now Nina knows her net taxable income. In addition, she earned another €1,000 in a sandwich shop as a job student, this makes her total income €15,448.3. From this she still needs to deduct personal income tax, which she can calculate as follows:

• On the first bracket from €10,570 she pays no taxes.
• On the bracket between €10,570 and €15,820 she pays 25% taxes, which is €1,312.5.
  
  

By deducting all taxes, Nina is left with €14,135.8.

Figure 4️⃣: Do I have to pay vAT as a self-employed student?

Maybe! As a self-employed student, you may have to charge VAT on the products or services you provide. The threshold for being required to charge vAT is an annual turnover of €25,000.

If you stay below this amount, you can choose to remain exempted from VAT. But, you can just as easily choose to be subject to VAT. The advantage of this is that you can deduct the vAT paid on your purchases. If you choose to be exempted from VAT, you cannot deduct the VAT on purchases, but you also don’t have to charge VAT to your customers.

Tip:

Choosing to be subject to VAT anyway can be interesting:

• If your customers are mainly companies
• If you have to make expensive investments
• If you only have to charge 6% vAT % for your activities
  
  

Figure 5️⃣: Do I still get child benefit or growth package as a self-employed student?

As a self-employed student, you may be entitled to child benefit. Conditions and amounts vary by region, so it is important to contact your child benefit fund for specific information.

In general, if your annual income is below €16,861.46, you pay no or reduced social security contributions and are therefore not entitled to disability benefits. If your annual self-employed income is less than €16,861.46, your parents will therefore continue to receive your child allowance.

In that case, you also remain dependants of your parents for the refund of medical care. If your annual income amounts to €16,861.46 or more, you do accrue the same social rights as a self-employed person in main occupation.

Important!

In addition to the €16,861.46 you are allowed to earn as a self-employed student, you can work 600 hours as a job student without losing your growth package.

Why is it best not to exceed this threshold of €16,861.46 of net taxable income?

When your income exceeds €16,861.46, it means that your social status is no longer self-employed student but self-employed in main occupation. You earn too much with your self-employed activities to still enjoy the benefits of self-employed student status.

First of all, at the end of the year, your parents have to pay back the child benefit to the government, which amounts to about €2,500.

In addition, you will no longer be covered by your parents for medical expenses either. This means you have to pay for your own hospitalisation insurance, for example. This amounts to about €250 per year.

Do you earn much more than €16,861.46? Then, of course, none of this is a problem. But if you narrowly exceed the limit, it may be advisable to incur additional expenses.

In summary, what are my responsibilities?

Note: These figures apply to the year 2024 and are collected yearly. It is always advisable to consult the latest information and seek professional advice if necessary.