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Help with salary taxation
Hi everybody,
I've received a salary proposal from a Belgium company and I was trying to calculate my net salary. I'm single and I don't have any kids.
I've found these steps to be followed:
Gross salary + Benefit in kind (car, smartphone, ...) would be around 40000 eur.
Social security contribution = 13.07% of 40000
Taxable income - Social security contribution = Gross taxable salary (around 35000)
To this amount, I should subtract:
- standard business deductions (4720 eur)
- Basic allowance (7730 eur, as I don't have wife nor kinds)
The tax base is therefore: 35000 - 4720 - 7730
The taxes are paid on this amount with 25/40/45/50% percentage to obtain the state tax (around 8000 eur)
In addition, I should add municipal tax (7% of state tax) and special social security contribution
Is it correct?
Thanks in advance for your support
Use a salary calculator. Google "calcul salaire brut net". You work on a monthly salary basis, and you need to know if you get extra holiday pay and 13th month.
Here is one from one of the the countries largest payroll processors, Partena.
https://www.partena-professional.be/fr/knowledge-center/simulateur-de-sa...
Other things to be aware of, are that depending on what the job is, and who you work for, you may be entitled to 13.92 months pay every year. Typically you accrue 1/12th of a 13th month every month (paid in December of the current year).
Also, and this is extremely important for anyone working for the first time in Belgium, is to correctly understand the situation with paid holidays. Everyone is entitled to holidays, however you accrue in the current year, your entitlement to paid holidays for the following year. Which effectively means that unless you negotiate it separately, you will have unpaid holidays in your first year.
Your calculations look approx correct. I would not worry about the exact net figure assuming the gross is in the right ballpark for your skillset. More important by far, is whether you want the job, is it located well for you, what are the future prospects. These are far far more important than a net salary difference of +/- €100-200 per month due to tax calculations.
What WEZEMBEEKWANDERER says is important. However, you also have to ask, if your future employer won't make a simple phone call to whoever handles their payroll to ask "what is the monthly net salary for this new employee", then are they actually interested in employing you?
Go back to the employer and ask for a salary forecast / simulation setting out what you will be paid net per month every month over the next 12 months. I used to have our payroll processing company Partena, do this every time I hired someone.
Payroll and PAYE calculations are not particularly accurate in Belgium due to tax laws and tax-deductible allowances. You usually have some sort of discrepancy every year. It can go from a few hundred euros either way to several thousand if you've got complex personal circumstances.
Best wishes if you take the job. Just remember the old saying. There are two certainties in life - death and taxation.
Understanding Belgian taxation and social security calculations is nigh on impossible.
