What is self-employed status in Belgium?
It is the status of a person who works in Belgium without being bound by an employment contract or a civil service statute. That is how the INASTI, the federal institution for the social security of the self-employed, defines it. The activity has to be regular and carried out for profit: a single, isolated job does not make someone self-employed.
Company directors are presumed self-employed too, unless their mandate is unpaid. That is why an IT consultant who invoices through their own company usually still falls under the self-employed scheme.
What does the status require?
Two registrations. The first is affiliation to a social insurance fund before the activity starts. The federal social security portal states that it is mandatory, and that someone who does not choose a fund after a reminder is affiliated to the national auxiliary fund. The second is registration in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises through an approved enterprise counter, which gives a unique enterprise number, as the FPS Economy explains.
Contributions are a percentage of net professional income, payable every quarter. Provisional amounts are based on the income of three years earlier and adjusted once the real income is known. The status can also be held alongside a job, with contributions that depend on the income from the activity, as the Sparagus wiki on self-employment as a side activity explains.
How is self-employed status different from being a freelancer?
Freelancer is a market word: it says you work on missions for clients. Self-employed is the legal status behind it: it says which social security scheme covers you and which obligations you carry. A freelancer working in their own name is self-employed. A freelancer employed by an umbrella company is not.
The difference matters when something goes wrong. Illness, a gap between missions or a pension are handled by the rules of the self-employed scheme, which differ from those of employees, whatever word sits on your profile.
When does the status not hold?
When the work is in fact done under someone's authority. Belgian law looks at four general criteria: the will of the parties, the freedom to organise working time, the freedom to organise the work, and the possibility of hierarchical control. No single criterion decides, but if the facts contradict the label, the relationship is requalified as employment.
In case of doubt, a situation can be submitted, under conditions, to the Administrative Commission for the regulation of the employment relationship. What requalification means for both sides is covered in the Sparagus wiki on false self-employment in Belgium.
