Employees · Negotiate
Comparing two job offers in 2026: what is your real hourly wage?
Updated on
Since 1 November 2026, withholding tax on pay has been calculated differently (Royal Decree of 27 September 2026). The calculations on this page still follow the previous rules: for pay received from 1 November, withholding tax and net pay may differ. Update in progress.
An offer of €3,400 gross with an hour’s drive each way can pay less than a job at €3,000 30 minutes away: €10.36 net per hour actually spent on work, against €14.24. The higher gross pay gives €775 more net over the year, but car costs, 230 extra hours of travel and 2 unpaid hours a week wipe it out.
The comparison tool puts up to three offers side by side: net pay over the year (holiday pay, bonus, meal vouchers), the employer’s contribution to your commuting, transport costs, unpaid hours and travel time. It also drafts a negotiation email with your figures.
Compare your offers
For each offer, enter the salary, working time, benefits and your commute. Leave offer C empty to compare two. The amounts shown are an example: replace them with your own. Nothing is sent: everything is calculated in your browser.
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The example: €400 more gross is not enough
Two offers for a single white-collar worker in joint committee 200, 38 hours over 5 days, with a 13th month and meal vouchers of €8. Offer A is 20 km away, 30 minutes by car. Offer B pays €400 more gross, but it is 45 km away, an hour’s drive, and requires 2 more hours a week, unpaid.
| Offer A | Offer B | |
|---|---|---|
| Gross salary per month | €3,000 | €3,400 |
| Net paid per month | €2,289.72 | €2,335.95 |
| Net over the year, everything included | €32,264 | €33,039 |
| Of which commuting contribution | €660 | €0 |
| Your transport costs | − €4,096 | − €9,216 |
| Net available over the year | €28,168 | €23,824 |
| Working hours per year | 1,748 h | 1,748 h |
| Unpaid hours per year | — | 92 h |
| Travel hours per year | 230 h | 460 h |
| Total time spent | 1,978 h | 2,300 h |
| Net per hour worked | €18.46 | €18.90 |
| Real net per hour | €14.24 | €10.36 |
With the same €3,400, but by train (45 km, an hour), offer B becomes the better one again: €14.36 net per hour, against €14.24. In JC 200, the season ticket is reimbursed at 100%: the train costs you nothing.
How Indexo calculates the real hourly wage
- Net pay for the year, from Indexo’s calculator: social security contributions, work bonus, withholding tax (bedrijfsvoorheffing / précompte professionnel), double holiday pay (or holiday pay from the holiday fund for a blue-collar worker), year-end bonus, meal vouchers and other net benefits.
- Plus the employer’s contribution to your commuting, included in net pay, under the JC 200 rules if they apply, or the amount you enter.
- Minus your transport costs: the price of the SNCB/NMBS rail season ticket, or €0.4452 per kilometre by car, the kilometre allowance from October to December 2026, a benchmark for the full cost of a kilometre.
- Divided by the time spent on work: working hours over 230 days a year (52 weeks of 5 days, minus 20 days of statutory holiday and 10 public holidays), unpaid hours and travel time, there and back, on the days you go in.
With no commute or unpaid hours, a single white-collar worker on €3,000 gross, with a 13th month and meal vouchers, earns €18.12 net per hour worked.
The commute: what it costs in time and money
Each half hour of travel a day adds about 115 hours a year to the time spent on work. By car, the costs come on top. By train, in JC 200, they are reimbursed.
| One-way journey | By car | By train | Travel hours per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 min (10 km) | €16.14 | €17.00 | 115 h |
| 30 min (20 km) | €14.24 | €16.01 | 230 h |
| 45 min (35 km) | €12.07 | €15.13 | 345 h |
| 60 min (50 km) | €10.12 | €14.34 | 460 h |
| 90 min (80 km) | €6.73 | €12.99 | 690 h |
Working from home cuts the commute
| Working from home per week | Travel hours per year | Car costs per year | Real net per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 days | 460 h | − €10,240 | €10.12 |
| 1 day | 368 h | − €8,192 | €11.46 |
| 2 days | 276 h | − €6,144 | €12.93 |
| 3 days | 184 h | − €4,096 | €14.53 |
What the employer reimburses
- Train, JC 200: 100% of the price of a second-class season ticket since 1 January 2026, with no contributions or tax.
- Car, JC 200: 50% of the price of a train season ticket for the same distance, if your annual gross pay does not exceed €36,688. This contribution is tax-free up to €500 a year if you keep the statutory lump sum for professional expenses.
- Bicycle: €0.32 per kilometre in JC 200 since 1 October 2026, at least €0.30 elsewhere (CLA No. 164), for up to 40 km a day; tax-free up to €0.37 per kilometre.
- Other sectors: the rules depend on your joint committee. Enter the amount provided for in the offer in the comparison tool.
Negotiate with your figures
Choose the offer to negotiate and the tone, friendly or firm: Indexo drafts an email with your net pay, your travel time and the gross pay that would make the offer equivalent. If the offer is already the best, the email asks for written confirmation of the salary, bonus, meal vouchers, working from home and the contribution to your commuting.
Higher gross pay is not the only lever: a day working from home, a more generous contribution to your commuting or tax-free benefits can be worth as much. Pay rise or benefits? compares these options at the same cost to the employer. To put the offer in context, see where your salary stands and your joint committee’s minimum pay scale.
Before signing, check your employment contract: type and length, non-compete and training repayment clauses, working from home.
Frequently asked questions
What is the real hourly wage?
It is what you keep in net pay, after your transport costs, for each hour actually spent on work: hours worked, unpaid hours and travel time included. It lets you compare a well-paid but distant offer with one closer to home.
Does my employer have to reimburse my commute?
It depends on your joint committee. In JC 200, the train season ticket has been reimbursed at 100% since 2026. For the car, JC 200 provides 50% of the price of a train season ticket if your annual gross pay does not exceed €36,688. Cycling brings in at least €0.30 per kilometre.
How much does a kilometre by car cost?
Indexo uses the kilometre allowance from October to December 2026 as a benchmark: €0.4452 per kilometre, covering fuel, maintenance, insurance and wear. Your actual cost may be lower; enter it in the comparison tool.
How do I compare an employee job offer with a self-employed assignment?
The comparison tool stays within employee status. To compare with self-employed work or a company, see employee, self-employed or SRL/BV and what rate to charge.
Does the comparison tool take a company car into account?
Not yet: it compares offers without a company car. To measure the effect on your net pay, see what if I had a company car.
What next?
- Check my employment contractBefore signing: type of contract, clauses, part-time work, working from home.
- Pay rise or benefits?For the same cost to the employer, what brings you the most in net pay.
- See where my salary standsYour salary compared with that of Belgian employees.
- Actual expenses or lump sum?Your commute may be worth a bigger deduction than the lump sum.
Sources
Parameters in force on 1 October 2026. Each parameter links to its source, the official one where it exists; a secondary source is flagged as such.
- Calcul du précompte professionnel : annexe III de l’AR/CIR 92 et formule-clé 2026, FPS Finance.
- Instructions administratives : les cotisations de sécurité sociale, NSSO. Cross-checked with: UCM, Securex and the FEB (via the Walloon Public Service) for the basic employer rate in the private sector: 19.88% basic contribution and 5.12% wage moderation contribution, making 25%.
- Pécule de vacances : base de la cotisation sur le double pécule, NSSO.
- Meal vouchers: Royal Decree of 10 November 2025, maximum value of €10, Belgian Official Gazette. Cross-checked with: the CSC/ACV and Partena Professional.
- JC 200 sector agreement: train reimbursed at 100% from 1 January 2026, bicycle allowance of €0.32 per km from 1 October 2026, Partena Professional (secondary source). Cross-checked with: the ACCG (ceiling of €36,688 for private transport in 2026) and the CGSLB/ACLVB.
- JC 200: convention collective du 1er juillet 2019 sur l’intervention dans les frais de transport (train, private transport at 50% of the monthly rail card), FPS Employment.
- Fares as of 1 February 2026: Standard Season Ticket, second class, SNCB/NMBS. Cross-checked with: the OECCBB (example Ottignies–Brussels, 26 km, €131 a month).
- Cycling to work: €0.30 per km in 2026, up to 40 km a day (CLA No. 164 of the National Labour Council), UCM (secondary source). Cross-checked with: Partena Professional.
- Tax amounts 2026: €500 a year tax-free for home-to-work travel costs, Partena Professional (secondary source). Cross-checked with: BDO and Droits quotidiens (€490 for 2025 income).
- Nouveau montant pour l’indemnité kilométrique d’octobre 2026 (4 September 2026, updated on 29 September 2026), Partena Professional (secondary source).
- Combien de jours de congés ai-je droit ? (updated on 20 May 2026), Droits Quotidiens (secondary source).
- Jours fériés en 2026 : fixer les jours de remplacement, Forum for the Future (Deg & Partners) (secondary source).
- Heures supplémentaires : voici ce que prévoit la loi en Belgique (30 April 2024), CNE (CSC/ACV) (secondary source).