Payroll glossary: 76 terms on pay, tax and contributions

A contract staff member is a public sector employee hired on an employment contract, as in the private sector.

A statutory civil servant is a permanently appointed public sector employee: their status is set by regulations, not by an employment contract.

The household or residence allowance is a public sector salary supplement for modest salaries: household allowance if you live as a household, residence allowance otherwise.

Pay seniority is the number of years of service that count towards your public sector salary: it moves you up your salary scale.

Health and disability insurance is the branch of social security that reimburses your health care and pays you a replacement income when you are ill.

The reverse charge is a VAT mechanism where the customer, not the supplier, declares and pays the VAT: the invoice is issued without VAT, with a mandatory statement.

A benefit in kind is a benefit received other than in cash, such as a company car or a computer: it does not reach your account, but it is taxed.

The tax assessment notice is the FPS Finance document showing the calculation of your final tax: what you get back or what you have to pay.

A pay scale is an official table that sets an amount according to criteria: the minimum wage according to the job and experience, or tax according to income.

The work bonus is a reduction in social security contributions on low wages: your net pay rises without your gross pay changing.

The fiscal work bonus is an additional reduction in withholding tax, granted on top of the work bonus to employees who already receive it.

The CLA 90 bonus is a bonus linked to the company’s collective targets, subject to a contribution of 13.07% instead of the ordinary contributions and tax-free up to €3,701.

A social insurance fund is the body a self-employed person must join to pay their social security contributions and build up their rights.

A holiday fund is the body that pays blue-collar workers’ holiday pay instead of their employer: the ONVA/RJV or a sector holiday fund.

Meal vouchers are vouchers for buying food, paid mostly by the employer, free of tax and contributions up to €10 per voucher.

A joint committee is the body of a sector where trade unions and employers jointly set minimum wages, bonuses, indexation and working conditions.

A structured payment reference is a Belgian payment reference of 12 digits, in the format +++123/4567/89012+++, whose last two digits serve as a check.

A collective labour agreement (CLA) is a written agreement between trade unions and employers that sets rights for the whole country, a sector or a company.

A business and employment cooperative invoices your services to your clients and pays you a salary: you work like a self-employed person, with the protection of an employee.

The solidarity contribution is a reduced social security contribution that replaces the usual contributions, for example 2.71% for a student job.

The special social security contribution is a monthly deduction on top of social security contributions, from 0 to €60.94 a month depending on your salary and household.

Employer social security contributions are the contributions your employer pays on top of your gross salary; they are not deducted from your pay.

A self-employed person’s social security contributions are paid every quarter to their social insurance fund: 20.5% of professional income up to €75,024.54, then 14.16% up to €110,562.42 (2026).

Employee social security contributions are the part of your gross salary paid to social security: 13.07% for a private sector employee.

Time credit lets a private sector employee reduce or interrupt their work for a period, with an allowance from the National Employment Office in some cases.

A dividend is the part of a company’s profit that its general meeting decides to pay out to the company’s partners or shareholders.

Double holiday pay is extra pay for your holidays, on top of your normal salary: 92% of a month’s gross pay for a full-time white-collar worker.

A salary scale is the code that sets your salary in the public sector, according to your grade or post and your qualifications.

Eco vouchers are vouchers for buying environmentally friendly products and services, up to €250 a year, free of tax and contributions.

The tax year is the year in which tax is assessed: it always follows the income year. Income for 2026 forms tax year 2027.

Tax form 281.10 is your employer’s annual tax slip: it shows your pay for the year and the withholding tax deducted, for your tax return.

A flexi-job is a small job alongside a main job of at least four-fifths or a pension, with no contributions for the worker and tax-free up to €18,440 a year (2026 income).

The workload fraction is the share of a full timetable for which a teacher is paid, for example 12 periods out of 22 in lower secondary.

Lump-sum expenses are the part of your income that the tax authorities automatically treat as professional expenses, without proof: 30%, up to €6,070 a year in 2026.

Actual expenses are your documented professional expenses, which you can deduct instead of the statutory lump sum if they are higher.

Overtime is the hours worked beyond your normal timetable; paid with an overtime premium, it gives entitlement to a reduction in withholding tax.

Personal income tax (PIT) is the annual tax on the income of private individuals, calculated by FPS Finance on the basis of your tax return.

Payment in lieu of notice is the sum the employer pays instead of a worked notice period: the pay you would have received during that notice.

A person self-employed as a secondary occupation carries on a self-employed activity alongside a job as an employee of at least half-time: they pay no social security contributions below €1,922.16 of net taxable income a year (2026).

Indexation is the automatic adjustment of wages and social benefits to rising consumer prices, as measured by the health index.

Cents indexation limits the indexation of high salaries: above €4,000 gross a month, the first two indexation points apply only to the first €4,000.

The pivot index is a threshold of the smoothed health index: when it is exceeded, social benefits and public sector salaries rise by 2%, and a new threshold is set 2% higher.

The health index is the consumer price index without alcohol, tobacco and motor fuels: it is the one used to index wages, benefits and rents.

The enterprise number is a business’s unique 10-digit identifier in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE); preceded by BE, it is also its VAT number.

The NSSO, the National Social Security Office, collects social security contributions from employees and employers, then distributes them among the branches of social security.

Departure holiday pay is the holiday pay a white-collar worker receives on leaving their employer, for the months already worked in the year.

Holiday pay is the pay for your holidays: single holiday pay covers your days off, double holiday pay is an extra payment usually made in May or June.

A survivor’s pension is the pension paid to the surviving spouse, calculated on the basis of the career of the spouse who has died.

The statutory pension is the social security pension, the first pillar: it is calculated on your career and your earnings, and paid from the statutory age or on early retirement.

The PLCI/VAPZ is a supplementary pension that self-employed people build up themselves: the premiums are deductible and reduce both their social security contributions and their tax.

The notice period is the period between the announcement that an employment contract will end and its actual end; its length depends on your seniority.

Withholding tax on non-recurring pay is the withholding tax deducted from holiday pay, the year-end bonus and other bonuses: a single rate, chosen according to your annual pay.

Property tax is the annual tax on real estate (land and buildings), calculated on its indexed cadastral income and paid by the owner.

Withholding tax on investment income is the tax withheld at source on investment income, such as dividends, interest or certain copyright income.

Withholding tax is an advance on your income tax: your employer deducts it from your salary every month and pays it to FPS Finance.

The year-end bonus, often called the 13th month, is an annual bonus paid in December, whose amount and conditions depend on your joint committee.

The employee share is the part of the cost of meal vouchers that you pay yourself: at least €1.09 per voucher, deducted from your net salary.

The marital quotient assigns part of one spouse’s income to the other when the latter has little or no professional income: the couple pays less tax.

The tax-free amount is the part of your annual income on which you do not pay any tax: €11,550 for the income you earn in 2026.

The reductions for dependants lower the withholding tax deducted from your pay every month when you have children or other dependants.

VVPR-bis is a regime that reduces withholding tax on dividends from small companies to 18%, instead of 30%, under certain conditions.

Taxable pay is your gross pay minus employee social security contributions: it is the base on which monthly withholding tax is calculated.

Cadastral income is the theoretical annual rental income of a property, set by the administration: it is the basis for property tax and for the tax on certain properties.

The guaranteed average minimum monthly income is Belgium’s minimum wage: €2,233.61 gross a month for a full-time worker aged 18 and over, since 1 July 2026.

Gross salary is the amount set in your employment contract, before anything is deducted: it is the starting point of your payslip.

The reference monthly wage is your pay converted to full-time: it is used to calculate the work bonus when you work part-time.

The guaranteed wage is the pay your employer keeps paying during the first days of an illness or accident, before the health insurance fund.

Net salary is what actually reaches your account, once social security contributions, withholding tax and the special contribution have been deducted.

A social secretariat is the company that calculates pay and files the social security and tax declarations on the employer’s behalf.

Single holiday pay is the part of your holiday pay that corresponds to your normal salary for your statutory days of annual leave.

The SRL (société à responsabilité limitée), the private limited company, is the most common company form for a self-employed person who incorporates.

The municipal surcharge is a supplement to your personal income tax, paid to your municipality: a percentage of the tax, set by each municipality.

In the public sector, pay is called a salary (wedde / traitement): it follows from a salary scale and from your pay seniority.

Part-time work is a timetable shorter than full-time, with pay and rights in proportion; since 1 June 2026, it must be at least 1/10 of a full-time job.

Associative work lets you provide paid services to an association (sport, culture, socio-cultural work) without social security contributions and with reduced tax, within a ceiling of €7,890 a year in 2026, shared with the sharing economy.

Advance tax payments are tax prepayments that self-employed people and company directors make themselves during the year, since no withholding tax is deducted by an employer.