Skip to content
EN
Indexo Pro

Understand · Payroll glossary

What is an SRL (private limited company)?

Updated on

The SRL (société à responsabilité limitée), the Belgian private limited company, is the most common company form for a self-employed person who incorporates. In 2026: 20% and 25% (corporate income tax: reduced SME rate on the first €100,000 of profit, standard rate above). In Dutch: besloten vennootschap (BV).

Definition of the SRL

It has its own legal personality: it invoices, pays corporate income tax on its profit and pays its director. An SME benefits from a reduced rate of 20% on the first €100,000 of profit, provided in particular that it pays its director a minimum remuneration.

The director can also be paid in dividends, at a reduced rate under the VVPR-bis regime.

The key figure in 2026

20% and 25%Corporate income tax: reduced SME rate on the first €100,000 of profit, standard rate above

Source: Passer en société en 2026 : rémunération minimale et VVPR-bis à 18 %, Deg & Partners (secondary source). Value in force on 1 October 2026.

Worked example

StepAmount
Director’s remuneration€50,000.00
… of which net for the director€29,465.87
Company profit€50,000.00
Corporate income tax€10,000.00
Net dividend (VVPR-bis)€32,800.00
Total net for the director€62,265.87
An SRL that makes €100,000 before paying its director (Indexo calculation, single director).

In Dutch: besloten vennootschap (BV)

In Dutch-language letters from your social insurance fund, your accountant or the tax authorities, the SRL is called ‘besloten vennootschap (BV)’; in French-language ones, ‘SRL (société à responsabilité limitée)’. On Indexo’s English pages: private limited company.

Dutch term taken from: Fednot (notaris.be) (secondary source).

Not to be confused with…

  • Sole trader: without a company, profit is taxed directly under personal income tax, at progressive rates.
  • VVPR-bis regime: a regime that reduces withholding tax on dividends from small companies to 18%, instead of 30%, under certain conditions.

Calculate it for your situation

The same budget as an employee, through Smart, as a self-employed person or through a company: the net income of each status.

Employee, self-employed or SRL?

Related terms

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.