Smart member in 2026: how much do you keep of what you invoice?

How does a business and employment cooperative work?

Smart is a ‘shared enterprise’: you find your clients and set your prices, Smart invoices them and hires you as an employee for the duration of the assignment. It is a way of working independently without becoming self-employed.

1. You agree the work and the price with your client.
2. You enter the work in your Smart member area: Smart sends the invoice to the client and follows up the payment.
3. Smart hires you on a fixed-term employment contract for the assignment.
4. Smart deducts its 6.5% contribution, then turns the rest of the budget into gross salary by dividing it by 1.55.
5. Your net salary arrives within 7 working days, with a payslip.

How much do you keep net?

The employment budget covers employer contributions and the other costs of employment, pooled among all members. Smart does not detail what its coefficient contains: the simulator in your member area gives the exact amount for each contract. On a low salary, the work bonus (social and fiscal) cancels out your employee contributions and withholding tax (bedrijfsvoorheffing / précompte professionnel): in the table, net pay equals gross up to €3,000 invoiced a month.

For artistic work, the coefficient is 1.57 and contributions are calculated on 108% of gross pay: on €2,500 invoiced, €1,488.85 gross and €1,488.85 net. The self-employed person seems to keep more, but pays a minimum contribution every quarter and does not have an employee’s protection.

Alongside a job: Smart or self-employment as a secondary occupation?

If you already have a salaried job, the Smart salary is added to your main salary and taxed at your highest rate. As self-employed in a secondary occupation, you pay social security contributions of 20.5% on income, but nothing below €1,922 of net taxable income a year.

Example: €1,000 invoiced each month brings you about €285.08 extra a month through Smart, and €443.48 as self-employed in a secondary occupation. Smart saves you the formalities of self-employment (enterprise number, social insurance fund, VAT) and keeps you under employee status for this work.

Artists, jobseekers: what changes

• Artists: a contract for artistic work costs 1.57 times gross pay, because contributions are due on 108% of pay. The arts work certificate can give you rights of your own: see the Artist page.
• Unemployed: every day worked under a Smart contract must be declared and costs you that day’s benefit. The Tremplin-indépendants scheme does not apply to salaried work such as work through Smart. See Back to work after unemployment.
• Other cooperatives and social offices: Amplo, JobYourself and others work on the same principle, with their own percentages. See Cooperative or social office.

Useful links

• Smart: pooled contributionsThe 6.5% percentage and the employment budget coefficients, explained by Smart
• SmartA cooperative that invoices for you and employs you, in a very wide range of sectors
• AmploHR partner for the cultural and creative sector: payroll for artists and freelancers, advice on status
• JobYourselfIn Brussels, test a project for 18 months while keeping your unemployment or CPAS/OCMW benefits, for 10% of the gross margin
• Working in the ArtsArts work certificate, amateur arts allowance and artists’ social rights

Frequently asked questions

What next?

• Cooperative or social officeSmart, Amplo, JobYourself: the other ways to invoice without being self-employed.
• Artist: status and net payArts work certificate, amateur arts allowance, Smart or self-employment.
• Employee, self-employed or SRL?Compare statuses for the same income.
• Can I combine?Your rights when you add an activity to your job, your unemployment or your pension.