Tax · Understand
The State’s till receipt: where do your contributions and taxes go?
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.
Out of every €100 of public spending in Belgium in 2024, €21.40 went on pensions, €14.80 on health care and €11.70 on education (Eurostat, provisional data). For a single white-collar worker on €3,000 gross, €738.67 goes each month on contributions, withholding tax (bedrijfsvoorheffing / précompte professionnel) and the special contribution, and the employer pays a further €750.00 in employer contributions (basic rate, no reduction).
Split like public spending, this total of €1,488.67 funds about €318.58 of pensions, €220.32 of health care and €174.17 of education a month. This is an indicative breakdown.
How Belgian public spending is split
| Function | Share in 2024 | What it covers | For €3,000 gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pensions (old age and survivors) | 21.4% | Old age 18.8% and survivors 2.6% (social protection) | €318.58 |
| Health care | 14.8% | Hospitals, outpatient care, medicines | €220.32 |
| Education | 11.7% | From nursery school to higher education | €174.17 |
| Sickness, disability | 7.2% | Replacement income in case of sickness or disability | €107.18 |
| Families and children | 4.0% | Family allowances, leave, childcare | €59.55 |
| Unemployment | 2.0% | Unemployment benefits | €29.77 |
| Other social protection | 3.1% | Social assistance, social housing, exclusion (2.3 + 0.4 + 0.4%) | €46.15 |
| Economic affairs and transport | 11.9% | Transport (5.2%), economic, commercial and labour affairs, agriculture, energy, applied research | €177.15 |
| Interest on public debt | 4.3% | Interest payments | €64.01 |
| General administration | 8.9% | Institutions, basic research, general services (13.2% minus debt) | €132.49 |
| Police, justice, fire services | 3.2% | Public order and safety | €47.64 |
| Defence | 2.4% | Military and civil defence | €35.73 |
| Sport, culture and religion | 2.3% | Recreation, culture, public media | €34.24 |
| Environment | 2.1% | Waste, waste water, pollution | €31.26 |
| Housing and community amenities | 0.7% | Planning, water, street lighting | €10.42 |
Public spending amounted to 54.1% of Belgian gross domestic product in 2024. Social protection (pensions, sickness, families, unemployment, social assistance) is the largest function: 37.7% of spending.
How the receipt is calculated
- Indexo’s engine calculates what comes off your salary: personal contributions to the National Social Security Office (NSSO) (after the work bonus), withholding tax and the special social security contribution. If you wish, it adds employer contributions.
- This total is split according to each function’s share of total Belgian public spending.
- The assumption is simple and deliberate: each euro is treated as an average euro of public spending. Social security and taxation are lumped together.
In reality, contributions fund social security first (pensions, health care, unemployment, benefits), and tax funds the State, the Regions, the Communities and the municipalities. Other revenue (VAT, excise duties, corporate income tax, borrowing) also funds spending. The receipt is therefore a picture, not a set of accounts.
Your till receipt
Enter your salary: Indexo calculates your contributions and withholding tax, then splits them across the main functions of public spending. Everything is calculated in your browser.
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Further reading
- From gross to netEvery deduction on your payslip, explained.
- What’s changingThe calendar of all the 2026-2027 changes and your net pay after each one.
- Reforms, year by yearThe approved stages of the tax reform, from 2025 to 2031, applied to your situation.
- Reform sandboxChange the parameters yourself and see the effect, in a simulation.
- Salary indexationYour sector’s mechanism and its effect on your net pay.
- Tax refund or tax to payWhat the first stage of the reform changes for your 2026 income.
- Method and sourcesThe parameters in force, their sources and the dates they were checked.
Frequently asked questions
Do my contributions really pay for my pension?
Belgian pensions are pay-as-you-go: today’s contributions pay today’s pensions, and your future entitlements are calculated on your career. The receipt shows the share of pensions in total public spending, not a personal account.
Why count employer contributions?
They are not part of your gross pay, but they are paid to the NSSO for your job: about 25% of gross pay in the private sector. You can include them in the tool or not.
Where do the percentages come from?
From Eurostat, which publishes each country’s general government spending using the international COFOG classification. The Belgian figures are supplied by the Institute for National Accounts (National Bank of Belgium). The 2024 data are provisional; Indexo updates them with each release.
Are VAT and other taxes counted?
No. The receipt starts from your salary: contributions, withholding tax and the special contribution. In reality, the VAT and excise duties you pay on your purchases come on top.
What next?
- From gross to netEvery deduction on your payslip, explained.
- Reform sandboxWhat if we changed the rules?
- What’s changingThe 2026-2027 changes and your net pay afterwards.
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.
- Dépenses des administrations publiques par fonction (COFOG), table gov_10a_exp, Belgium, as a % of total expenditure (updated on 16 September 2026), Eurostat.
- Dissemination API, gov_10a_exp (Belgium, S13, TE, PC_TOT and PC_GDP), Eurostat.
- 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%.
- Calcul du précompte professionnel : annexe III de l’AR/CIR 92 et formule-clé 2026, FPS Finance.
- La cotisation spéciale pour la sécurité sociale, NSSO.
- Instructions administratives : le bonus à l’emploi, NSSO.