How your package works

Copyright income

Part of your pay compensates you for handing over the rights to original software you create.

How it works

When you write original code, design an architecture or create other original software, you are its author. In your employment contract you transfer those rights to us, and we pass them on to the client, who uses and reproduces your work. For that transfer you receive copyright income, paid monthly next to your salary on your Belgian payslip.

Software was excluded from this regime from 2023 to 2025. The Law of 15 July 2026 brought computer programs back in, for copyright income paid from 1 January 2026.

Why it matters for your net

Salary is taxed at progressive rates of up to 50%, plus municipal tax, after 13.07% social security. Copyright income is taxed at a flat 15%, and no social security contributions are due on it.

Conditions

• Original work. Only genuinely creative output qualifies: code, modules, interfaces, software design, architecture and technical documentation you write yourself. Purely routine or execution tasks don't.
• A share, not all of your pay. For developer roles your copyright share is 25% of your total pay. The legal maximum is 30%.
• An annual ceiling. For 2026, the 15% rate applies up to €77,220 of copyright income a year. Anything above is taxed as normal income.
• Your own contribution. When you use AI tools, only your own creative choices count, such as the design you decide on and the code you write or reshape.
• A method we agree with the tax authority. We ask the tax authority to confirm our method in an advance ruling, so your share rests on an approved basis.
• No social security on this part. Because no contributions are paid on copyright income, it doesn't add to your pension or unemployment rights. Your salary still does.

What we ask from you

1. Sign the copyright annex to your employment contract when you start.
2. Each month, confirm a short list of the original work you created, such as modules, designs or specifications, with a reference to where it lives (for example repository or ticket numbers).
3. Keep your work traceable under your own name in the client's systems.

CLA90 bonus

A yearly bonus for the whole team when shared targets are reached.

How it works

CLA90 (CCT/CAO n°90, concluded 20 December 2007) is a Belgian bonus scheme based on collective results. At the start of the period, we set objective, measurable targets for a group of employees (for example client satisfaction or how many consultants start a new assignment on time) and register the plan with the Federal Public Service Employment. If the targets are met, everyone in the group receives the bonus, usually once a year.

Why it matters for your net

Good to know

• Not guaranteed. The bonus depends on the targets being met. The calculator includes it in your net while it's ticked; untick it to see your net without it.
• Capped. For 2026, the favourable treatment applies up to €4,255 gross a year.
• Collective. Targets are set for the group, not for you personally.
• On top of your pay. It never replaces part of your salary.

Mobility budget

A tax-optimised budget for how you get around, instead of (or alongside) a company car.

How it works

The mobility budget is a real Belgian legal instrument (Act of 17 March 2019 on the introduction of a mobility budget), not something we invented. It gives you an annual budget, spent across up to three "pillars": Pillar 1, an environmentally friendly company car; Pillar 2, sustainable transport and housing near work (public transport, bike, e-bike, or rent/mortgage within a reasonable distance of your workplace); and Pillar 3, any unused remainder paid out in cash, taxed at a flat rate. In your package, this is set up under Pillar 2.

Why it matters for your net

Money spent through the mobility budget is exempt from the special social security contribution and personal income tax that would apply to the same amount paid as salary — only a modest employer-level solidarity contribution applies, similar to a company car. That makes it one of the most tax-efficient parts of your package, euro for euro.

Conditions

• A real budget, not a top-up. By law the amount must reflect the actual annual cost of the car your role is entitled to under our car policy — the 20%-of-gross figure shown in the calculator is the legal ceiling (capped at €17,244 in 2026), not a formula we're free to apply regardless of that cost.
• Eligibility is time-based. The law requires you to have been eligible for a company car continuously for at least 3 months at the time you request the budget, and for at least 12 of the 36 months before that. This is a genuine eligibility test, not paperwork we can waive.
• Pillar 2 spending is real spending. The sustainable-mobility and housing costs it covers must be actual, evidenced costs (rent, transport passes, etc.), not a blank cash allowance.
• Still evolving. From 1 January 2026, employers who offer company cars are required to systematically offer the mobility budget as an alternative — this is a fast-moving area of the law.

Meal vouchers

A small, tax-free amount for every day you work.

How it works

For each day you work, you receive a meal voucher (maaltijdcheque) worth €8.91. You contribute a small statutory share yourself; the rest is paid by us and is tax-free and free of social security, up to the legal ceiling.

Why it matters for your net

Because vouchers are exempt from both income tax and social security (within the legal limits), every euro of voucher value is worth more to you than the same euro paid as salary, which loses roughly half to tax and RSZ.

Conditions

• Per day actually worked. The voucher only accrues for days you're actually at work — not for sick days, holidays or other absences.
• A legal ceiling applies. The tax-free treatment only holds up to the statutory maximum face value; we stay within it.

Home office allowance

A tax-free monthly allowance to cover the real cost of working from home.

How it works

If your role involves structural telework (working from home on a regular, recurring basis, not just occasionally), Belgian tax rules let us pay you a flat monthly allowance, tax-free and free of social security, for using part of your home as an office: a share of rent, heating, electricity and water, and small office supplies. Your laptop, phone and internet are provided by us separately, so they are not part of this allowance.

Conditions

• Structural telework required. This isn't available for a role that's purely on-site at a client. There needs to be a genuine, recurring telework arrangement.
• Flat-rate, within official limits. The amount follows the flat-rate ceilings the tax administration publishes each year — we don't set it arbitrarily.

Representation allowance

A tax-free allowance for professional costs tied to your role.

How it works

Certain roles carry genuine costs of representing the company professionally — client meals, travel incidentals, professional attire and similar. A representation allowance reimburses these as a flat monthly amount, tax-free, instead of you claiming each receipt individually.

Conditions

• Must correspond to real costs of the role. The allowance needs to be justifiable for what the role actually involves — a role with no client-facing or representational element is a weaker fit for this allowance, and the amount should reflect that rather than defaulting to the maximum for every role.
• Capped. We keep it within a modest monthly ceiling, not an open-ended amount.

Benefits in kind

Hospitalisation cover, phone and internet, provided directly rather than paid as salary.

How it works

Hospitalisation insurance, and a phone/internet allowance, are provided as benefits in kind: the company pays the provider directly (or reimburses a fixed amount) rather than paying you cash to buy them yourself. Belgian tax law values these benefits at a fixed, modest notional amount for tax purposes — usually well below what they'd actually cost you to buy privately — rather than taxing their full real value.

Why it matters for your net

Because the taxable value is fixed and low, you get real, useful cover without it eating meaningfully into your net pay the way an equivalent cash amount spent on the same things would.

Conditions

• Occupational accident insurance is legally mandatory for every employer in Belgium, regardless of package structure — it isn't something we're choosing to offer, it's a legal minimum.
• Hospitalisation cover is provided on top of that, as a group policy.

Gift vouchers

Gift vouchers at the year-end holidays, plus eco-vouchers and sport & culture vouchers, all free of tax and social security within the legal limits.

What you receive each year

Why it matters for your net

Within these limits you receive the full face value: no income tax and no social security contributions. The same euro paid as salary would leave you less than half.

Good to know

• Vouchers, not cash. They're issued electronically and can only be spent at participating shops and providers.
• Limited validity. Each voucher is valid for a fixed period, so spend them before they expire.
• Shown per month in the calculator. The yearly total is divided by 12 so it compares with the rest of your package.

Questions

Is this legal?

Yes. These are standard Belgian schemes laid down in law and used by many employers. Everything is paid on your Belgian payslip and reported to the tax authority and social security.

Do I need to declare anything myself?

Your salary, copyright income and bonuses are all reported by us. You include them in your annual tax return as shown on your tax slips, like any employee.

Will I always receive copyright income?

Only for months in which you create original work. If a period is mostly support or meetings, or you're off sick, your share for that period can be lower.

What if my situation is different?

The calculator gives an estimate. Ask us for a personal simulation based on your role, contract and family situation.