Starting out as a self-employed person: your social security obligations

Do you want to become self-employed? In that case, you will have to comply with some administrative formalities to secure social security.

Before starting your self-employed activity, you must join a social insurance fund for self-employed persons of your choice. Consult the list of available social security funds on the INASTI website (in French).

In case you don't join a social insurance fund, the National Institute for the Social Security of the Self-employed (INASTI) will send you a reminder, giving you 30 days to join one.

If you haven't joined a fund by the end of this 30 day period, you will automatically become a member of the National Fund.

If you do not join in time, you may have to pay an administrative fine.

If you are establishing a company, it must also join within 3 months after the day of establishment (even if you already joined yourself).

As a self-employed person, you must pay social security contributions to accrue entitlements (pension, sickness insurance, etc.).

How much?

Your social security contributions are a percentage of your net taxable income deriving from your activities as a self-employment person, for the year in which you are paying contributions. Minimum contributions apply.

Since your income is not yet known at the moment the contributions are paid, they are calculated in two stages:

  • You pay provisional contributions in the contribution year itself, based on your income from 3 years ago.
  • Once your income for the contribution year is known, your social insurance fund converts your provisional contributions into final contributions; this means you will either have to pay extra, or you will get a refund.

Some categories of self-employed persons (those for whom self-employment is a subsidiary occupation, retired persons, students, start-ups, etc.) pay lower contributions, and sometimes even none at all, if their income remains limited.

When and to whom?

You pay the contributions to the social insurance fund every quarter. You also pay an administration fee.

Companies pay an annual contribution, which is reserved for the social security scheme for self-employed persons.

As a self-employed person, you are obliged to join a health insurance fund when you join a social insurance fund. Consult the list of available health insurance funds on the INAMI website (in French). Being affiliated to a health insurance fund entitles you to sickness and disability insurance. You can find out more about this on the INAMI website (in French).

You should report any changes in your work situation (for example a change from full-time self-employment to self-employment as a subsidiary occupation) or your family situation (for example divorce) to your social insurance fund.

More information about the social security scheme for self-employed persons can be found on:

You can find out more about the other administrative formalities to be completed when starting out as a self-employed person (such as registering with the Belgian Central Enterprise Databank, taxobligations, hirin staff, etc.) at:

More information about the requirements for starting out as a self-employed person in Belgium can be found on the starting as a self-employed person page of the FPS Economy, SMEs, Self-Employed and Energy website.

The procedure information on this page was funded by the European Union.

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Funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.

Social Security Self-employed Entrepreneurs (INASTI)