Belgium · Employer of Record · Payroll Services · PEO
You have found the person you want to hire in Belgium — now you need a compliant way to employ them, in a country where lending staff to a third party is prohibited by default and a salary means 13.92 months. JN Recruitment is the expansion partner that connects international companies with vetted Employer of Record and payroll partners in Belgium — plus the social secretariats, employment lawyers and tax advisors a Belgian expansion actually needs — and delivers the boutique recruitment that finds the candidate in the first place.
for a compliant Belgian employment setup once documents are complete — Dimona filed before day one
employer social security on a Belgian gross salary — before 13th month, holiday pay and benefits
what a Belgian annual package really contains — 13th month and double holiday pay included
our recommendation is free — the best specialist from our vetted Belgian network, matched to your case
Payroll partner Belgium
Belgium is one of Europe’s most employee-protective — and employer-expensive — labour markets. Social security adds roughly a quarter on top of gross, the real annual package runs to 13.92 monthly salaries once the 13th month and double holiday pay are counted, salaries index automatically with inflation by law, and every hire must be declared to the authorities (Dimona) before the first working minute. Above all sits a rule that surprises every foreign employer: making your employees available to a third party with transfer of authority is prohibited by default — Belgium restricts labour leasing far more tightly than Germany or the Netherlands, which is why not every “EOR Belgium” offer on the market is actually compliant.
There are two clean routes — and Belgium’s second one is unusual. If you want a provider to carry the employment, an Employer of Record (EOR) — what many US companies would call a PEO — employs your hire through a construct that respects the Belgian leasing prohibition; vetting that construct is exactly the point. Alternatively, Belgian law lets a foreign company register directly with the social security office (NSSO/ONSS) as a non-resident employer — no Belgian entity required — with an accredited social secretariat running the monthly payroll. For a single committed hire this direct route is often cleaner and cheaper than an EOR. And sooner or later a Belgian expansion also needs an employment lawyer, a tax advisor and an accountant. We vet all of it for you.
JN Recruitment is a boutique recruitment firm headquartered in Mannheim, with offices in Poland and Cyprus — and the expansion partner international companies use for the Belgian market. Years of placing people in Belgium have built us a network of the best employment lawyers, tax advisors, social secretariats, accountants and compliant EOR providers in the country. We recommend exactly the specialists your case needs — free of charge, at the partner’s standard rates — and stay your single point of contact. What we deliver ourselves is the headhunting: the sales recruitment agency for Belgium that international machinery, industrial-technology and recycling companies already use to enter the market.
What we arrange
Whatever stage your Belgium plans are at — first hire without an entity, or a full team on an existing subsidiary — this is what our vetted Belgian network delivers: EOR providers, social secretariats, employment lawyers, tax advisors and accountants, matched and introduced by us:
The partner carries the Belgian employment of your hire — contract under the correct joint committee, 13.92-structure payroll, NSSO contributions, Dimona declaration — while you manage the work day-to-day. Because Belgium restricts labour leasing tightly, we verify the provider’s legal construct before any introduction.
Belgium’s underrated route: your existing foreign company registers directly with the NSSO as a non-resident employer — no Belgian entity needed — and an accredited social secretariat runs the monthly payroll, withholding tax and declarations. Often the cleanest setup for one or two committed hires.
Searching for a “PEO Belgium”? The US-style PEO doesn’t exist under Belgian law — and the leasing prohibition rules out casual co-employment. The compliant equivalents are a properly constructed EOR, direct foreign-employer payroll or your own entity with an outsourced social secretariat. We translate what you actually need into the right Belgian construct.
Specialised employment lawyers for watertight Belgian contracts, joint-committee classification and week-counted notice periods, tax advisors for withholding tax and the expat regime, accountants for the books — the advisory bench every Belgian expansion eventually needs, already vetted and briefed.
Belgian packages are benefit-heavy by design — company car, meal vouchers, group insurance — and tax-efficient structuring matters more here than almost anywhere. Partners design the package and audit Belgian freelance setups: false self-employment is policed, and conversion beats reclassification.
The part we deliver ourselves: executive search for technical sales and leadership roles in Belgium, in Dutch and French. If you don’t have the candidate yet, we find them — then plug employment and payroll in behind the signed offer.
Market knowledge
Belgian employment is generous to employees, rule-dense for employers — and entirely manageable with the right partner. The essentials we brief every company on before a Belgian hire:
Belgium’s 1987 temporary-work act prohibits making employees available to a third party that exercises employer authority over them — with narrow exceptions such as licensed temporary-work agencies (regional licences in Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels). This is why generic global EOR constructs can be non-compliant in Belgium, and why the legal construct behind any provider is the first thing we verify.
A Belgian white-collar package is more than twelve payments: a 13th month is standard under most joint committees, and double holiday pay adds roughly 92% of a month in early summer. On top, salaries index automatically with inflation by law — a 2%+ indexation lands on your payroll whether you budgeted it or not. We quote annual all-in gross so offers stay comparable.
Belgium abolished the probation period in 2014: statutory notice simply starts short — a few weeks in the first months — and grows with tenure, roughly three weeks per year of service in the mid-career range. Dismissal later is expensive in notice, not in litigation: Belgian terminations are predictable, but the weeks add up fast for long-tenured staff.
Every Belgian employment must be declared electronically to the social security office (Dimona) before work starts, under the correct joint committee (paritair comité) that fixes sector minimum pay — on top of the national minimum wage of roughly €2,100 per month. A social secretariat or EOR files all of it routinely; a foreign employer improvising does not.
Employer cost benchmarks
Belgian payroll quotes stack statutory contributions and near-universal package elements on top of monthly gross. The current picture — the source of the “roughly 25% on top, before the extras” rule every employer budget should use:
| Contribution | Employer pays | Employee pays |
|---|---|---|
| Social security — base rate (NSSO/ONSS) | ≈25% | 13.07% |
| 13th month (sectoral CBA, near-universal for white-collar) | ≈8.3% of annual gross | — |
| Double holiday pay (dubbel vakantiegeld / double pécule) | ≈7.7% of annual gross | — |
| Work-accident insurance (private, mandatory) | ≈0.5–2% | — |
| Meal vouchers (customary, per day worked) | ≈€1,200–1,600 / year | small fixed share |
| Sector funds & levies (joint committee dependent) | ≈1–2% | — |
Orientation figures, rounded: the NSSO base rate applies without a ceiling, sector funds and accident premiums vary by joint committee and risk class, and automatic wage indexation comes on top in inflationary years. Group insurance (pension) and a company car are customary rather than statutory but expected in professional packages. Rule of thumb: a €60,000 base annual gross costs the employer roughly €85,000–90,000 all-in once the 13.92 structure, contributions and standard benefits are counted. Your payroll or EOR partner’s quote is the binding number.
Yes — and Belgium offers two routes. An Employer of Record (EOR) carries the Belgian employment on your behalf through a construct that respects Belgium’s strict labour-leasing rules. Or — the route many foreign employers overlook — your existing foreign company registers directly with the Belgian social security office (NSSO) as a non-resident employer, with an accredited social secretariat running the payroll: fully compliant, no Belgian subsidiary required. Which route fits depends on head-count, horizon and risk appetite; we match you with the right partner for either.
The provider carries the legal employment under Belgian law: a compliant contract under the correct joint committee (paritair comité), the Dimona declaration before day one, monthly payroll with withholding tax and NSSO contributions, the 13th month and double holiday pay at the right moments, automatic wage indexation, work-accident insurance and the customary benefits — meal vouchers, group insurance, often a company car. You remain in charge of the work itself — targets, tasks, day-to-day management — and reimburse the provider for gross salary, employer costs and a service fee.
Typical Belgian EOR pricing is a flat €300–700 per employee per month, or a percentage of gross salary — on top of the salary itself, roughly 25% employer social security and the 13.92 package elements. Compare that with the alternatives: direct foreign-employer registration with a social secretariat often runs cheaper for one or two hires, while forming a Belgian SRL/BV brings incorporation, accounting and filings — rarely worth it below three to five employees. We flag the all-in monthly number for each route before you commit.
More than anywhere else in our markets. Employer social security runs at roughly 25% of gross with no ceiling, the annual package contains 13.92 monthly salaries once the 13th month and double holiday pay are counted, automatic indexation adjusts wages to inflation by law, and meal vouchers, group insurance and a company car are near-universal in professional roles. As a rule of thumb, a €60,000 base annual gross costs the employer roughly €85,000–90,000 all-in per year. The employee side is 13.07% plus high income tax — which is why benefit structuring matters so much in Belgian offers.
In the US, a PEO co-employs your staff while you keep your own entity; an EOR employs them fully so you don’t need one. Belgian law recognises neither — and its labour-leasing prohibition actively restricts third parties exercising shared employer authority. The compliant Belgian constructs are a carefully structured EOR arrangement, licensed temporary-work employment, direct foreign-employer payroll on your own registration, or a local entity with an outsourced social secretariat. Providers use the PEO and EOR labels loosely; we check the construct underneath before we introduce anyone.
It is more constrained than in most of Europe. Article 31 of the 1987 act prohibits making employees available to a third party with transfer of employer authority; the main exceptions are licensed temporary-work agencies (licensed per region) and narrowly permitted secondments. A compliant Belgian EOR therefore needs the right licence or a construct that keeps employer authority clean — and a non-compliant one exposes you to fines and a deemed employment relationship. This is the single market where we scrutinise the provider’s legal setup hardest, and where the direct NSSO registration route is often the safer answer.
Yes — and in Belgium that means a social secretariat (sociaal secretariaat / secrétariat social), the accredited payroll institution nearly every Belgian employer uses. The partner runs the monthly payroll with withholding tax and NSSO declarations, the 13th month and double holiday pay, automatic indexation per your joint committee, Dimona declarations for every new hire, and year-end tax forms. Typical pricing runs per payslip per month. The same partners handle employer registration if your entity has never employed anyone in Belgium before.
The setup itself is quick: with documents complete, a compliant contract and the mandatory Dimona declaration are typically ready within three to seven working days, whether via EOR or direct foreign-employer registration. The binding constraint is the candidate’s notice period: Belgian notice is counted in weeks and grows with tenure — roughly three weeks per year of service — so an experienced hire can owe their current employer three to six months. As recruiters, that timeline is the part we actively manage for you from the first interview.
Only if they are genuinely self-employed. Belgium polices false self-employment (schijnzelfstandigheid / faux indépendants) through statutory criteria — freedom to organise work and working time, absence of hierarchical control — and reclassification means back-dated NSSO contributions, largely at your expense, plus a deemed employment under the applicable joint committee. One client, fixed hours and integration into your team are classic red flags. If the working reality is employment, compliant employment costs little more than the risk; our partners audit and convert existing contractor setups.
No — and that is deliberate. JN Recruitment is a boutique recruitment firm and your expansion partner for Belgium: over years of placing candidates here we have built a vetted network of the best employment lawyers, tax advisors, social secretariats, accountants and compliant EOR providers — and we recommend exactly the specialists your case needs. You contract directly with the partner at their standard rates; the recommendation costs you nothing, and we stay your single point of contact. What we deliver ourselves is the search: if the candidate doesn’t exist yet, our Belgian headhunting finds them — in Dutch and French.
Across Europe
The same specialised technical sales search opens every market on the continent — pick the country you are expanding into.
Hiring in several markets at once?
Hiring at leadership level? Our executive search practice:
Candidate found — and now need a compliant way to employ them?
Talk to us — no strings attached. We get back to you within 24 hours.
Our mission is simple: placements that open new markets.
30-minute intro call
Two quick steps — tell us what you need and how to reach you. Within one business day you get an intro call and, where it fits, a direct introduction to the right specialists from our vetted network.
Your contact person Jonas Strambach Director & Senior Recruiter, JN Recruitment +49 1525 2077583 [email protected] Thank you — we’ll get back to you within one business day to schedule your intro call.
An honest read on your vacancy & market — in your first call.
Free vacancy check · reply within 24 hours
Before you go
Every month a key sales seat stays empty pushes your expansion plans back — and leaves serious revenue on the table. We fill technical sales positions within weeks, so you hit your expansion targets on schedule.
Jonas Strambach Director & Senior Recruiter, JN Recruitment Free vacancy check · reply within 24 hours
