Does a higher day rate change the conclusion?

It amplifies it. The salary channel is progressive, so every extra euro of turnover pushed through salary is taxed at a higher marginal rate, while the corporate-plus-dividend channel stays roughly flat. The higher your rate, the more the split matters.

Why is the €51,000 salary threshold relevant?

A small Belgian company keeps the reduced 20% corporate rate on its first tranche of profit only if it pays at least one director a minimum remuneration — €51,000 for income year 2026. Below that, the whole profit is taxed at 25%. Note that at most 20% of that remuneration may be benefits in kind.

Is this legal tax avoidance or something riskier?

Choosing your own remuneration mix is an ordinary, entirely legitimate decision every company director makes. What matters is that the salary is genuinely paid, the dividend genuinely declared and withheld, and the conditions for any reduced rate genuinely met.

Can I take everything as dividend and no salary at all?

You can pay a very low salary, but a director of a Belgian company is subject to social-security obligations regardless, and a zero salary forfeits the reduced corporate rate plus most of your pension and disability cover. The engine finds €17,400 optimal on this profile, not zero.

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Remuneration8 min read

€600 a day: what a Belgian IT consultant actually keeps

Published 12 August 2026

Recruiters negotiate in day rates. Tax is levied on something else entirely — turnover, minus costs, minus salary, then corporate tax, then withholding. Between the rate you agree and the money in your account sit three separate tax systems, and the order you push money through them is worth more than €13,000 a year on an identical invoice total.

Calculate this: What is left of your dividend after withholding tax?

The profile

Take a concrete, ordinary case: a freelance software engineer working through a one-person BV, billing €600 per day for 220 days. That is €132,000 of turnover. Assume €15,000 of genuine business costs (laptop, software, accountant, insurance, phone, travel) and shares that were issued for a cash contribution four years ago, so VVPR-bis has fully seasoned. Every figure below comes from running that profile through this site’s tax engine.

The expensive default: pay yourself a salary

The instinct carried over from employment is to pay a big salary. Draw €100,000 gross and distribute what is left, and the year looks like this: €18,917 of social contributions, €33,550 of personal income tax, €3,400 of corporate tax and €2,448 of withholding on the small remaining dividend. You keep €58,685 — a 44.5% keep rate on your own invoices.

Nothing here is a mistake. Every euro is correctly declared. The salary is simply being pushed through the most expensive channel Belgium has: progressive income tax plus social contributions, on the full amount.

The same €132,000, split differently

Now pay yourself €51,000 — the minimum director’s remuneration that keeps the reduced 20% corporate rate for income year 2026 — and take the rest as a dividend. Social contributions fall to €10,455, personal tax to €12,327. Corporate tax rises to €13,200 and withholding to €9,504, because more profit is now taxed inside the company and distributed. Net in your pocket: €71,514, a 54.2% keep rate.

Why the €51,000 salary is not automatically optimal

Here is the part most articles skip. If you ask the engine to search every possible salary rather than assume the threshold, the mathematical optimum on this profile is a salary of just €17,400 — which returns €74,374, another €2,860 better. Giving up the reduced corporate rate (profit is then taxed at 25%, not 20%) still wins, because it buys you out of social contributions and progressive income tax on €33,600 of salary.

Do not act on that number without thinking. A €17,400 salary shrinks your pension accrual, your sickness and disability cover, and the salary you can show a mortgage lender. The €2,614 is real, and so is what you give up for it. This is a genuine trade-off, not a loophole — which is exactly why it should be a decision you make on purpose rather than one you drift into.

If your company is less than five years old, this changes

The €51,000 condition does not apply to a small company during its first four taxable periods. From the fifth period onward it does. So a freelancer who incorporated recently can pay themselves a low salary and still keep the reduced 20% rate — which makes the low-salary, high-dividend route strictly better in those early years than the figures above suggest, since the model behind them charges 25% at a €17,400 salary. Note the anti-abuse limit: a company that merely continues an activity you were already carrying on is not treated as a starter.

What VVPR-bis is worth here

The dividend above is taxed at the reduced 18% VVPR-bis rate rather than the standard 30%. Strip that away — same profile, shares that never qualified — and the €71,514 becomes €65,178. The seasoning of your shares is worth €6,336 a year on this turnover, every year, for a condition you satisfy once at incorporation.

And the levers still on the table

Even at €71,514, the optimizer scores this profile 21 out of 100, with €23,441 of identified annual upside still unclaimed: an IPT pension premium (€3,570), meal vouchers (€2,944), the home-office allowance (€2,775), VAPZ (€2,396), the bicycle allowance (€1,293), and — now that IT is back inside the copyright regime from 1 January 2026 — copyright income (€6,675). None of these require a different client or a higher rate.

Frequently asked

Does a higher day rate change the conclusion?: It amplifies it. The salary channel is progressive, so every extra euro of turnover pushed through salary is taxed at a higher marginal rate, while the corporate-plus-dividend channel stays roughly flat. The higher your rate, the more the split matters.
Why is the €51,000 salary threshold relevant?: A small Belgian company keeps the reduced 20% corporate rate on its first tranche of profit only if it pays at least one director a minimum remuneration — €51,000 for income year 2026. Below that, the whole profit is taxed at 25%. Note that at most 20% of that remuneration may be benefits in kind.
Is this legal tax avoidance or something riskier?: Choosing your own remuneration mix is an ordinary, entirely legitimate decision every company director makes. What matters is that the salary is genuinely paid, the dividend genuinely declared and withheld, and the conditions for any reduced rate genuinely met.
Can I take everything as dividend and no salary at all?: You can pay a very low salary, but a director of a Belgian company is subject to social-security obligations regardless, and a zero salary forfeits the reduced corporate rate plus most of your pension and disability cover. The engine finds €17,400 optimal on this profile, not zero.

This article is general information for a one-person company (BV/SRL), not tax advice. Rules and figures change — confirm your situation with your accountant before acting.