The "salary" principle for freelancers
As a freelancer (natural person self-employed) in Belgium, you do not receive a formal salary. The amount left in your bank account after paying your suppliers and taxes is what is available to you privately.
In Belgium, there are three main employment statuses:
An employee: you receive a salary from your employer.
A one-person company (S.P.R.L., S.A., etc.): you go through a social secretariat for your payslips, and your company pays you a salary as company director.
A freelancer (natural person self-employed): you do not receive a salary as such, and you cannot pay yourself a salary as a company director. The amount remaining in your bank account once your suppliers and taxes have been paid is the amount available to you privately.
As a self-employed individual, it is crucial to anticipate how much you need to set aside to pay all your taxes, so you know at all times how much is available to you privately.
This article covers the key points to consider, how to manage your finances, and how Accountable helps you track your available cash at all times.
Please note that this article provides general guidance only. Tax rules may vary depending on your individual situation. When in doubt, ask your Tax Coach.
1/ Points to consider
Keep personal expenses in check: your gross income must cover your professional costs, such as insurance, office space, materials, and subscriptions.
As a self-employed person, you are required to pay social security contributions equivalent to 20.5% of your income, on top of income tax.
If you are subject to VAT, remember that you must remit this tax to SPF Finance and cannot keep it.
💡 Computation of your salary
As a self-employed, this calculation goes through several stages, including adding up invoices issued to obtain your total income, immediately subtracting VAT, deducting business expenses, setting aside for social security contributions, and finally, a provision for taxes.
2/ Flexibility in salary choice
Unlike employees, self-employed individuals do not have a fixed salary. You have the flexibility to decide how your earnings are allocated, whether annually, monthly, weekly, or even daily.
3/ Recommended financial management
Open a business account separate from your private account so you have a clear overview of your finances.
You can transfer a set amount to your private bank account each month, treating it as your self-employed salary to cover personal expenses.
In the banking section of Accountable, classify your salary transaction as "A personal payment".
4/ Accountable gives you access to your available cash at all times 🚀🚀🚀
Once your bank account is connected to Accountable, you can access your Cash available:
In the Total balance section, if you uncheck your bank account connected to Accountable, your balance will be €0:
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It is therefore important to check the bank account(s) to see your balance and the balance left after taxes.
Future revenues: you can choose to include your future income* or exclude it (by checking or unchecking):
*Here the amount is negative, because this is a demo/test account and because there have been many credit notes on sales.
Checking or unchecking your future income will adjust the amount of your left after-tax balance.
Future taxes: this is the most important part of Cash available because it takes into account your future taxes:
→ Everything you need to set aside for social security contributions, VAT for the current quarter (if you are subject to VAT), provision for income tax, etc.
You may also have VAT to recover or a tax refund, and Accountable takes this into account. Check or uncheck the lines you want to include:
Checking Future taxes will also adjust your left after-tax balance.
Balance left after taxes:
💡 The left after-tax balance is the net amount you have left in real time. Some of this could be paid out as salary, but you need to carefully estimate any future costs or losses you may incur.
🚨 For your information: The left after-tax balance depends on how you estimate your profit.
Key takeaways
As a freelancer (natural person self-employed), you do not receive a formal salary: the amount left after paying suppliers and taxes is yours to keep.
Set aside 20.5% of your income for social security contributions, plus provision for income tax and VAT if applicable.
Keep a separate business account and transfer a fixed monthly amount to your private account as your self-employed salary.
Use the Cash available feature in Accountable to see exactly how much you can pay yourself at any time, after all future taxes are accounted for.
Need help? Chat with us or email support@accountable.eu, we're happy to help.