Flexi-jobs - The principal activity

The basic idea behind the concept of flexi-jobs is that persons who are socially and (almost) fully insured can earn additional income without high social and fiscal charges.

Who must prove a principal activity?

All workers with a flexi-job must prove a principal activity, except the pensioners (from 2018). The special case of the pensioners will be discussed in a next infoflash.

Principles

A principal activity is defined by three characteristics:

1. at least 4/5 of the full-time work regime
2. in the third quarter preceding the performance of the flexi-job
3. with one or more other employers (than the employer who offers the flexi-job)

The reference quarter is the third quarter preceding the current quarter.

Example

Employment in a flexi-job from the 1st quarter 2018

1st quarter 2018 → reference quarter = 2nd quarter 2017

2nd quarter 2018 → reference quarter = 3rd quarter 2017

The principal activity is performed with one or more other employers than the employer offering the flexi-job. The sector is of no importance: all joint committees qualify (so not only horeca and retail trade).

The compulsory principal activity implies that a flexi-job must be organized per quarter as the reference quarter moves up every time a new employment quarter begins.

Evaluation of the 4/5 employment

All periods of employment in the public and private sectors are taken into account, but NOT the periods of self-employed activity.

For the periods registered in a dmfa the next rules apply:

1. Are included:

• all periods paid by the employer(s), including the periods covered by a severance compensation;
• all periods of a suspension of the employment contract not paid by the employer and registered in the dmfa

2. Are NOT included, time worked:

• as net overtime hours in the horeca;
• in a flexi-job;
• as an apprentice;
• as a student within the contingent that serves as a basis for the solidarity contribution;
• as a limitedly liable young person until 31.12 of the year of his 18th anniversary;
• as a casual worker in agriculture and horticulture, declared under the cheap daily rate;
• as a casual horeca worker, declared under the cheap daily or hourly rate.

The minimum 4/5 employment is calculated:

1. proportionately to the full-time regime in the sector in which the employment takes place

example

reference quarter 65 days

full quarter part-time worked in a sector of 37h/week → 4/5 = 384,80h

2. proportionately to a full reference quarter

example

reference quarter 65 days

full-time worked during 50 declared days → 4/5 not reached

New from 2018: when temporary teachers earn a deferred remuneration or an unemployment benefit during summer holidays, that period will be equated to a worked period so that they can perform a flexi-job in the second quarter of the next year.

Practical organisation of the evaluation

The evaluation is done by the NSSO when the Dimona for a flexi-job is registered and is based on the data for the third preceding quarter stored in the Sigedis career database. The result of the evaluation will be communicated immediately to the employer who submitted the Dimona.

In a next infoflash you can read how this works in actual practice.

The career database only contains work performances that are liable to the Belgian social security – so it cannot be used for flexi-job workers with a principal activity liable to foreign social security. For this target group the employer must ask validation of the flexi-job declaration on condition that liability to a foreign social security system can be proven for an employment of at least 4/5 (ad hoc furnishing of proof, on the initiative of the employer).

Source: Act of 16 November 2015 establishing various social provisions, as amended by the Programme Act of 25 December 2017 (Belgian Official Gazette of 29 December 2017).