Social security contributions: pensioners in the healthcare sector no longer pay personal contributions

The government is introducing several measures to address the shortage of staff in the healthcare sector.

One of these offers pensioners working in the healthcare sector the opportunity to obtain an exemption from social security contributions for their work performed in this sector between 1 July and 31 December 2022.

This measure has not yet been published in the Belgian Official Gazette in the form of a legislative text. Therefore changes are still possible.

Who can benefit from this measure?

Pensioners who are active in the healthcare sector can benefit from this measure.

Pensioners are understood to mean:

• the actual beneficiary of a retirement pension or survivor's pension as of 1 July 2022
• or the actual beneficiary of a retirement pension or survivor's pension who reached the age of 65 before the 1st day of the month concerned: the person who retires after 1 July 2022, will benefit from this measure from the month following the month in which he reaches the age of 65.

The healthcare sector is understood to mean:

• JC 318 (home help and elderly caregiver services - employer categories 211 and 611);
• JC 319 (educational and housing institutions - employer categories 062, 162, 462 and 962);
• JC 330 (healthcare institutions and services  - employer categories 025 , 125, 311, 330, 422, 430, 511, 512, 522, 711, 722, 735, 812, 822, 830 and 911);
• JC 331 (Flemish welfare and health sector - employer category 122 and 322);
• JC 332 (French-speaking and German-speaking welfare and health sector - employer categories 022 and 222);
• private and public institutions or services in charge of operating centres for vaccination against the coronavirus, for all activities related to the operation of a vaccination centre;
• private and public institutions and services in charge of contact tracing in the context of combating the coronavirus;
• some public healthcare institutions for their activities with a NACE code listed on the NSSO website.

What is the benefit of this measure?

The benefit consists of an exemption from the personal social security contributions of the retired worker.

The amount of this exemption is the balance of personal contributions (13.07%) after applying the work bonus. This would mean that the retired healthcare worker would no longer have to pay personal contributions.

What about taxes?

To date, the tax provisions are not known. As soon as these are announced, an Infoflash will be published on this matter.

Source: www.social.security.be