Deferred payment of your social security contributions

We announced this in our Infoflash of 6 December 2022: the government allows you to defer part of your employer social security contributions due for the 3rd and/or 4th quarter of 2023.

Do you qualify for this deferred payment?

May request deferral of a part of their employer contributions for the 3rd and/or 4th quarter of 2023:

• Employers in the private sector (subject to the Law of 5 December 1968 on collective bargaining agreements and joint committees);
• Autonomous public companies (including HR Rail);
• Some employers of the public healthcare sector.

Excluded are companies:

• that hold a direct participation in a company established in a state included in one of the lists referred to in article 307 §1/2 Income Tax Code (CIR/WIB) 1992 or a state included in the list referred to in article 179 RD/Income Tax Code 92;
• or that have not made payments to companies established in one of the above-mentioned States, provided that these payments constitute a total amount of at least 100,000€ in the course of the taxable period and that it has not been demonstrated that these payments were made in the context of genuine and sincere transactions arising from legitimate financial or economic needs.

The aim here is to exclude companies with links to tax havens. Taxpayers making unjustified payments to companies established in a tax haven and those with a direct stake in such companies are excluded.

What is the amount of the deferred payment?

The deferred payment amounts to 7.07% of the total net basic employer contribution due. 

The term "net basic total employer contribution" refers to your basic employer social security contribution, after deduction of the structural reduction and any target group reductions.

Example: you come under Joint Committee no. 200. Your total net basic employer contribution (i.e. 25% of the employer social security contributions from which the structural reduction and any target group reductions have been deducted) is 10,000€ for all your workers and/or apprentices for the 3rd quarter of 2023.

The deferred payment for the 1st quarter 2023 will be 7.07% x 10,000€ = 707€.

When will you have to pay the deferred amount(s)?

You can defer payment to the 3rd and/or 4th quarters of 2023. The social security contributions that are the subject of a deferred payment will have to be paid to the National Social Security Office in 4 instalments, divided in equal parts over the 4 quarters of 2025, simultaneously with the contributions due for these quarters.

Example: the deferred payment for the 3rd quarter of 2023 is 707€. A quarter of this amount, i.e. 176.75€, will be added to the amount of your social security contributions due for each of the 4 quarters in 2025.

The National Social Security Office issues a reminder document 2 months before each of the 4 due dates.

Is the deferred payment mandatory and/or automatic?

Deferring payment of part of your employer contributions due for the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2023 is not mandatory.

If you wish to benefit from it, you must submit an application to the National Social Security Office via the DmfA.

Therefore, Partena Professional customers who qualify for this deferred payment will soon receive a letter from us asking them to notify us of their choice.

Source: Programme Act of 26 December 2022, articles 139 et seq., Belgian Official Gazette of 30 December 2022.