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How much does a freelancer earn?

See what net you would have left
at your freelancer's rate in Belgium.

What you invoice every month
Your net after taxes
Average tax rate: % In comparison, Accountable users have on average 22% tax rate.
Improve result
Improve result

The result above is generic and based on simple assumptions.By hitting "Improve result", you will be invited to make the tax simulation yours and get results based on your actual situation.

Invoiced monthly
What you invoice every month
Net salary
Net after taxes



Can I trust the results of this tax simulator?

This tax simulator tells you precisely how much taxes you will pay based how much you will invoice your clients, your personal situation and how much expenses you plan to incur.
It is personal and highly customisable – just like we would have liked it when we started as independents.

By default, the simulator takes into account the following assumptions:

In essence, in this scenario, taxes are maximal.

By clicking Improve result, you will be able to update the results and reduce your tax rate based on the following parameters:

This tax simulator is naturally based on a rigorous analysis of the Belgian tax system and is regularly updated by our team of tax coaches (last update: Dec 2023).

Internet and telephone fees Deduct your internet fees

Internet fees are easily deductible, as the link to your activity is generally obvious. Who does not need the internet to work today?

Tax audit risk

Easiness to justify

What can I deduct?

Search business expenses that match your situation. Tailor-made for self employed professionals in 🇧🇪

How can I compute my taxes as a self-employed in Belgium?

As an independent, it’s hard to know how much taxes you will pay. 
We get it. This is why we created Accountable.

When you are self-employed in Belgium, you basically have 3 tax obligations:

Income tax is the tax every Belgian citizen has to declare and pay, once per year, on their revenue. If you are an employee, you already pay this tax, although it is very likely that your employer provisions it for you. As a self-employed, you need to self-declare and pay your income tax, which means that you need to set this money aside as you earn it. After 3 years as an independent, notice that the State requires you to pay income tax prepayment on a quarterly basis so that it can collect this money faster. Income tax rate ranges from 0 to 50% on a progressive scale.
Learn more about income tax & prepayments.

Social contributions are the amounts you pay to your social security provider (e.g. Securex, Liantis, Acerta, etc.) to get access to basic healthcare and pension offered by the Belgian State. As a self-employed, social contributions are mandatory (you need to pay them) and reach around 20% of your revenue.
Learn more about social contributions.

VAT, or Value Added Tax, is a tax that you collect for the State on every sale you make as a self-employed. You then need to pay this VAT back to the State, usually every quarter. When you purchase goods or service as a business, you can also recover the VAT you paid, meaning that, at the moment of paying, you will only pay the net between your sales & purchase VAT. If your turnover is lower than 25,000€, you can ask for a franchise. Some activities are exempt from VAT (e.g. healthcare).
Learn more about VAT.

In truth, all your tax obligations as a self-employed can be narrowed to those 3 elements. 
Simpler than you thought? We agree.
If you have any question, our team of Tax Coaches is there to help you.
Just drop us a line on [email protected].

What is the difference between a business plan & a tax simulator?

A tax simulator and a business plan serve different purposes and focus on distinct aspects of business management, even for the self-employed. Here are the key differences between the two:

  1. Purpose
    – Tax Simulator: The primary purpose of a tax simulator is to help you estimate your future taxes. It considers various financial factors, income sources, deductions, and tax credits to provide an approximation of the taxes owed.
    – Business Plan: A business plan, on the other hand, is a comprehensive document outlining the goals, strategies, operations, and financial forecasts of a business. It serves as a roadmap for your business, guiding its development and operations.
  2. Scope
    – Tax Simulator: Focuses specifically on tax-related calculations. It may take into account income, expenses, deductions, and other tax-related factors to project the tax liability.
    – Business Plan: Encompasses a broader range of elements, will generally expand over several years and sometimes includes market analysis, competitive landscape, target audience, marketing strategies, operational plans, and financial projections. It provides a holistic view of the business and its future trajectory.
  3. Use Case
    – Tax Simulator: Primarily used for tax planning and cash management. Self-employed professionals need tax simulators to understand the tax implications of various financial decisions and plan accordingly.
    – Business Plan: Used for strategic planning, securing funding, communicating business objectives to stakeholders, and guiding day-to-day operations. It is a dynamic document that evolves as the business grows and faces new challenges.

In summary, while a tax simulator focuses specifically on tax-related calculations and helps with tax planning, a business plan is a more comprehensive (but also complex) document that outlines various aspects of a business, including its operations, strategies, and financial forecasts, for strategic planning and communication purposes.
If you are looking for an excellent business planning software in Belgium, we can definitely recommend our partner, HannaGo.

How can you reduce your income tax as a self-employed?

The amount of income tax you will pay as a self-employed heavily depends on your profit. In other words, the amount you invoiced your customers – the total of your professional expenses.
As a consequence, the most sensible you can do as a self-employed, especially if you are doing it as a complementary activity, is to maximize your professional expenses.
The most common professional expenses include:

You can find all possible deductibles in Belgium – and more – on deductibles.be, the website we developed with Liantis and the best accounting firms in the country.

Other than maximizing professional expenses, you can also leverage the following levers:

Your personal situation (e.g. whether you have depending children or depending on the amount of your spouse), also influences the computation of your income tax.

Who is Accountable and why did you create this tax simulator?

Accountable is an app and service that helps independents get their taxes done.
Simply, rapidly, so that they can focus on what they most love: building their business.
In the app, you can create invoices, quotes, record revenue, scan or upload receipts, and automatically, the app will compute and prepare all of your tax declarations. You can connect up to 5 bank accounts to the app

In addition to the app, Accountable is also a service where you get answers on any question you might have as a self-employed. Our tax coaches and partner accountants answer thousands of questions on a weekly basis, always diligently and with simple words.

We created this free tax simulator because we want to help more Belgian citizens start as self-employed and better understand how their revenue is taxed.
This is our contribution to helping reduce the cost to become independent 💜.

Check out our other free tax resources here.