Plan contractor hiring in Belgium

A Belgium-resident contractor engages through a registered individual business or a Belgian company that signs and invoices in its exact legal identity. In either form, the contractor registers in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises and handles the Belgian tax and social administration attached to that form. The foreign customer should contract with the same name and enterprise number that appear on the invoice. Those records establish who supplies the service. They do not settle worker status. Belgium classifies the performed relationship through four general criteria focused on the parties' intention, freedom to organize time and work, and the possibility of hierarchical control.

Sources: Business Belgium, create a sole proprietorship, Business Belgium, register as a company, NSSO, 2026 employer instructions, nature of the working relationship

If the line is crossed

If the facts create employment and Belgian employee social security covers the work, the offshore party exercising employer authority becomes the employer for NSSO purposes. It must identify as an employer, enter the Dimona and quarterly DmfA declaration flow, and account for employer and worker contributions. A retroactive correction can produce arrears; overdue NSSO contributions can carry a 10% surcharge and 7% annual interest. The ordinary NSSO limitation period is three years from the due date. A ten-year period applies to specified ex officio regularizations involving fraud or knowingly false or incomplete statements for periods beginning from 1 January 2023. Cross-border social-security coordination must be checked before calculating exposure.

Sources: NSSO, 2026 employer instructions, employer definition, NSSO, 2026 employer instructions, first-time employer registration, NSSO, 2026 employer instructions, late contribution consequences, NSSO, 2026 employer instructions, social-security limitation periods

Facture / Factuur

Invoice

The Belgian invoice is the tax and payment document the contractor issues to the foreign customer. It should identify the registered supplier through its legal name, legal form where applicable, CBE enterprise number and Belgian VAT number, then state the service, price, currency, issue date and contractual due date. For an ordinary service to an EU VAT-identified business, it records both VAT numbers and 'Reverse charge' without Belgian VAT. For a customer outside the EU, it still records why Belgian VAT is absent, while the customer's jurisdiction determines any local accounting. If a special place-of-supply rule makes the service Belgian-taxable, redo the VAT analysis before acceptance.

Issued by: The Belgium-resident contractor issues it in the exact identity of the registered sole proprietorship or SRL / BV that signed the contract.

Timing: For an intra-EU service covered by the customer reverse charge, issue it by the fifteenth day of the month after the chargeable event. For a customer outside the EU, use the applicable Belgian rule and the contract's billing cadence rather than extending that EU deadline automatically.

Sources: Business Belgium, register as a company, Belgian Federal Public Service Finance, VAT liability and obligations, Council Directive 2006/112/EC, current consolidated VAT text

An ordinary B2B service to a business abroad is invoiced without Belgian VAT because the general place of supply is where the customer has established its business. When that customer is VAT-identified in another EU member state, the customer accounts for VAT through the reverse charge. A customer outside the EU follows the same customer-location principle, then applies its own local tax rules. Confirm the customer's business status and country before the first invoice. The result can change for a service with a special place-of-supply rule, including work tied to immovable property or event admission, so identify the purchased service precisely before approving the tax treatment.

Sources: Council Directive 2006/112/EC, current consolidated VAT text

What an invoice has to show

• The Belgian supplier's registered identity and ten-digit CBE enterprise number

  Lead the invoice check with the legal supplier. For a sole proprietorship, use the individual's registered business identity and enterprise number. For an SRL or BV, use the company's exact registered name followed by its legal form and the company's own number. Belgian guidance requires the business number on invoices and requires a company's name and legal form on its professional documents. Match those details to the signed contract and payee record before release. A trading name, personal nickname or founder's earlier individual-business number can identify a different counterparty and should trigger correction.

  Sources: Business Belgium, register as a company, Business Belgium, create a sole proprietorship

• Both VAT numbers and 'Reverse charge' for an ordinary service to an EU business customer

  For an EU customer liable under Article 196, the invoice displays the Belgian supplier's VAT identification number, the customer's VAT identification number and the exact words 'Reverse charge'. It does not add Belgian VAT. Validate the customer's number and retain the result with the supplier file because the number supports the customer's taxable-business status and the customer-country treatment. This EU wording does not automatically belong on an invoice to a customer outside the EU. For that branch, document the customer's business location and apply the relevant outside-EU treatment without inventing an EU tax mechanism.

  Sources: Council Directive 2006/112/EC, current consolidated VAT text

• 'Régime particulier de la franchise de taxe' when the supplier uses Belgium's small-enterprise exemption

  This Belgian legend explains why a qualifying small enterprise charges no VAT under its own regime. Use it only when the contractor confirms that the regime applies. It answers a different question from the cross-border place-of-supply rule, so the invoice can still require the EU customer's VAT number and reverse-charge wording when that transaction rule applies. Accounts payable should preserve the contractor's stated VAT status and avoid adding Belgian VAT merely because the invoice value is high. The EUR 25,000 test concerns the contractor's annual Belgian turnover, rather than the amount of a single foreign invoice.

  Sources: Belgian Moniteur, Royal Decree of 15 December 2024, Business Belgium, create a sole proprietorship

The Belgian contractor bills by invoice under the cadence and due-date method written into the service contract. The contract should also choose governing law. Rome I respects that choice; without one, a service contract is generally governed by the law of the service provider's habitual residence, subject to a manifestly closer connection elsewhere. When Belgian late-payment law governs and the parties set no term, the statutory fallback is 30 calendar days from the applicable invoice-receipt or service trigger. Write the actual due date calculation into the contract and invoice so an internal approval queue cannot silently move the supplier's payment date.

Sources: Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations, Belgian Federal Public Service Justice, Justel consolidated Late Payment Act of 2 August 2002

When invoices are settled

When Belgian late-payment law governs, an agreed B2B payment term cannot exceed 60 calendar days. Any acceptance or verification procedure sits inside that same period, so the payer cannot start a fresh 60-day clock after approval. With no agreed term, the statutory period is 30 days from the relevant invoice or service trigger. Interest accrues automatically after the due date without a reminder, and the creditor can claim a fixed EUR 40 recovery charge plus reasonable excess recovery costs. The 10.5% statutory commercial rate applies through 31 December 2026; check the published rate again for invoices becoming late after that date. State one calculable due date and keep approval steps inside it.

Sources: Belgian Federal Public Service Justice, Justel consolidated Late Payment Act of 2 August 2002, Belgian Federal Public Service Finance, statutory interest rates for 2026

The currency on the invoice

The contractor and foreign customer can agree the invoice currency. EU VAT rules allow invoice amounts in any currency, while a VAT amount payable in Belgium must be expressed in euros. For the ordinary customer-location service in scope, no Belgian VAT amount is payable, so the contract can use euros or another commercial currency without creating a Belgian VAT display amount. Name the currency, price and conversion rule in the signed agreement, then repeat the same unit on the invoice. The customer should separately handle any home-country VAT conversion, accounting or reporting requirement and should avoid changing the agreed commercial price through an unstated treasury rate.

Sources: Council Directive 2006/112/EC, current consolidated VAT text

Treating Belgian registrations as proof that the relationship is independent

A CBE extract, VAT number, self-employed tax return and social-insurance affiliation cannot classify the relationship on their own under Belgium's Programme Law. They confirm identity and administration, while the four general criteria test the actual arrangement. Review who organizes working time, who chooses method and whether the customer can exercise hierarchical control. Keep the contractor outside employee leave, performance and disciplinary processes. Define the purchased result, milestones and acceptance rights in the contract, then operate the relationship consistently. If the work falls in one of the seven presumption sectors, apply its separate test before onboarding.

Sources: NSSO, 2026 employer instructions, nature of the working relationship

Rejecting a foreign-customer invoice because it lacks Belgium's domestic structured format

Belgium's structured B2B invoice mandate from 1 January 2026 covers operations between Belgian VAT-taxable enterprises. The fixed customer is abroad and has no Belgian entity or permanent establishment, so that domestic receiving obligation does not reach it merely because the supplier is Belgian. Accept the cross-border invoice in the format allowed by the contract and the customer's own law, provided its Belgian identity and VAT treatment are complete. A contractor can still use a structured document voluntarily. Recheck the scope if the contracting or receiving customer later becomes a Belgian establishment, because that changes the factual premise.

Sources: Belgian e-invoicing authority, general B2B FAQ

Adding an approval period after Belgium's maximum payment term

A Belgian-law contract cannot set 90 days for an ordinary B2B service or treat acceptance as a separate period after 60 days. The statute places acceptance and verification inside the payment period, whose agreed maximum is 60 calendar days. Set objective acceptance criteria, a short review period and one final due date. If the customer misses its internal approval target, that workflow failure does not create a new statutory clock. Interest begins automatically after the due date without a reminder, and the fixed EUR 40 recovery charge can follow. Confirm governing law first because Belgium's maximum reaches this offshore payer through that analysis.

Sources: Belgian Federal Public Service Justice, Justel consolidated Late Payment Act of 2 August 2002, Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations