Tax rates
Rates
To determine the amount of your taxes, your taxable income is first divided into brackets. Subsequently, depending on the income bracket, the tax rate is applied (from 25 % to 50 %). The higher your income, the higher the tax rate. This is called a progressive tax system.
The table below shows the tax brackets and corresponding rates:
| Income tax year 2023 (assessment year 2024) | Income tax year 2024 (assessment year 2025) | |
|---|---|---|
| Tax rate | Income tax bracket | Income tax bracket |
| 25 % | 0 - 15,200 euros | 0 - 15,820 euros |
| 40 % | 15,200 - 26,830 euros | 15,820 - 27,920 euros |
| 45 % | 26,830 - 46,440 euros | 27,920 - 48,320 euros |
| 50 % | 46,440 - … euros | 48,320 - … euros |
Some income is taxed separately at a fixed rate. Income from the sharing economy for instance, is taxed at a fixed rate of 20 % within certain limits. However, if it is more advantageous for you to add that income to your other taxable income, they will be taxed jointly.
Personal tax allowance
The first part of your taxable income is exempt from tax. Everyone subject to personal income tax is entitled to a 'personal tax allowance'. This means that a portion of your taxable income is not taxed. The basic amount of the personal tax allowance is 10,570 euros (income tax year 2024 (assessment year 2025)). It may be higher depending on your personal situation, for example, if you have any dependent children. If your income is less than the personal tax allowance, you do not have to pay tax.
If you are subject to non-resident income tax, you can only qualify for the full personal tax allowance if your professional income taxable in Belgium accounts for at least 75 % of your total professional income.
Details of calculation
Example income tax year 2024 (assessment year 2025)
Peter lives in Belgium, is single and has no children or other dependants. He receives a taxable income of 38,000 euros.
His basic tax is calculated as follows:
- First, Peter's income is divided into brackets, according to the table above. The corresponding tax rate is then applied to each bracket of income:
- Within the first bracket, Peter earns 15,820 euros (15,820 euros - 0 euro). A rate of 25 % is applied to this. This means Pieter has to pay 3,955 euros of taxes in the first bracket.
- Within the second bracket, Peter earns 12,100 euros (27,920 euros - 15,820 euro). A rate of 40 % is applied to this. This means Pieter has to pay 4,840 euros of taxes in the second bracket.
- Within the third bracket, Peter earns 10,080 euros (38,000 euros - 27,920 euro). A rate of 45 % is applied to this. This means Pieter has to pay 4,536 euros of taxes in the third bracket.
- The total amount of tax is obtained by adding up the amounts of the different brackets. 3,955 euros + 4,840 euros + 4,536 euros = 13,331 euros.
- At this point, the personal tax allowance is yet to be taken into account.
- To do this, we first calculate how much tax Peter in theory would have to pay on the amount of the personal tax allowance.
- For Peter, the personal tax allowance amounts to 10,570 euros. To this amount, the tax rate of 25 % applies. Peter is therefore entitled to a tax exemption of 2,642.50 euros (25 % of 10,570 euros).
- We subtract this exempt amount from the total amount of taxes we calculated in step 2. 13,331 euros - 2,642.50 euro = 10,688.50 euro.
- Finally, Peter will have to pay 10,688.50 euros in taxes.
Additional operations
Usually, additional operations are applied to arrive at the final tax, such as:
- Flat-rate professional expenses are automatically deducted from most professional income, such as wages. As a result, the amount thereby used as a basis for the tax calculation is significantly lower than the amount actually received.
- Certain expenses give entitlement to a tax reduction under certain conditions, such as pension savings and donations to charity.
- Certain foreign income you are required to declare may qualify for full or partial tax exemption under certain circumstances.
Would you like to know which operations are applied in your tax calculation? You can always find a detail of the calculation on your tax assessment notice. If you receive a proposed simplified return, you will also find a provisional calculation there. In addition, you can obtain a provisional tax calculation in MyMinfin (Tax-On-Web) or via the anonymous simulation application Taxcalc (via the 'Tax calculation' button).