Everybody working as an employee in the public and private sector is automatically registered with the Belgian statutory pension system managed by the Federal Pensions Service (FPS, SFP, FPD).
Pension contributions are paid both by employees and by their employer. Employees pay a total of 13.07 % in social security contributions (including 7.5 % specifically for pension entitlements) on their gross salary. Employers pay, depending on the size of the company, a total of approximately 30 % in social contributions (including 8.86 % specifically for pension entitlements) on the gross salary of their employees.
No, you cannot. A refund of the paid contributions is not possible.
Your insurance periods in Belgium are recognized in EU countries + EEA + Switzerland and vice versa (in accordance with general coordination rules) as well as in countries with which Belgium has bilateral agreements.
Belgium has bilateral agreements with:
Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Chili, India, Israel, Japan, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Moldova, Morocco, Montenegro, the Philippines, San Marino, Serbia, South Korea, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay and the United States of America.
Following the Agreement between the European Union and The United Kingdom of 30/12/2020, insurance periods completed in the United Kingdom are still taken into account after Brexit.
Your insurance periods are taken into account to check if you fulfill the requirements for taking up early retirement or for a more advantageous pension calculation, e.g. a minimum pension.
You don't need do anything when leaving Belgium; it is however advisable to keep your pay slips.
If you want to keep track of your Belgian statutory pension entitlement, you can register with the mypension website.
Link:
www.mypension.be (Only available in Dutch, French or German)
Whilst living in Belgium you can access this website with an eID (electronic identity card) or mobile app. When living abroad, if you do not have any eID, you will need to go to registration office in Belgium to request an identification key which will give you access but will be sent by letter to your address.
The Belgian pension scheme for employee’s offers an old age pension and some derived entitlements. These derived entitlements are mainly the survivor's pension or the transitional allowance, depending on the age of the surviving spouse. Other derived entitlements are the divorced spouse pension and the separated spouse pension.
No. All periods for which Belgian pension entitlements have been accumulated will result in a Belgian pension regardless of the length of the insurance period. The Belgian pension amount will be proportional to the length of the insurance period.
See A.4
The pension amount depends on 3 main variables:
• Your household situation:
As head of a household you will receive 20 % more pension than a single person, or a person whose spouse also receives a pension (or has an own income).
• The length of your total career:
A full career in Belgian is considered to consist of 14 040 Full-time Equivalents (FTE's) (= 45 years). A shorter career will have an influence on your pension amount (i.e. which will be lower). If your career is longer, the least advantageous days will not be considered when calculating your pension amount.
• Your yearly gross income:
High gross incomes will be capped for the calculation of a pension, for example: the income ceiling for 2020 is 60.026,75 EUR. The income above that ceiling is not used for the calculation of your pension.
For example:An employee with a full career (45 years), whose gross income always exceeded the ceiling amounts, will receive the maximum yearly pension amount, which in 2018 was 28.689.12 EUR (gross amount) for a single person.
Employees with a low gross income but a sufficiently long career may qualify for a guaranteed minimum pension. The minimum pension for full time employment and for a single person currently amounts to (2021) 15.911,02 EUR (gross amount) for a full career. If there are fewer than 45 years (with 52 working days, each of which is full-time) in your career, the minimum pension will be proportional to your career.
The current (2021) legal retirement age in Belgium is 65 for both men and women. At this age everyone retires, regardless of the length of their career. Pension reforms will gradually raise the legal pensionable age to 66 (2025) and 67 (2030).
Early retirement is possible for employees with a sufficiently long career. Early retirement age is now being raised yearly as a result of a reform which started a couple of years ago, and ended in 2019. Now there are 3 possibilities for early retirement:
• At age 60, with a total career of 44 years;
• At age 61, with a total career of 43 years or;
• At age 63 with a total career of 42 years.
If you live in a member state of the EU, EEA, UK, Switzerland or a country with which Belgium has a bilateral agreement on social security, you can apply to the statutory pension insurance institution in your country of residence for your Belgian pension.
Belgium has bilateral agreements with:
Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Chili, India, Israel, Japan, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Morocco, Moldova, Montenegro, the Philippines, San Marino, Serbia, South Korea, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay and the United States of America.
If you do not live in one of these countries, you can send your pension application directly to the Federal Pensions Service.
https://www.sfpd.fgov.be/fr/%C3%A0-propos-de-nous/contact
Yes, you can.
If you have reached the Belgian legal pensionable age (65 in 2021) you can combine your old age pension with an income from a professional activity.
If you have not reached the Belgian legal retirement age yet and your career is shorter than 45 years, you still can combine your old age pension with an income from a professional activity, providing your earnings do not exceed a certain ceiling.
Please note that an old age pension can never be combined with other social benefits (unemployment, illness …).
Yes, it does.
Your insurance periods in UE countries + EEA + Switzerland (in accordance to general coordination rules) + UK as well as those in countries with which Belgium has bilateral agreements will be taken into account to determine whether you are eligible for early retirement.
Belgium has bilateral agreements with:
Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Chili, India, Israel, Japan, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Morocco, Moldova, Montenegro, the Philippines, San Marino, Serbia, South Korea, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay and the United States of America.
The pension amount depends on 3 main variables:
• Your household situation:
As head of a household you will receive 20 % more pension than a single person, or a person whose spouse also receives a pension (or has an own income).
• The length of your total career:
A full career in Belgian is considered to consist of 14 040 Full-time Equivalents (FTE's)(= 45 years). A shorter career will have an influence on your pension amount (i.e. which will be lower). If your career is longer, the least advantageous days will not be considered when calculating your pension amount.
• Your yearly gross income:
High gross incomes will be capped for the calculation of a pension, for example: the income ceiling for 2020 is 60.026,75 EUR. The income above that ceiling is not used for the calculation of your pension.
For example: an employee with a full career (45 years), whose gross income always exceeded the ceiling amounts, will receive the maximum yearly pension amount, which in 2018 was 28.689.12 EUR (gross amount) for a single person.
Employees with a low gross income but a sufficiently long career may qualify for a guaranteed minimum pension. The minimum pension for full time employment and for a single person currently amounts to (2021) 15.911,02 EUR (gross amount) for a full career. If there are fewer than 45 years (with 52 working days, each of which is full-time) in your career, the minimum pension will be proportional to your career.
The preferred payment method is by transfer to your bank account. However, payment via bank check is also possible. Pension payments are monthly except in case of very low pension amounts, which are paid yearly.
You qualify for a retirement pension if you were a salaried person in the private sector in Belgium or abroad for an employer established in Belgium. These pension rights are payable if you reside in Belgium or one of the countries listed here. If so, please go to the information for employees.
For all other scholarship based researchers, only limited social security contributions are paid. This means that you are entitled to a number of social benefits, without Belgian pension entitlements being accumulated. You can find more information about your social security contributions and benefits on the Belgian social security website.
However, this period may be added to your professional Belgian career, subject to certain conditions and after paying contributions.
The number of years which you can regularise is limited to the minimum number of years that is required to obtain your first degree in higher education. In case of a doctorate, only two years of the time spent working on this doctorate can be regularised.
Prior to or following your scholarship research in Belgium you must have worked as an employee. Years as scholarship researcher in Belgium, followed by employment in another EU Member State, may also be regularised.
A regularisation is not possible when the period already results in the accumulation of pension entitlements in a Belgian or foreign pension scheme.
The regularisation cost is determined by the moment at which you regularise:
During the transition period (01/12/17 – 30/11/2020)
The years before your 20th birthday
An amount of 1500 EUR that is increased by an interest rate and a coefficient according to the mortality tables.
The years after your 20th birthday: 1500 EUR
After the transition period (30/11/2020)
An amount of 1500 EUR that is increased by an interest rate and a coefficient according to the mortality tables.
The regularisation of the academic years does not necessarily result in a higher pension. Should you, for example, combine a retirement pension with a survivor's pension, the latter pension may be reduced so as not to exceed the overlapping limit. Combining a survivor‘s pension with an old age pension is possible, providing a certain ceiling is not exceeded. In such a case, regularizing may not result in a higher pension.
Another possibility is that your career is longer than the number of years required for a full pension. In that case, the excess number of years is dropped from the calculation, and these may be the years you regularized.
The regularisation of the years of study does not result in an early retirement age.
Contributions which do not yield an increased pension, are not refunded.
The application has to be submitted by means of a letter sent to the:
Federal Pensions Service
Regularisation Service
Zuidertoren
1060 Brussels
Further details about the regularisation of periods of study are available at the RVP (Federal Pensions Service) website http://www.sfpd.fgov.be/.
Self-employed entrepreneurs can also consult the NISSE (National Institute for the Social Security of the Self-employed) website http://www.nisse.be/en.
