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Working in Belgium - Self-employment

Contents:
Introduction

Moving to Belgium
Registration Procedures
Movement of Goods and Capital
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Finding Accommodation
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Living in Belgium
The System
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Working in Belgium
Recruitment
Applications
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Kinds of Employment
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Vocational Training
Leave: Sickness, Maternity
End of Employment
Self-employment
Special Categories
Representation of Workers
Work Disputes
Self-employment
A self-employed worker performs a professional activity, full-time or part-time, without being subject to any authority by means of an employment contract or employment status: commerce (including mobile trade), liberal professions (lawyer, architect, pharmacist, doctor, etc.), craftspeople, agriculture and stockbreeding, etc. Workers must be at least 18 years of age (except for craftspeople: the minimum age is 16, with the consent of the parents or guardian).

A series of steps must be taken to become self-employed:

  1. Opening of a current account reserved for the professional activity and separate from the private account.
  2. Registration with an authorised business one-stop-shop. In order to work in the commercial or crafts sectors, you must be registered with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises and Business One-Stop Shops. You can register with one of the authorised business one-stop-shops. You must produce there the documents that entitle you to exercise your profession: management skills plus professional skills for the regulated professions, licences, permits, etc.
  3. Value-Added Tax (VAT): following registration with the authorised business one-stop-shop, you must contact the competent VAT authority to check whether your activity is liable to VAT. The competent authority is the one located in the area where the natural person is resident for tax purposes, and that of the main registered office in the case of a company. This can also be done via the business one-stop-shop in return for payment.

Text last edited on: 03/2009

Source: European Union
© European Communities, 1995-2009
Reproduction is authorised.

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