Graduating as a student self-employed (academic year 2025–2026).

Who is this for?

For students with the student self-employed status who are graduating and want to understand what changes for:

• your status (student self-employed → secondary occupation/main occupation/stop)
• your social security contributions
• your taxes
• the Groeipakket/child benefits

Until when do you remain student self-employed?

Conditions to remain student self-employed:

• You have taken at least 27 credits across two semesters and you do not get a 0 for your exam.
• (Old rule) You could be student self-employed up to and including the third quarter of the year in which you turn 25. From 1 October 2026 there are relaxations — see Wijzigingen statuut student-zelfstandige vanaf 1 oktober 2026.

Graduating in July/September vs January

• Graduating in July or September 2026: you remain student self-employed until the end of September 2026.
• Graduating in January 2027: you remain student self-employed until the end of March 2027, the end of the quarter in which you graduate (new rule from 1 October 2026).

What are your options after graduating?

After your period as student self-employed, there are typically 3 paths:

1. Continue as self-employed in a secondary occupation
2. Continue as self-employed in a main occupation
3. Stop your business activity (stop your company number/VAT)

1) From student self-employed to self-employed in a secondary occupation

When do you become a secondary occupation?

From 01/10 (or from 01/04 if you graduate in January) you automatically become self-employed in a secondary occupation if you have a contract where you work at least half-time.

• Half-time = at least half of a full-time contract.
  Example: 40h/week full-time → you at least 20h/week.
• Exceptions (as in the slides):
  • non-tenured teacher: 50%
  • tenured teacher: 60%

Key points of attention (secondary occupation)

• Temp work: per quarter you must work an average of at least half-time.
  Tip from the slides: ask for 1–2 extra hours per week so you’re safely above the threshold.
• Contract duration: your contract must run for the entire quarter (not start on 2 October or end on 29 December).

Social security contributions & taxes (secondary occupation)

• Reference amount (as in the slides): €102.40/quarter.
• Important: contributions and taxes are assessed on your total income (salary + self-employed income together).
• There is no maximum you may earn in a secondary occupation (this differs from some rules for “student entrepreneur”).
• Note: you switch in the fourth quarter (or in the second quarter if you graduate in January). It’s best to calculate your scenario — see Calculate your contributions yourself below for the tools.

2) From student self-employed to self-employed in a main occupation

When do you become a main occupation?

From 01/10 (or from 01/04 if you graduate in January) you are self-employed in a main occupation if your self-employed activity becomes your main activity. You then do not need to meet employment conditions.

Social security contributions & taxes (main occupation)

• Reference amount (as in the slides): €925.59/quarter.
• Here too, your total income (salary + self-employed income together) counts for taxes.
• Tip from the slides: ask about advance tax payments per quarter based on your financial forecast.
• Starter reduction (as mentioned in the slides): in the first year you may be able to request a starter reduction if your income is lower (information via your social insurance fund).

Calculate your contributions yourself (secondary or main occupation)

Once you are no longer student self-employed, you can no longer use the Student-zelfstandige calculator: al je limieten in 1 check: it only calculates the student scheme. Instead, calculate your new situation with the simulator of a social insurance fund — you don’t need to be a client to simulate:

• Xerius — quarterly contribution for the current year, based on your start date and expected net professional income.
• Acerta — provisional and final contributions after settlement; includes main occupation, secondary occupation and assisting spouse.
• Liantis — quarterly contribution per status (main or secondary occupation).

Two things to know when comparing:

• Provisional ≠ final. You first pay provisional contributions based on an estimated income; two to three years later a revision follows based on your actual income. Estimating too low means paying extra later.
• Excl. or incl. management fees. The 20.50% rate is legally the same for every fund, but the management fees are not (Liantis for example 3.95%). The reference amounts above — €102.40 and €925.59/quarter — correspond exactly to €98.51 and €890.42 increased by 3.95% management fees. So they are including management fees: if you see €98.51 or €890.42 somewhere, it’s the same minimum, just without those fees.
• For the tax part, use Tax-Calc from the Belgian Ministry of Finance.

3) Stopping your business after your studies

If you stop, it’s best to arrange this before 01/10 if you graduate in June/September and your status ends then. If you graduate in January, arrange it before 01/04.

What do you need to do in practice?

• Stop your company number via your enterprise counter (cost according to the slides: €111.50).
• Stop your VAT number:
  • via the Ministry of Finance website (free), or
  • via your enterprise counter (cost according to the slides: €78.65).

Social security contributions in the year you graduate (with examples)

The slides work through 4 scenarios to show how social security contributions in the graduation year can turn out.

Key principle: prorating

If you are only active as student self-employed for part of the year (e.g. Q1–Q3), your income can be prorated to determine whether you exceed a threshold.

Example 1: below the exemption threshold (Q1–Q3)

• Income Q1–Q3: €6,100
• Prorating: 6,100 / 3 × 4 = €8,133.33
• Exemption threshold (in the slides): €8,687.03
  → you remain below the threshold, so you keep the exemption.

Example 2: above the exemption threshold (Q1–Q3)

• Income Q1–Q3: €9,100
• Prorating: 9,100 / 3 × 4 = €12,133.33
• Exemption threshold: €8,687.03
  → you are above the threshold and pay social security contributions.
  In the slides this results (for 2026) in €88.01 social security contributions in total.

Examples 3–4: switching to main or secondary occupation in Q4

The slides show how your total annual income (Q1–Q4) affects:

• what you pay for Q1–Q3 as student self-employed, and
• what you pay in Q4 as main or secondary occupation.

Note (Groeipakket): the slides also contain a warning that above €17,374 your status for the entire year can switch to main occupation, with possible retroactive impact on the Groeipakket.

Taxes: how is your income taxed?

Your taxes depend on your total income (salary + self-employed income together).

Tax-free allowance

The slides state that the first €11,180 is tax-free (base amount; can increase depending on your situation).

Rates per income bracket (as in the slides)

• Bracket 1: 0.01 – 16,320 euro → 25% (tax year 2026 · income 2025)
  0.01 – 16,720 euro (tax year 2027 · income 2026)
• Bracket 2: 16,320 – 28,800 euro → 40%
  16,720 – 29,510 euro
• Bracket 3: 28,800 – 49,840 euro → 45%
  29,510 – 51,070 euro
• Bracket 4: more than 49,840 euro → 50%
  more than 51,070 euro

Groeipakket/child benefits: when is it at risk?

The slides contain a clear warning: above €17,374 you can switch to main occupation for the entire year and may have to repay the Groeipakket pro rata.

Frequently asked questions

What if I (still) don’t have a half-time job from 01/10 (or 01/04)?

Then you cannot automatically fall under secondary occupation based on employment. In practice you may then be considered a main occupation. If in doubt, contact your social insurance fund.

Do I need to look at my income from my job and my self-employed activity together?

Yes. The slides explicitly say it’s your total income (salary + self-employed income together), especially for calculating taxes.

Slides from the session (PPTX)

The full PowerPoint of the group session “Graduating as a student self-employed” (academic year 2025–2026) belongs with this article and you can download it below:

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