In cases of social fraud: no more social security reductions

In cases of deliberate fraud, you as an employer risk losing your social security reductions. The draft legislation allows the court to withdraw this benefit, thereby increasing the severity of the penalty and causing costs to rise rapidly.

This AI-generated translation may contain errors and should not be considerd legal advice. For accurate info, refer to the Dutch or French version or consult your Securex Legal Advisor.

What does this new sanction involve?

Today, an employer who is sanctioned for social fraud and regularises their situation must pay the contributions due, but can still benefit from NSSO reductions.

The draft law provides for an additional sanction in the Social Criminal Code: in the event of a conviction for social fraud, the criminal court may withdraw the NSSO reductions. As a result, these are no longer taken into account in the recalculation, and the amount payable increases.

Which infringements are targeted?

In addition to existing sanctions, a judge could deny you the benefit of NSSO reductions if you act intentionally and fraudulently in the following situations:

You do not comply with your Dimona declaration obligations
You draw up or use a false document
You make incorrect or incomplete declarations to avoid paying contributions or to pay less
You commit fraud under social criminal law

What are the concrete consequences for the employer?

If you intentionally commit an infringement, the judge may impose this new sanction. In addition to existing sanctions, they may decide that you lose your NSSO reductions.

In that case, the NSSO will no longer apply these reductions when recalculating your contributions after regularisation. You must also fully repay the advantage you wrongly obtained.

Which contribution reductions are concerned?

In practice, several NSSO reductions could fall within the scope of this new sanction.

In addition to the structural reduction, you also risk losing certain target group reductions and other advantages relating to NSSO contributions, such as:

First recruitments
Permanent employees in the hospitality sector
Paid professional athletes
Exemption from employer contributions above the salary ceiling

Entry into force?

This new sanction would enter into force on 1 July 2026.

As long as the law has not been definitively adopted and published in the Belgian Official Gazette, this measure may still change. We will keep you informed of any developments via Lex4You.