Your checklist for closing 2025 and starting 2026 on a positive note

As the days outside become shorter and wetter, the new year is quickly approaching. It is time for employers to carry out an end-of-year review concerning holiday days, replacement public holidays, the guaranteed minimum monthly income (GMMI), year-end bonuses, individual training rights, and tax exemptions.

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.

Have all statutory holidays been taken?

Have your employees taken all their statutory holidays? If not, inform them that these days generally cannot be carried over to 2025.

From the start of 2024, holidays can be carried over to the next year, but only if employees were unable to take those days on time due to specific reasons, such as illness. In such cases, they may take the days up to 24 months after the end of the holiday year.

Make sure that all statutory holidays, as well as replacement holidays and compensatory rest days for 2025, are taken before the end of the year.

Establish the replacement holidays for 2026

A holiday that falls on a non-working day in the company must be replaced. If your company does not usually operate on Saturdays and Sundays, you must replace Saturday, August 15 (Assumption of Mary) and Sunday, November 1 (All Saints' Day) in 2026.

Make arrangements for the replacement holidays for 2026 before December 15, 2025. If you do not do this, these holidays will automatically be replaced by the next working day.

Establish the collective leave for 2026

Do not delay in setting the dates for your collective leave. Ensure that these days are established before December 31, 2025. After this date, your employees can already take their holidays for the holiday year 2026. By planning ahead, you can avoid conflicts and ensure a smooth leave process.

Plan the absences

Do you expect many absences in 2026, such as maternity leave or long-term illness? Address this proactively and consider outsourcing. By temporarily hiring an HR specialist for a project or period, you can manage absences, resolve capacity issues, and save costs. This way, your HR team can continue to focus on core activities.

Prepare the personnel budget

When preparing the personnel budget for 2026, it is important to consider the expected increase in wage costs. Think of the wage indexations, the transport costs, and seniority increases in your sector, including social security contributions.
Also consider the sector agreements for 2025-2026 that will be concluded. Despite the wage norm of 0%, from January 1, 2026, the maximum amount of meal vouchers will be increased by 2 euros, making the value of a meal voucher up to 10 euros. Many sectors are making agreements regarding the introduction or increase of meal vouchers in their agreements.

Also, do not forget to consider additional benefits such as bonuses, warrants, cafeteria plans, bike leasing, and other secondary employment conditions that contribute to the satisfaction and retention of your employees.

Check your tax exemptions for shift work

Since spring 2024, there is a variant called 'shift work-bis'. As an employer, you must choose each month between the classic system and this bis variant and apply the correct correction factor. A wrong choice can lead to heavy fines and repayment of the full exemption. If you have applied the wrong system, let us know as soon as possible so that we can make corrections and avoid risks.

Check if the training days have been utilized and consider training for 2026

Check if the training days for this year have been used and plan in advance for 2026. Despite the uncertainty surrounding the Federal Learning Account, the training obligation remains: every full-time employee is entitled to at least 5 training days per year in companies with 10 or more employees.

Our tip: take a look at our training calendar for 2026: Training for employees and companies | Securex

The year-end bonuses are coming

Most year-end bonuses are paid out during December and are equal to a thirteenth month. You can check the correct timing and calculation in your sector via Joint committees > Your JC > Bonuses at the end of the year > Year-end bonus.

Securex will calculate the year-end bonus for you in the same period as last year. If you have recently joined our social secretariat or if a specific date has already been set, we will respect the agreed timing. If you want to pay a higher year-end bonus than the amount provided by your sector, or if you want to give a year-end bonus while your sector does not provide one, let us know in time via myHR@securex.be.

Consider the December settlement

Are you a client of the Securex Social Secretariat? Then we will make this settlement for you. Please provide us with the holiday certificates as soon as possible.
Since 2024, the rules regarding the settlement of the single departure holiday pay have changed. The single departure holiday pay for employees will now be settled in two phases. Initially, the new employer must settle 90% of the departure holiday pay when the employee takes a holiday. The second phase of the settlement takes place every year in December. At that time, you as an employer will need to check whether a correction is needed.
Read more: settlement of single departure holiday pay from 2024 in 2 phases

Keep an eye on the GGMMI

Since the guaranteed minimum monthly income (GGMMI) applies in every sector, it is best to check in December whether this has been respected. Securex automatically performs this check for you. As a result, you may still owe a supplement on the salary in December. The GGMMI is a minimum income that must be respected on an annual basis. It is only at the end of the year or upon departure during the year that it must be checked whether that minimum has been respected.

How Securex helps you

For more information, you can always contact your legal advisor at myHr@securex.be.

Additionally, you can always visit our online portal MySecurex. In the search function 'MySupport', we have gathered the most frequently asked questions and answers. This way, you can get help quickly, even outside office hours."