Bring in mixed expenses as self-employed in secondary occupation? How does this work?

Got a tax question? We’ll answer for free by email.

Bitte gib eine gültige E-Mail-Adresse ein

Ask your question

Due to mixed use, you can only partially deduct these costs from your net taxable income, and you also recover only part of the VAT.

Bringing in my mobile phone and internet as a self-employed person performing a secondary activity: time as an asset divider

As soon as you have a VAT number, it is best to 'move' your mobile phone and internet subscription to your company. As a private person, you will receive an ordinary invoice including VAT. As a self-employed person, however, you want an invoice that shows the cost and VAT separately.

How much of the expenses you may contribute depends on how much time you spend on average on your self-employed activity. Do you spend on average 2 out of 7 days a week on your secondary occupation? Then a contribution of 2/7 or about 30% of your internet and phone subscription sounds credible. If you can justify more, you can, but remain reasonable so that no alarm bells go off at the tax authorities.

Internet and mobile phone are needed for just about any activity. Do you have a pack that includes TV? Then it is normally not deductible.

VAT deduction for internet and mobile phone is limited to 75% anyway. Do you use them only 30% of the time for your independent secondary profession? Then the VAT is also only deductible for 30%.

Only if you take out a separate subscription that you only use for the business can you recover the full 100%. In a separate office, this of course makes sense, but for at home, it mainly results in extra costs. You then pay twice, and lose any tax benefit for your private subscription.

Entering my home as a workplace: area as a yardstick

Mixed costs for your home are typically electricity and heating. But certain insurances, such as your fire insurance, also qualify.

Here, the area of your workplace is the allocation key, namely the percentage your workplace takes up against the total habitable area. The tax authorities assume a maximum of 15%.

If you have a separate desk, the number of m² is easy to estimate. If you work from the living room, calculate the area of your workplace as correctly as possible.

💡 Do you have an official invoice from your electricity supplier? Then reclaim part of the VAT according to the same percentage.

My car has limited tax deductibility

For the self-employed in a secondary occupation, we first look at the professional use, apply the CO2 formula to it, and spread the remaining amount according to the number of depreciations. You can reclaim up to 35% of the VAT.

The 'professional use' is calculated on the basis of the number of kilometres travelled for your secondary occupation, excluding commuting. This is set off as a percentage against the total number of kilometres per year. You document the professional use in an appointment calendar with accompanying Excel sheet, showing the number of kilometres per appointment.

The CO2 formula, -120% - (0.5% X coefficient X CO2/km) takes CO2 emissions and fuel type into account. This again gives you a percentage. For more info on this formula, please refer to the articles below.

For depreciation, you take the number of years you expect to use the car, and make a percentage from this again. For new cars we take 5 years as standard, so you write off 20% per year.

Now multiply the purchase price of your new car by these 3 percentages. A fictitious example:

• Car purchase price: €30,000

• Professional use: 30%

• CO2 formula: 60%

• Amortisation over 5 years: 20% per year

Calculation: €30,000 x 30% x 60% x 20% = €1,080 per year

Note that this calculation applies to the purchase, but also to consumption and maintenance costs. Even your car insurance can be brought in according to these allocation keys. Let Accountable help you document all these costs correctly, both for tax and VAT.

Author - Valesca Wilms

As content marketing lead at Accountable Belgium, Valesca writes about freelancing, self-employment, and taxes based on her own experience as a freelancer.

Who is Valesca ?