Suppose your sole tradership is going well, your profits are growing and you notice you are gradually moving into a higher tax bracket. You are considering setting up a company to optimise your tax situation, but the prospect of a minimum salary requirement and three years of waiting before you can access favourable dividends feels daunting.
Yet you do not have to rely solely on a low salary and dividends. On this page you will discover 8 ways to extract money from your company in a tax-efficient manner, even in the early years.
As a self-employed person running a sole tradership, you do not technically pay yourself a "salary". Everything that remains after taxes, social contributions, and other costs simply belongs to you.
In principle, you can do as you please with the money in your account, without having to justify it. You also only pay tax once: on your taxable income (your turnover minus all costs) via personal income tax, not on every euro you transfer to your private account.
In a company, things work differently. A company is a separate legal entity, which means the money in the account does not strictly belong to you — it belongs to the company, even if you are the sole shareholder or director.
There is an upside to this: you first pay corporate tax on the profit (25%, or 20% under certain conditions), and only then pay tax on what you pay yourself (via personal income tax). This may sound like double taxation, and it can be — if you take almost everything out as a salary.
But by combining options smartly, you can keep the overall tax burden in your company significantly lower than in a sole tradership. And that is precisely what makes setting up a company so attractive.
Did you know? An often-overlooked advantage of a company is that you generally pay far lower social contributions than with a sole tradership. In a sole tradership, your social contributions are calculated on your full professional income. In a company, they are only calculated on what you actually pay yourself as a salary, which is considerably less.
Thinking about making the switch to a company? Finding the optimal combination of remuneration methods is not straightforward.
In addition to your salary (director's remuneration), there are various other ways to distribute your company's profits. We discuss them below.
Through your company, you can grant yourself meal vouchers, just like regular employees — a nice benefit that is not available to sole traders.
From 1 January 2026, the maximum amount is €10 per working day. The company covers the largest share; you personally contribute a small amount via your salary.
The advantage? Your company enjoys a full tax and social security exemption on the value of the meal vouchers.
💡Read more about the fiscal benefits of meal vouchers.
Do you use a company car, laptop, smartphone, or internet and phone subscription? Through your company, you can have all of these costs covered entirely by the business.
For tax purposes, these are treated as benefits in kind: you pay personal income tax on them, but based on a flat-rate value that is generally much lower than the actual value. A laptop worth €1,500, for example, is assessed at a flat rate of just €72 per year.
Your company bears the full cost, but you are personally taxed on only a fraction of it — and you pay no social contributions on it either. This is a better option than, say, buying a car privately with money that has already been taxed through corporate tax and then again through personal income tax. A benefit in kind sidesteps that double taxation entirely.
The result: you enjoy a benefit in kind that is worth far more net than the same amount added to your gross salary would be.
Copyright fees are not only relevant for creative freelancers with a sole tradership — as a company director, you can benefit from them too.
Do you write content, take photographs, develop software, or create other original works as part of your activity? If so, you can have part of your remuneration paid out as a copyright fee. Copyright income is taxed as movable income at 15% — considerably less than your regular salary — and you pay no social contributions on it either.
You cannot simply transfer money from your company to your private account. You first need an agreement between yourself as the author (natural person) and your company as the acquirer of the rights. Your company then pays you a fee of up to 30% of your turnover for the use of your work, which is taxed in your hands as movable income at a flat rate of 15%.
Please note: the tax authorities are scrutinising this regime ever more closely. The fee must be proportionate to your creative output and must not simply serve as an alternative to salary. Always seek guidance from an accountant for the correct calculation and contractual setup.
A dividend is a share of the profit that your company distributes to its shareholders. Dividends are in principle subject to 30% withholding tax on movable income, but no social contributions — and you do not need to declare them in your personal income tax return. This already makes dividends more advantageous than a regular salary.
Dividends become particularly attractive when you qualify for a reduced withholding tax rate. Under the VVPR-Bis scheme, small companies can distribute dividends at just 20% in the third financial year, and 15% from the fourth financial year onwards. It requires a little patience at first, but it pays off.
💡Read more about dividends here.
Please note: the federal government is planning to raise the VVPR-Bis rate from 15% to 18% via the new programme law, at the earliest from 1 June 2026. Until the law is published, the current rate still applies.
A liquidation reserve is an attractive option if you are willing to wait longer for your money. You set aside a portion of the profit in a separate liability account and pay an additional corporate tax of 10% on it.
Since 1 July 2025, you can distribute this reserve after just three years at 6.5% withholding tax. With the classic five-year waiting period, you pay only 5%. And if you ever wind up your company, you pay no withholding tax at all upon liquidation, only the original 10%.
Please note: for liquidation reserves created from 31 December 2025 onwards, the government plans to raise the withholding tax after 3 years from 6.5% to 9.8% (total burden: 18%). Existing reserves will continue to fall under the current rules.
Via a current account, you can borrow money from your company.
This is advantageous because the interest is treated as a cost for your company. As a private individual, you pay only 30% withholding tax on the interest on your loan, which is more favourable than a regular salary.
Do you work from home? You can rent part of your private home to your company as office space. The rental income received is generally taxed at a lower rate than your salary.
Please note: if you rent your home, check your lease first and obtain permission from your landlord. Professional use is not always permitted. Seek advice from an accountant for the correct setup.
As a company director, you can also save for the future via a supplementary pension, for example through an IPT (individual pension commitment).
The key advantage: your company pays the premiums, and under certain conditions these are fully tax-deductible. Everyone benefits.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer. The optimal mix of salary, dividends, meal vouchers, copyright fees, and other forms of remuneration depends on your personal situation: how much you earn, what your cash flow needs are, how long your company has been in existence, and what your longer-term plans are.
What is certain: the options are there, and those who do not use them are leaving money on the table. An accountant helps you make the right choices and ensures everything is fiscally correct and contractually watertight. At Accountable, we combine smart software with personal advice, so you not only have your bookkeeping under control but also structure your remuneration optimally.
Still looking for an accountant? Click here to find experienced accountants in your area.
There is no exact tipping point, but in practice a company becomes fiscally attractive when you achieve a net business profit of €50,000 to €75,000 per year that you do not need entirely to live on. Below that threshold, the costs and administration of a company often do not outweigh the tax benefits.
Not necessarily. As a sole trader you pay tax once, but quickly at a higher rate. In a company you pay both corporate tax and personal income tax, but by combining options smartly the overall tax burden can be considerably lower.
It is not mandatory, but to benefit from the reduced corporate tax rate of 20% you must pay yourself at least €50,000 per year in remuneration.
Technically yes. You can distribute a dividend from the first financial year, but at the standard rate of 30% withholding tax. Under VVPR-Bis, you only benefit from the reduced rate of 15% from the fourth financial year onwards. In the early years, alternatives such as meal vouchers, benefits in kind, and copyright fees are often more tax-efficient.
It depends on your situation, but a combination of a modest salary, meal vouchers, benefits in kind, and, where applicable, copyright fees generally results in the lowest overall tax burden in the early years.
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 ?Thank you for your feedback!
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