On 31 January 2025, the federal government concluded a coalition agreement. Below we set out the key measures* in the reforms that the government wants to implement in connection with the second pension pillar.
*The measures that the government wants to take still need to be converted into law before they enter into force. Little is currently known about the exact nature of this conversion and implementation. The measures may therefore still be subject to changes. We will monitor their ongoing implementation and provide information as soon as we know more.
The government wants to prioritise a mandatory supplementary pension for all employees, including contract workers in the public sector. The employer’s contribution to this supplementary pension must be at least 3% of the annual salary by 2035 at the latest.
Sectors where this 3% level is not yet being met will also have to make an extra effort in this respect by means of sectoral agreements.
The contributions that an employer pays into a supplementary pension plan are only tax-deductible if the statutory and supplementary pensions together do not exceed 80% of the most recent normal annual salary. This deduction restriction is also known as the 80% rule. In practice, the 80% rule gives rise to a great deal of interpretation and debate about the calculation parameters to be used, which in turn leads to legal uncertainty.
The coalition agreement also includes plans to reform the 80% rule. The government wants to calculate the 80% rule on the basis of identifiable and updated parameters that take account of the employee’s career to date, along the same lines as the calculation of the Wijninckx contribution (the special levy on high supplementary pensions).
Under current tax rules, it is less advantageous from a tax perspective to take a supplementary pension in the form of an annuity than as a capital sum. The government therefore plans to look into how taking a supplementary pension as an annuity can be prevented from being fiscally disadvantageous.
The Wijninckx contribution is the special social security contribution that an employer must pay when the contributions that have been paid towards a supplementary pension on an annual basis exceed the pension target (the so-called Wijninckx threshold) for at least one of its employees or self-employed persons. This special social security contribution is currently 3% and will rise to 6% from 1 January 2028.
The new government’s coalition agreement states that pension contributions above the Wijninckx threshold will be subject to a higher contribution. However, it does not specify whether this higher contribution is in addition to the already planned increase from 3% to 6% (from 1 January 2028).
The solidarity contribution is a contribution that is withheld by the pension institution from the gross amount of the supplementary pension when it is paid out. It ranges between 0% and 2%, depending on the amount of the total pension paid out.
The coalition agreement provides for an increase in this solidarity contribution, which will only apply to the part of the capital above 150,000 euros. The amount of this increase is not specified in the coalition agreement.
We are continuously monitoring these measures and will let you know as soon as it becomes clearer how they will be implemented.
Are you the victim of an accident resulting in physical injury for which someone else is liable? If so, you are entitled to compensation. Thanks to the new 2024 Indicative Table, compensation for such injuries is now considerably higher. What’s changed and what does it mean? Find out below.
Increasing numbers of people on long-term sick leave and persistent labour market shortages have put the subject of incapacity for work high on the agenda. During a recent symposium, Lode Godderis, Professor of Occupational Medicine at KU Leuven and CEO of IDEWE, shared his insights into this complex challenge. He put this fundamental question to those present: are we addressing this growing problem the right way?
More than 500,000 Belgians are on long-term sick leave – and the number continues to grow by 5.5% every year. The impact on our social security system and on employers is significant. But there’s good news: the federal coalition agreement for 2025-2029 includes a definite commitment to change this. With a strong focus on prevention, faster reintegration and shared responsibility, government policy is shifting from a reactive to a proactive approach.
As an employer with activities in multiple countries, you want your employees to enjoy the same quality of healthcare and insurance wherever they are in the world. The challenge lies in managing employee benefits packages efficiently in a way that’s both compliant with local legislation and consistent with your global HR strategy. So how can you turn your international approach into an asset in the war for talent? And how can Vanbreda Risk & Benefits help you to do so?