Introduced in 2012, the Wijninckx contribution is a special social security contribution intended to build up substantial supplementary pensions for employees and the self-employed. It is also an extra social security contribution payable by the employer or self-employed individual. We explain how this contribution is calculated, why it’s important to pay it on time and what role Sigedis plays.
The Wijninckx contribution is calculated on the basis of total pension contributions so far (mandatory and supplementary), up to 1 January of the contribution year. If the contributions paid towards the supplementary pension exceed the pension target on an annual basis (the Wijninckx threshold), the Wijninckx contribution is due on the contributions in excess of the threshold.
This calculation is based on the information held for every employee and self-employed person in the Database of Supplementary Pensions (DB2P), and is provided by insurers and pension funds.
The coalition agreement targets the Wijnickx contribution in two ways. Firstly, the current government is drastically increasing the contribution percentage. Secondly, it is temporarily freezing the Wijnickx threshold, which means that the pension target (mandatory and supplementary pension combined) will be exceeded sooner.
The Wijninckx rate for the 2025 contribution year was 3%. Originally, in the 2023 pension agreement, the government decided to increase the rate from 3% to 6% starting in 2028. However, in the 2025 coalition agreement, the current government announced its intention to increase the Wijninckx rate more quickly than provided for in the 2023 pension agreement.
The bill of 3 July 2025 implementing the coalition agreement states that the Wijninckx rate will be raised to 12.5% in the 2026 contribution year; the planned increase to 6% in 2026 has been dropped. The calculation method remains unchanged. The bill is still pending in parliament and will only enter into force after its publication in the Belgian Official Gazette.
The programme act of 18 July 2025 provides for the temporary freezing of the indexation of statutory pensions of civil servants and those who have had careers in more than one employment category in excess of a certain threshold. For the period from 1 July 2025 to 31 December 2029, the Wijninckx threshold will be kept at EUR 99,499.24. Freezing the index means that the pension target in the supplementary pension plans of employees and self-employed persons will stay the same, which will indirectly affect the cost of the supplementary pension plan. For employees and self-employed persons whose pension target is close to the Wijninckx threshold, the point at which the employer or self-employed person has to pay more Wijninckx contributions will come sooner.
Given that the Wijninckx contribution is calculated on the basis of the total pension reserves of all supplementary pensions, only Sigedis has a full overview of the correct amounts and calculations.
If you have to pay a Wijninckx contribution this year, you will recently have been informed of this by Sigedis in an email or letter. Sigedis provides all the parameters and values required for this calculation via the DB2P database. Under the heading ‘Wijninckxbijdrage’ you can check the current information about this contribution for your employees and self-employed managers at any time, together with the details of their calculation and the payment instructions.
Do you have any questions about calculating the contribution that is due? If so, contact your regular Employee Benefits Account Manager. Our EB experts can check the amounts stated by Sigedis.
It is important to pay your Wijninckx contribution on time to the national social security institute for either employees or self-employed persons. Any amount that is not paid on time will be subject to a penalty of 1% per month, calculated from the first full calendar month of delay following the final payment date.
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