How much does an independent recruiter earn? From billing to your account

As a recruiter, you know exactly what you bill. What happens after that is a blur for most employees: gross salary, social security (RSZ/ONSS), payroll withholding tax and then what lands in your account each month. Go independent and you add a BV (private limited company), an accountant and a whole lot of new words. No wonder many recruiters have no idea how much they would earn as an independent recruiter.

So we’re working it all out here, once and for all, with a single example. Lotte is a senior recruiter. Today she’s an employee, with €3,000 gross a month, about €18,000 in commission a year, an electric company car, a phone, hospitalisation insurance, €10 meal vouchers and group insurance. She bills €240,000 a year.

What does she keep if she does the same job as an independent, through her own BV at Shortlist? About €6,550 net a month, compared with €3,140 today. Below, you can read how we get there and where every euro goes. Work out your own figure in the calculator.

Step 1: from billing to your BV

It all starts with what you bill. At Shortlist, part of it goes to your own BV, and the more you bill, the bigger that part. It works per bracket, just like tax: you keep 50% of your first €100,000, 60% of the next €100,000 and 75% of everything above that.

For Lotte that’s €50,000 plus €60,000 plus €30,000: €140,000 to her BV. What you get in return for the part you hand over is explained in Why work with Shortlist?

Step 2: what your BV pays for you

Your BV isn’t a piggy bank you empty straight away. First it pays for what you get from your employer today, so you don’t lose out. For Lotte, that’s:

• Her car: €800 a month, all in: lease, insurance and charging. More on that below.
• Her phone and hospitalisation insurance: €45 and €25 a month.
• Her pension: her group insurance becomes an individual pension commitment (IPT) in her BV, with the same premium of €1,080 a year plus 4.4% tax.
• An expense allowance of €350 a month. That’s how she gets back the costs she incurs for her BV, such as her home office and internet, tax-⁠free.
• An accountant and the bank: count on about €300 a month and €300 a year.

All in all, that’s about €19,700 a year. It sounds like a lot, but your BV pays it before tax. So your package costs you less than if you paid for it yourself out of your net income.

Step 3: your salary, and why exactly €50,000

Then your BV pays you a salary. For Lotte that’s €50,000 gross a year, and we don’t pick that amount at random. To get the low 20% corporate tax rate, your BV has to pay you a minimum salary: for 2026 that’s €51,000 a year, including your benefits in kind. Add the benefit of her car and phone, and Lotte is just above it.

On that salary you pay two things:

• Social contributions as a self-⁠employed person: 20.5% on your income up to about €75,000 and 14.16% on the part between €75,000 and €110,500, plus the costs of your social insurance fund. For Lotte that’s about €8,890 a year. That’s how you build up your social security, such as your pension and your sickness benefit.
• Personal income tax: the same brackets as everyone else, from 25% to 50%, plus municipal tax. As a company director, you first deduct 3% in flat-⁠rate professional expenses, up to a maximum of €3,200. For Lotte that’s about €12,780.

Her salary leaves her €28,340 net, about €2,360 a month. That doesn’t look like much, but the biggest part is still to come: through her BV’s profit.

Step 4: corporate tax on the profit

What’s left after your salary is your BV’s profit. For Lotte that’s €70,330. On that, her BV pays corporate tax: 20% on the first €100,000 of profit and 25% on everything above. That low rate applies to small companies that pay their director enough, hence the salary in step 3.

One more thing comes on top. Part of your car benefit is a disallowed expense: a cost your BV does pay, but isn’t allowed to deduct. If your BV also pays for charging, that’s 40% of the benefit in kind, about €680 for Lotte. In total, her BV pays €14,200 in corporate tax.

Step 5: VVPR-⁠bis, how to get the rest out of your BV

After corporate tax, Lotte is left with €56,130. She pays that money out to herself as a dividend. Normally the state takes 30% withholding tax off it, but with VVPR-⁠bis it’s 18%.

VVPR-⁠bis is a favourable scheme for small companies. In plain English: if you set up your BV with capital in cash, you can later pay out dividends at a lower rate. The conditions:

• your shares were issued after 1 July 2013, for a cash contribution that is fully paid up,
• your BV was a small company when you contributed that capital,
• the shares are registered and you have held them in full ownership ever since the contribution (a gift or inheritance is fine),
• they are ordinary shares, with no priority on dividends.

You don’t get the low rate straight away. Up to and including the second financial year after incorporation, your dividend is still taxed at 30%. From the third financial year it drops to 18% (until July 2026 it was 15%). What counts is the year in which you pay out the dividend, not the year in which you made the profit. That’s why many entrepreneurs leave the profit of their first years in their BV and pay it out later at the low rate. Discuss it with your accountant, because it’s a bespoke decision.

For Lotte, we work with 18%. That leaves €46,030 of her €56,130 dividend, about €3,840 a month.

Adding it all up

Put it all side by side and you see where Lotte’s net income comes from:

Today, as an employee, she keeps about €3,140 a month from her salary, her commission and her meal vouchers. With the same package, she’s about €3,410 a month better off through her BV. She still has her car, phone, hospitalisation insurance and pension.

Where’s the tipping point? With Lotte’s salary and package, you keep more than as an employee from about €150,000 in billing. For you it may be different, because it depends on your salary, your commission and what’s in your package.

The car question

With almost every recruiter, the subject of the car comes up. As an employee, you choose from your employer’s car policy and pay tax on the benefit in kind. Through your BV you choose for yourself, and it works like this:

• Your BV pays for your car in full: lease, insurance and charging. For an electric car of about €40,000, count on €800 a month.
• In 2026, an electric car is fully deductible for your BV.
• You pay tax and social contributions on the benefit in kind: the catalogue value times 6/7 times 4%, with a minimum of €1,690 a year.
• Your BV can’t deduct 40% of that benefit if it also pays for the charging (see step 4).

And a more expensive car? It costs you less than you’d think. Every euro your BV spends on your car, you would otherwise have received as a dividend: after 20% corporate tax and 18% VVPR-⁠bis, about 66 cents. So a car that costs €200 a month more costs Lotte about €150 a month net, including the higher benefit in kind.

The examples match Belgian list prices. Your actual lease price depends on your leasing company, your discount and the term.

Let’s not be naive about it

More net income isn’t the whole story. As an independent, your security changes too, and you’ll want to know that before you jump:

• Falling ill: there’s no employer to keep paying your salary. Guaranteed income insurance covers that.
• Your pension: your statutory pension as a self-⁠employed person is lower, so you top it up yourself, through a pension in your BV (IPT) or a VAPZ (supplementary pension for the self-⁠employed). Lotte’s calculation includes the same premium as her group insurance today.
• Your first years: you first pay provisional social contributions, which are adjusted later, and the low VVPR-⁠bis rate only comes after a few years.
• Your billing: your net moves with what you bill. You feel a strong year straight away, and a lean one too.

None of that is a reason not to do it. But it is a reason to do it with your eyes open.

Frequently asked questions

At what billing do you keep more than as an employee?

It depends on what you earn today and what’s in your package. For Lotte, the tipping point is around €150,000 in billing. You can see your own tipping point in the calculator.

Do you have to pay yourself €51,000 a year?

For the low 20% corporate tax rate, yes, with two exceptions. In the first four financial years of a new BV, that condition doesn’t apply yet. And if your BV makes less profit, a salary at least as high as that profit is enough. Your benefits in kind count towards it.

Can you put your car in your BV?

Yes. Your BV pays for it and deducts the costs, you pay tax on the benefit in kind. In 2026, an electric car is fully deductible.

What is VVPR-⁠bis, in one sentence?

A lower rate on the dividend you pay yourself: 18% instead of 30%, if you set up your BV with capital in cash and wait a few years.

Does this apply to me too?

The example is based on someone who is single, with no dependent children, and on an average municipal tax of 7%. With children or a partner without income, you pay less personal income tax. This is a calculation, not personal tax advice: always run your situation past your accountant.

You’ll find all the steps at a glance in our guide Becoming an independent recruiter in Belgium.

What would you keep? Work it out in the calculator and you’ll get your calculation and the brochure straight in your inbox.

Sources

• Minimum director’s pay for 2026 (€51,000), from the law of 15 July 2026: Attentia (in Dutch).
• VVPR-⁠bis, rates and conditions: KPMG (in Dutch). From 15% to 18%: Partena Professional (in Dutch). No more intermediate 20% rate for contributions from 2026: Wolters Kluwer (in Dutch).
• Social contributions for the self-⁠employed in 2026: Partena, 2026 rates (in Dutch).
• Personal income tax, 2026 income: PV, 2026 tax limits (in Dutch).
• Flat-⁠rate professional expenses for a company director: Billy (in Dutch).
• Company cars in 2026, benefit in kind and deductibility: KBC (in Dutch).
• Disallowed expenses on the benefit in kind: Accountable (in Dutch).

Calculated with the model behind our calculator, checked by our accountant. Amounts rounded.