When do you graduate from an EOR to your own Belgium entity?

The table below uses EUR 554 as the illustrative EUR equivalent of the Teamed fee. This is illustrative, not a fixed EUR price. The actual EUR amount depends on the exchange rate at the time of invoice. Teamed charges from $599 USD with zero FX mark-up.

All entity cost figures in this table are typical ranges. They cover outsourced payroll, bookkeeping, ONSS filings, and HR admin for a small Belgian BV. They are illustrative, not law figures. Actual costs vary with your setup complexity and benefits programme.

Belgium has no separate mandatory occupational pension scheme with its own employer rate. Pension provision is bundled within the ONSS/RSZ social security system. The employer social security rate of 27% already includes the pension component. This makes the Belgium comparison slightly simpler than in countries with a separate pension tier, but the rate itself is higher.

The crossover shifts with salary band. At higher salaries the entity overhead amortises more quickly per hire. At lower salaries the crossover moves toward 9 to 10 employees. Run the Crossover Calculator with your own headcount and salary band.

1. Calculate the EOR cost

   Multiply the Teamed fee (from $599 USD) by your planned Belgian headcount. This is the fixed variable cost. It grows linearly as you hire.

2. Estimate the entity fixed overhead

   Typically EUR 3,500 to 5,000 per month for a small Belgian BV. This covers the social secretariat, bookkeeping, ONSS filings, and HR admin. This cost does not grow much until headcount exceeds 15.

3. Find the crossover headcount

   The crossover is where EOR monthly cost equals entity monthly overhead. For most Belgian tech salary bands, this is around 6 to 9 employees. Use the Crossover Calculator for your own numbers.

4. Factor in non-financial triggers

   The maths gives you a headcount threshold. Notional interest deduction eligibility, regulated-sector licensing, and language-region compliance complexity are separate questions that may override the cost crossover in either direction.

5. Plan the graduation date

   Allow 4 to 8 weeks for entity formation including the notarial deed before the first payroll on your own entity. Belgian banking is typically faster than the UK, but allow 2 to 4 weeks for the business bank account. Start the GEMO process while EOR continues running.

These are typical ranges. They are not law figures. There is no law that sets what a Belgian BV costs to form. The range reflects real market rates for notarial and professional services. It varies with how much complexity your structure needs and which services provider you use.

A key difference from the UK: Belgian incorporation requires a notarial deed. The notary verifies the articles of association and registers the company with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (KBO/BCE). This is a structural cost you cannot skip. It adds EUR 800 to 2,500 to the typical formation bill.

Since the 2019 Code of Companies and Associations, the BV (besloten vennootschap/société à responsabilité limitée) has no minimum share capital requirement. This removed a barrier that previously required EUR 18,550 to incorporate. The NV (naamloze vennootschap/société anonyme) still requires EUR 61,500 minimum capital. Most foreign-parented companies forming in Belgium today choose the BV.

Language compliance: the hidden setup cost in Belgium

Employment contracts in Belgium must be drafted in the language of the region where the employee works: Dutch in Flanders, French in Wallonia, German in the German-speaking community, and both Dutch and French in Brussels (officially bilingual). A contract in the wrong language is not valid under Belgian law. This is not optional. Factor in the cost of bilingual legal drafting if you are hiring in Brussels.

These figures are typical market ranges for a small Belgian BV with 1 to 15 employees. They are illustrative. They are not law figures. Actual costs depend on whether you outsource or hire in-house, and the complexity of your payroll and benefits structure.

Belgium requires a registered social secretariat (secrétariat social agréé / erkend sociaal secretariaat) to process payroll and ONSS filings. This is not optional for most small employers. The cost is included in the payroll bureau line below.

Above 15 employees, you will typically need dedicated Belgian HR capacity and an in-house finance function. The cost band widens at that point. Past 50 employees, you face a works council obligation (Conseil d'entreprise / Ondernemingsraad), which adds a recurring consultation and governance layer that is not in the table above.

The director liability dimension is rarely in the cost comparison. It is worth naming before you decide.

Personal director liability under the WVV/CSA

The Code of Companies and Associations (WVV/CSA) introduced a capped liability regime for ordinary management faults (Art. 2:56 to 2:57). For a BV with an average turnover below EUR 350,000 over three years, the cap is EUR 125,000. For larger companies the cap scales with revenue and balance sheet. This cap does not apply to gross negligence, fraud, or repeated minor faults that together constitute gross negligence.

ONSS/RSZ contribution liability

Directors of Belgian companies can be held personally liable for unpaid ONSS/RSZ social security contributions in certain insolvency situations. Belgian social security authorities have collection powers that extend to directors where non-payment is linked to governance failures. This is a Belgium-specific risk that does not exist in EOR arrangements. Teamed, as the employer of record, carries all ONSS obligations.

The compliance treadmill

• Annual accounts: deposit with the National Bank of Belgium within 7 months of financial year-end. Late deposit results in automatic fines and creditor liability risk.
• Corporate tax return (VenB/ISOC): within 6 months 10 days of financial year-end. Late penalties escalate from the first day.
• ONSS quarterly declarations: four times per year plus monthly advance payments. Errors carry late payment penalties and personal director risk on insolvency.
• KBO/BCE updates: within one month of any change in directors, registered address, or activities.
• Crossroads Bank filings: UBO register updates within one month of any change in beneficial ownership.

Each filing is individually small. Stacked across a year, they consume real management attention. An EOR carries all of these on its own entity.

• Under 6 Belgian employees at average salaries: EOR is cheaper and faster every month. The entity overhead has nothing to amortise against.
• Market validation phase: you are hiring 1 or 2 people to test commercial fit in Belgium. Entity setup commits capital, notary fees, and management attention before you know whether the Belgian market will deliver.
• Project-based hires: 6 to 12 month engagements where the formation cost and notarial deed will not amortise before the project ends.
• Approaching the 50-employee threshold: if you are hiring toward 50 people in Belgium, the works council obligation becomes a real governance cost. If you are unsure whether you will cross 50, staying on EOR avoids committing to that structure prematurely.
• Language-region complexity: if you are hiring across multiple Belgian language regions simultaneously, running your own entity means managing bilingual employment contracts, multilingual HR documentation, and potentially different regional employment rules. EOR absorbs that complexity.
• Acquired team you may divest: post-acquisition holding patterns where adding a Belgian entity creates a notarial wind-up cost and timeline if the strategy changes.

• Sustained headcount above 9 Belgian employees at average salaries: the entity overhead amortises across enough people that per-head cost falls below the EOR fee.
• Notional interest deduction (NID): the Belgian notional interest deduction allows companies to deduct a notional return on equity from their taxable base. This is only available to companies incorporated in Belgium with their own equity structure. EOR employees do not generate this tax benefit for your group.
• Tax-treaty substance: some cross-border tax structures require actual Belgian substance in your own entity. EOR employment does not count as your substance for treaty-eligibility purposes.
• Regulated-sector licensing: financial services, insurance, and certain professional sectors require a Belgian entity with a registered office and locally-responsible management for the FSMA or NBB licence. An EOR arrangement does not satisfy these requirements.
• Enterprise customer expectation: some Belgian enterprise or public-sector customers prefer contracting with a locally-incorporated entity. This can affect procurement eligibility and payment terms.
• Long-term senior hire investment: when senior hires expect equity or profit participation, having your own Belgian entity enables Belgian-law share structures that EOR cannot replicate.

The technical mechanic is contract novation: the employment contract transfers from Teamed's operating entity to your new Belgian BV on a specified date. All terms carry across. Salary, leave entitlement, and continuous service date remain unchanged. The employee sees a different employer name on their payslip. Nothing else changes.

What we do operationally:

• Stand up your Belgian BV through GEMO, typically around 4 to 8 weeks including the notarial deed, while EOR continues running in parallel.
• Register the entity with ONSS/RSZ and set up the social secretariat (secrétariat social agréé).
• Draft bilingual employment contracts compliant with the employee's language region.
• Novate every active employment contract on a single effective date.
• Migrate ongoing benefits without any lapse.
• File final EOR-period ONSS declarations and open new quarterly filings on the entity from the novation date.
• Provide the same People Ops specialist as the post-graduation primary contact.

Note on the bank account: Belgian business banking for foreign-parented BVs is typically faster to open than in the UK. Allow 2 to 4 weeks from application to an opened account with most Belgian banks. This is usually less of a bottleneck than in the UK, but plan for it before you set the first payroll date on the new entity.

The Graduation Model exists because every other EOR makes this hard. We treat the move as something we help you plan for from the day you hire your first employee through us.

Real HR and legal experts handle your Belgian hires from the first offer letter through every ONSS quarterly declaration. An actual person, not a chatbot or a pooled queue. There is no setup fee and no exit fee. Every employer cost passes through at cost, itemised on every invoice. You see the social security line at 27% and the leave accrual for 20 days. Nothing is hidden inside the management fee.

Belgium has no separate mandatory occupational pension contribution rate. The employer social security rate of 27% already includes the pension component through the ONSS/RSZ system. We explain this on every invoice so you understand what you are paying and why.

EOR payroll, contractor onboarding, and entity setup all live on one platform. Run the Crossover Calculator to see the month the model flips. Start from the Belgium hiring overview. Key sources: Settling in Belgium: social security contributions and Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (KBO/BCE).