Your digital business toolkit 🇧🇪
Starting a business in Belgium, whether it’s a commercial company, a self-employed activity like a freelance, or a not-for-profit association (ASBL), is an exciting project.
However, the path can seem full of administrative, tax and legal pitfalls. Fortunately, the Belgian authorities have developed some remarkable online portals to guide you, and some of them are also available in English.
Here’s a guide to some essential websites you should know about and keep in your favourites (together with Finest Consult, of course).
They will guide you from the initial idea right through to the day-to-day running of your business, providing an overview about key organisations to be familiar with.
1. The central portal: Guichet d’Entreprises
What is it?
The Guichet d’Entreprises is the single entry point for all business start-ups in Belgium. This is where it all starts. This portal allows you to set up your business in a single operation, by registering with all the necessary authorities.
These business service centres are entities approved (recognised) by the Belgian government. Their mission is to assist entrepreneurs with the administrative procedures involved in setting up and managing their businesses.
In addition to the mandatory administrative formalities, business service centres can offer a range of additional services designed to facilitate the launch and development of a business.
When you register, a Guichet d’Entreprises helps you deal with fundamental steps such as:
- Registration with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE or BCE in French).
- VAT registration with the Federal Public Service Finance.
- Membership of a social insurance fund for the self-employed (if applicable).
- Notification to the parastatal body responsible for your sector.
This can be considered the heart of Belgian business administration.
Web address: www.entreprise.fgov.be
2. The tax control tower: Federal Public Service FPS Finance
What is the FPS Finance?
The FPS Finance is the federal tax administration. Its site is a mine of information on all the taxes your company will have to deal with.
You’ll find all the information you need on:
- VAT (Value Added Tax): Schemes, declarations, periodic returns (monthly/quarterly), deductions.
- Personal Income Tax (IPP) or Corporation Tax (IS): Calculation, rates, annual returns.
- Withholding tax (the equivalent of withholding tax on salaries).
- Tax credits: for research and development, innovation, culture, employment, etc.
The site also provides access to online services such as “My Minfin” for managing your tax affairs.
Read the latest news from FPS Finance
Web address: finances.belgium.be
3. The social partner: National Social Security Office (ONSS)
What is the ONSS?
The ONSS is the body that manages social security for salaried workers. As soon as you take on your first employee, it becomes your main contact.
What does ONSS do?
- Social security contributions: Calculation, declaration and payment of social security contributions due on your employees’ wages.
- Immediate declarations of employment (DIMONA): Mandatory for all new hires.
- Periodic multifunctional declarations (DMFA): A single social declaration that brings together all the information on your staff and their remuneration.
Even as a self-employed person, you contribute to a “social insurance fund”, which is a private body approved by the INASTI (the National Social Insurance Institute for the Self-Employed), linked to this system.
Official website: www.onss.fgov.be
4. The economic compass: National Bank of Belgium (NBB)
What is it?
The NBB is much more than the central bank. It houses the Central Balance Sheet Office, a database containing the annual accounts of almost all Belgian companies.
This site is essential for:
- Filing your annual accounts: All companies (SA, SPRL/SCS, etc.) are required to file their annual accounts with the Central Balance Sheet Office.
- Analysing the financial health of your competitors, customers or suppliers.
- Downloading templates for preparing your annual accounts in accordance with Belgian standards.
This is a tool for financial transparency and a legal obligation for most organisations.
Web address: www.nbb.be
5. Regional Agencies
As Belgium is a federal state, the Regions (Brussels-Capital, Wallonia, Flanders) have extensive powers to support businesses.
These regional agencies are your contacts for all matters relating to direct economic aid.
What do they manage?
- Subsidies and bonuses for investment, employment and innovation.
- Strategic advice and personalised support.
- Guarantees for bank loans.
- Export support.
Web addresses for each region:
- Brussels: economie-emploi.brussels (hub.brussels)
- Wallonia: www.usance.be (AWEX for exports) and www.uccw.be (Union des Classes Moyennes de Wallonie)
- Flanders: www.vlaio.be
6. For the no profit world: FPS Interior
What is it?
The FPS Interior is the supervisory authority for ASBLs and other not-for-profit associations in Belgium.
Its website is vital for:
- Understanding the legal obligations specific to NPOs (general meeting, board of directors).
- Accessing model articles of association.
- Managing publications in the Moniteur belge (official announcements).
- Consulting the rules on assets and ancillary commercial activities.
Website: www.ibz.be (see “Associations and foundations”)
Other useful websites for your business
- Hub.Brussels – Agency for Entrepreneurship
- Swift / BIC banking code search
- List of NACE-BEL codes
- Belgium.be – Official public websites
- Statbel – National statistics institute
- Eurostat – Statistics and Data on Europe
- European VAT number search / EU VIES
- Electronic invoicing system PEPPOL (compulsory from 2026)
- International tax agreements concerning Belgium
- Brussels-Capital Region official website
- Tax accountant Brussels
- Open a company in Belgium
- Calculate net salary after tax in Belgium
- Digital marketing agency Brussels
- itsme secure identification app for iOS and Android
Main organisations related to work and social security in Belgium
In Belgium, several public and semi-public bodies structure the professional and social lives of employees, self-employed persons (professionals, freelancers, independents), companies (snc, src, sa, etc.), coops, and associations (ABSL).
Belgian social security system
The social security system is coordinated at federal level by the National Social Security Office (ONSS / RSZ), while the Regions and Communities manage employment and certain local assistance schemes.
For the self-employed, the social insurance fund (social insurance fund for self-employed workers) is a key player: membership is compulsory and it collects social security contributions that give access to basic protection (pension, family allowances, health and disability insurance, etc.).
Its “customers” are self-employed persons, whether full-time or part-time, carers and company directors, who can choose between different approved funds, often linked to a social secretariat or a business service centre.
Mutual insurance companies (mutuelles)
At the same time, all salaried and self-employed workers must join a mutual insurance company (mutualité / mutuelle de santé), such as a Christian, socialist (Solidaris), liberal or neutral mutual insurance company, which reimburses part of the cost of healthcare and provides cover in the event of incapacity for work, with basic cover being compulsory for anyone working in Belgium.
Belgian trade unions
The Belgian trade unions (FGTB/ABVV, CSC/ACV, CGSLB/ACLVB) represent workers, negotiate collective agreements, defend individual rights and, for the unemployed, act as benefit payment agencies in collaboration with the National Employment Office (ONEM/RVA), which manages the unemployment insurance scheme at federal level and monitors the conditions for granting benefits. Registration for workers is optional.
Employment
Each Belgian Region has its own dedicated public employment service: VDAB (Vlaamse Dienst voor Arbeidsbemiddeling en Beroepsopleiding) in Flanders, Actiris in Brussels, Le Forem in Wallonia and ADG for the German-speaking Community (located within Wallonia).
These organisations assist job seekers (registration, job offers, guidance, training) and support employers with recruitment, hiring subsidies and skills needs analysis.
Social assistance
In the field of social assistance, the CPAS / OCMW (Public Social Welfare Centres) offer a safety net for anyone residing in Belgium who does not have sufficient means, for example through the right to social integration, housing assistance, emergency medical assistance or comprehensive social support.
The CPAS work in conjunction with social security and the ONEM, for example for people who are moving from integration income to unemployment benefits (chômage) or vice versa.
For organisations
For entrepreneurs, NGOs, associations and companies, social insurance funds, mutual insurance companies, regional employment services, the ONEM, the ONSS, as well as economic information services such as the FPS Economy or regional development agencies, form a dense institutional ecosystem that is useful to know in order to best manage social status, recruitment, legal obligations and access to public aid.
If you need help understanding the Belgian system or dealing with tax or administrative matters, please contact us.
Itsme app installation guide (video)
Itsme is a mobile identity application that allows citizens of Belgium and a number of other European countries to connect to government platforms (like My Minfin), banks (KBC, ING, Belfius, BNP Paribas, Argenta, etc.), insurers and other private companies (phone, utilities, etc.).
itsme® is a secure, free digital identity app for smartphones used in Belgium to log in, sign documents, and share data with government and private sector services.
Itsme acts as a digital key, replacing the need for card readers or passwords for online services, and links your electronic identity card and phone number to create a secure PIN-based authentication system.
The mobile app is highly popular for its ease of use and security, allowing users to access a wide range of services, from government platforms to online banking
In fact, itsme can also be used to share identity data, confirm payments and sign digitally (qualified electronic signature under the European eIDAS regulation).
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