From time clock to payroll in Belgium: overtime premium, voluntary overtime and deadlines

What overtime premium applies in Belgium?

Any work beyond 9 hours a day or 40 hours a week (or a lower limit set by a collective labour agreement, or CCT) is overtime, paid with a premium of at least 50% of ordinary pay, and 100% on a Sunday or a public holiday. Authorised schemes, such as flexitime or “small flexibility” (petite flexibilité), are not covered.

A CCT may replace the premium with additional compensatory rest: half an hour per hour at 50%, one hour per hour at 100%. Where overtime gives rise to compensatory rest, normal pay for hours beyond 40 is paid with the pay for the period in which the rest is taken, and the premium with the normal pay; if the rest cannot be taken (end of contract, 6-month period exceeded), the balance is paid.

Night and Sunday work

The law provides no general night premium: it comes from your sector CCT, a company CCT or the contract. On 1 July 2026, the minimum night allowance under CCT No. 49 is €1.54 per hour (€1.85 from age 50). In retail distribution and e-commerce, employees hired since 1 June 2026 are only entitled to night premiums from 11 pm to 6 am, at no less than that amount. Sunday work gives the right to compensatory rest within the following 6 days (a full day beyond 4 hours); the 100% premium is only due for overtime.

Voluntary overtime in 2026: how should it be paid?

Since 1 April 2026, each employee may work up to 360 hours of voluntary overtime per calendar year (450 in the hospitality sector with a registered cash system). Of these, 240 hours (360 in hospitality) are paid without premium: their pay is free of ONSS contributions and, if it does not exceed pay for normal hours, of tax.

• Social security: net pay for these 240 hours is not remuneration for social security purposes (Royal Decree of 9 July 2026, published on 17 July 2026, effective 1 April 2026).
• Tax: it is exempt from personal income tax if it does not exceed the pay due for those hours as normal hours (Act of 15 July 2026, published on 29 July 2026 and applicable to hours worked since 1 April 2026); beyond the quota, the exemption is allocated proportionally.
• Relaunch hours (heures de relance): those worked from 1 January to 31 March 2026 are deducted from the 2026 exempt quota; relaunch hours and net voluntary hours are capped at 240 hours together.
• Order of allocation: the law sets no priority between net hours and hours with premium; the written agreement with the employee may specify it.

Example: an employee worked 60 relaunch hours between January and March 2026. For the rest of the year, they may still work 300 voluntary overtime hours, of which no more than 180 without premium and exempt.

The other 120 voluntary hours (90 in hospitality) are paid with a premium. Have your social secretariat confirm their social security and tax treatment before configuring payroll, as well as any corrections to April to July 2026 payrolls, since the texts were published with retroactive effect.

Standard overtime: tax benefit extended to 180 hours

For hours worked since 1 January 2026, the employee's tax reduction and the employer's partial exemption from paying over withholding tax cover the first 180 hours with premium per year (instead of 130), and 280 hours for road or rail works imposed at weekends, on public holidays or at night with electronic attendance recording. From 1 January 2027, a correction factor reduces all exemptions from paying over withholding tax: 97% in 2027, 93.35% in 2028 and 95.9% from 2029, rates that the King may still adjust.

Which time recording data goes into the individual account?

The individual account, kept for each employee and each year, records per pay period what time recording has measured: it is the legal link between the time clock and payroll. It shows:

• the number of days actually worked;
• days of inactivity, treated as worked or not, with their reason;
• normal hours and premium hours, broken down by overtime rate;
• hours whose normal pay is deferred because they will be recovered;
• other items, such as short paid absences (petit chômage), public holidays or guaranteed salary.

Give the employee a copy within 2 months of joining, then the copy for the past year before 1 March, and keep individual accounts for 5 years.

Paper or electronic payslip

The payslip (décompte) is issued at each final settlement; its content is set by the joint committee or, failing that, by royal decree. Like the individual account, it may only be electronic by mutual agreement (which may itself be electronic), valid at least for the current calendar year; either party may then return to paper. Electronic documents are archived with a qualified electronic archiving provider, free of charge for the employee and for 5 years after the contract ends, and the work rules (règlement de travail) name this provider.

Payment and meal vouchers

Save where the joint committee decides otherwise, blue-collar workers are paid at least twice a month (no more than 16 days apart), white-collar employees at least once a month. Unless a CCT or the work rules provide otherwise, payment is due no later than the 4th working day after the period, and the work rules cannot go beyond the 7th. Meal vouchers also follow from time recording: one per day actually worked (not for public holidays, holidays, sick days or compensatory rest days), unless an alternative counting method applies, with an employer contribution of at most €8.91 since 1 January 2026 and an employee contribution of at least €1.09 (see our page Expense claims in Belgium).

Social secretariat, Dimona, DmfA: which deadlines apply?

The approved social secretariat (secrétariat social agréé), a non-profit association (ASBL) approved by the Minister of Social Affairs, is the only body allowed to collect contributions for its members, which a non-approved provider cannot do. You send it each period's variables before its closing date, and you can only change agent at the start of a new quarter.

The employee's personal contributions (13.07%) are withheld at each payroll: if they were not withheld in time, the employer can no longer claim them from the employee.

The cost of being late

• Missing or late Dimona: level 4 penalty per employee (for offences since 1 September 2026, a criminal fine of €6,000 to €70,000 or an administrative fine of €3,000 to €35,000, or 6 months to 3 years' imprisonment), plus a solidarity contribution of at least €3,674.09 in 2026.
• Late payment of contributions: 10% surcharge and late-payment interest of 7% a year.
• Late DmfA: flat-rate charge of at least €495.79.
• Unpaid or late pay: level 3 penalty per employee (criminal fine of €2,000 to €20,000 or administrative fine of €1,000 to €10,000).

What changes in Belgian payroll from 2026 to 2028

Several reforms passed in 2026 change payroll settings, some with retroactive effect: check them with your social secretariat.

Common mistakes

• Paying voluntary overtime without premium at an hourly rate above normal pay: the condition for the tax exemption is no longer met.
• Forgetting to count relaunch hours from the first quarter of 2026 against the 360-hour and 240-hour quotas.
• Applying the standard overtime tax benefit beyond 180 hours, or to hours without a statutory premium.
• Emailing payslips without the employee's agreement or archiving with a qualified provider.
• Indexing a reference salary above €4,000 in the usual way in June 2026, or forgetting the special contribution due to the ONSS.
• Granting a meal voucher for a sick day, a holiday or a compensatory rest day, or with an employer contribution above €8.91: it becomes pay.

Your checklist

• Classify every recorded hour: normal, overtime at 50% or 100%, voluntary with or without premium, night, Sunday or public holiday.
• Keep, per calendar year, the counters for 360 and 240 voluntary hours, relaunch hours included, and for the 180 hours with the tax benefit.
• Send each period's variables to the social secretariat before its closing date.
• File the Dimona on hiring no later than the first day of work, and on leaving no later than the first working day after the contract ends.
• Check with the social secretariat any corrections to April to July 2026 payrolls linked to voluntary overtime.
• Obtain the employee's agreement before any electronic payslip and name the archiving provider in the work rules.
• Hand over the annual copy of the individual account before 1 March and keep the accounts for 5 years.
• Calculate meal vouchers on the days actually worked.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

• Labour Act of 16 March 1971, consolidated version (Justel)
• Act of 18 May 2026 on voluntary overtime (Belgian Official Gazette of 1 June 2026)
• Royal Decree of 9 July 2026 amending Article 19, § 2, of the Royal Decree of 28 November 1969 (Belgian Official Gazette of 17 July 2026)
• Act of 15 July 2026 reforming personal income tax (Belgian Official Gazette of 29 July 2026)
• Royal Decree of 8 August 1980 on keeping social documents (Justel)
• Act of 3 June 2007 on various labour provisions (Justel)
• ONSS, Dimona: declarations, changes and cancellations
• ONSS, payment of contributions: general rule
• FPS Finance, withholding tax: calendar
• Programme Law of 30 May 2026 (Belgian Official Gazette)

This guide sets out the general rules in force on 5 October 2026. It is not legal advice for your situation (collective agreement, sector, employee status).