Since their introduction in 2015, flexi-jobs have allowed employees to carry out a supplementary activity under favourable tax and social conditions, provided they work at least 4/5 of a full-time position for a Belgian employer. This system has enjoyed growing success among both workers and employers.
Recently, the federal Government indeed decided to considerably expand the scheme by opening flexi-jobs to all sectors of activity. Income ceilings were also raised, from around €12,000 to nearly €18,000 per year, to better meet the needs of the labour market and increase purchasing power.
It is in this context that the Minister for the Middle Classes, SMEs and the Self-Employed, Eléonore Simonet, wants to go further by allowing self-employed workers to also access this scheme.
"The self-employed are an essential pillar of our economy. It makes sense that they too should be able to benefit from a flexible system allowing them to supplement their income, particularly when business is slower," the Minister stresses.
Such an extension would, under certain conditions, allow self-employed people to generate supplementary income as flexi-job workers while benefiting from a favourable tax regime.
In this regard, the Minister sought the opinion of the General Management Council for the Social Statute of Self-Employed Workers, which was in favour of this development.
Extending flexi-jobs to the self-employed would indeed offer several advantages:
- providing a source of supplementary income when self-employed activity slows down;
- responding to a concrete demand on the ground, as some self-employed people want to be able to lend a hand to colleagues in a flexible and legal way;
- strengthening the labour market by mobilising an additional labour reserve;
- correcting an existing difference in treatment between employees and self-employed workers.
This opening would, however, only apply to full-time self-employed workers and assisting spouses, and the volume of work would be limited to a maximum of 480 hours per year.
"This reform aims to offer more flexibility, more fairness and more opportunities to those who run their own business. It is a concrete response to realities on the ground and to the expectations expressed by many self-employed people," adds Eléonore Simonet.
The Minister states that she will make a concrete proposal taking into account the specific features of the social statute of the self-employed.
Backed by this favourable opinion, the Minister will shortly submit a draft text to the Government to implement this extension of the scheme.