First concrete results of the SME Plan: measures that strengthen the social status of self-employed workers and the competitiveness of SMEs

The first concrete results of the SME Plan by the Minister for Self-Employed Workers and SMEs Eléonore SIMONET are underway.

Indeed, the Government has approved a series of measures aimed at improving the social status of self-employed workers as well as the competitiveness of SMEs. These measures represent the first concrete results of the SME Plan championed by the Minister.

Eléonore SIMONET: "These are important measures from the SME Plan that are becoming reality already today! Despite limited budgetary room, we have managed to achieve major progress."

Competitiveness of SMEs

VAT exemption: gradual increase of the threshold from €25,000 to €30,000

The Minister has decided to gradually raise the VAT exemption threshold from €25,000 to €30,000.

This increase will take place in steps of €1,000 per year, reaching €30,000 in 2031.

Administrative simplification for liberal professions

The Council of Ministers has also decided to abolish the obligation to keep receipt books and an income and expenditure ledger for those exercising a liberal profession, function or office.

Only the obligation to issue receipts is maintained for medical and paramedical liberal professions.

Social status of self-employed workers

The self-employed student status is being reformed to make it more accessible

The Government has also approved the Minister's reform of the self-employed student status. The aim: to make it more flexible and more attractive. This is a concrete achievement of the Minister's SME Plan.

To encourage entrepreneurship among young people, the “self-employed student” status was created in 2017. This status allows self-employed students to benefit from a favourable regime as long as their income stays below a certain threshold.

In line with her SME Plan, the Minister has decided on some administrative simplifications to make the status more accessible (removal of certain declaration obligations) and to abolish the 25-year age limit.

Eléonore SIMONET: "The status is attractive since, to date, 10,700 students benefit from it, but it needed to be dusted off and made more flexible. Certain administrative procedures were burdensome and unnecessary. Self-employed students are tomorrow's business leaders, we needed to simplify their access to this status and remove administrative obstacles. The 25-year age limit was penalising some students."

The adjustments will take effect on 1^st October 2026.

Supplementary Pension for the Self-Employed (PLCI): rate increase and extension to secondary self-employed workers

The Minister has proposed a reform of the PLCI including the following elements:

• Increase of the maximum contribution rate:
  
  
  
  • the standard PLCI rises from 8.17% to 8.50%,
  
  
  • the social PLCI is adjusted accordingly. Under the law, the gap with the ordinary PLCI must be 15%, bringing the rate from 9.40% to 9.78%.
  
  
  
  


• Extension of the PLCI to secondary self-employed workers paying contributions who did not yet have access to it

Eléonore SIMONET: "We want to encourage the widespread build-up of supplementary pensions for self-employed workers in order to generate additional income for retired self-employed people. "

This measure takes effect retroactively from 1^st January 2026.

Incapacity for work: increase in benefits

The Government has allocated a specific budget to increase benefits for the most vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities, the sick and invalids.

Thanks to this budget, the Minister has decided to increase incapacity and invalidity benefits for self-employed workers so that they are aligned with those of employees.

For cohabitants, this means that, from 1^st January 2027:

• the incapacity benefit will be increased from the first day of the 7th month of primary incapacity;


• the invalidity benefit (without business cessation) will be increased.

Eléonore SIMONET: "With this measure, a family will no longer be penalised by the self-employed social status of one of its members."

These measures add to other actions from the SME Plan already implemented, such as the modernisation of the Order of Architects, the abolition of the Federal Learning Account, the increase in the number of automated machines, the simplification of the UBO register, the extension of MyCareNet to healthcare providers in all sectors so that the administration of the third-party payer system can also be done electronically, and the roll-out of platforms allowing SMEs to report their sustainability data (ESG) in a simplified, free and centralised way.