Employees in Belgium pay their income tax (bedrijfsvoorheffing / précompte professionnel) in Belgium. This also applies if you live in Germany and work in Belgium. Cross-border workers can also claim deductions (aftrekposten/déduction fiscal) and other tax benefits (tegemoetkomingen/avantage fiscal) from the Belgian tax system under certain conditions. This depends on whether at least 75% of your income is taxable in Belgium.
If you live in Germany and work in Belgium, you are covered by Belgian social security legislation. However, this does not mean that you lose all your rights in Germany. Some things are regulated quite differently, but some things remain the same. For example, if you have health insurance in Belgium, you can still claim German health insurance benefits through your German health insurance company and continue to see your doctor in Germany. To do this, you must enrol in a German health insurance company without paying contributions.
f you become completely unemployed, you must apply for your unemployment benefit in Germany.
If you have children and your partner (or other parent) works in Germany, a German child supplement will be paid first. You may also receive a top-up via the Belgian family benefit if the child supplement is higher there. If your partner does not work and does not receive benefits from Germany, the Belgian child supplement has priority. If the German child supplement is higher, there will be a top-up from Germany. This also applies if you are a single parent and there is no other person in Germany with entitlements.
If you work in Belgium, you build up a Belgian old–age pension (Rustpensioen/pension de vieillesse). A type of occupational pension or group insurance is also increasingly available in Belgium. You must have been married to be eligible for a widow’s pension.
Working in several countries
If you work in several countries, different rules may apply to you, both for social security obligations and taxes. In such cases, we advise you to contact Team GWO or a Grenzinfopunkt near you and make a personal consultation appointment.
General information about working in another EU country
The following animated film provides general information about working in another EU country and the consequences for your social security. For your specific situation, please contact an adviser at a Grenzinfopunkt.
A lot of information about living and working in another EU country can also be found on this website:Living and working abroad
https://youtu.be/uz2sj8drP1I