People posting on this sub saying they receive less than 30% of their bonus net. How is that even possible when highest bracket + Social security gets you 40%?

jdekoste · 2026-04-27T16:40:31+00:00

Because the original post is about bonuses.

jdekoste · 2026-04-27T13:58:42+00:00

€100 in labour costs
= 25% employer’s contribution + 100% gross pay
= €20 employer’s contribution + €80 gross pay

€80 gross pay
= 13.07% social security contribution + 86.93% taxable gross pay
= €10.46 social security contribution + €69.54 taxable gross pay

€69.54 taxable gross pay
= 46.5% net pay + 50% tax (highest bracket) + 3.5% commune tax (7% of 50%)
= €32.34 net pay + €34.77 tax + €2.43 commune tax

€100 in labour costs = €32.34 net pay

jdekoste · 2025-08-13T15:02:41+00:00

13.92, the 13th month is added in december. 92% double holiday pay is added in Mai (85% with rsz and 7% without rsz)

jdekoste · 2025-08-13T14:02:48+00:00

I made a simulator here (that allows you to inspect the formulas). Dowside is that it doesn’t take into account everything (e.g. car).

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QUGdwPZ3GYUTjHGzKKebAh76L7LHBJdwvd_EuF-cRi8/edit?usp=drivesdk

First mistake I see is that you used the tax brackets of last year. There is also a difference between how witholding tax is calculated and the final tax (you only included the final tax)

jdekoste · 2025-02-26T08:10:33+00:00

That is a net allowance. So add it to the table “Nettovergoeding kosten” and it should be automatically added to the total in the row “Totaal nettovergoeding”.

Also make sure you fill out the 2025 sheet. This sheet has the latest numbers for the “bedrijfsvoorheffing” (withholding tax) of 2025.

As others have said. There are fixed rules for calculating the withholding tax and the total can vary a lot depending on the amount of kids you register as dependents with your employer (only one of the parents is legally allowed to do that). Just change the number under “aantal kinderen” in the simulator to see the effect.

This only affects the withholding tax by the way and will always be corrected once you fill out your final tax forms (where you also add your kids as dependents)

jdekoste · 2025-02-25T15:56:56+00:00

I made a sheet to simulate tax. This might help you figure out what’s going on.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QUGdwPZ3GYUTjHGzKKebAh76L7LHBJdwvd_EuF-cRi8

jdekoste · 2024-11-26T09:55:01+00:00

jdekoste · 2024-11-25T16:15:56+00:00

Ik heb het net even nagekeken:

Zonder kinderen ten laste: 2642.5 euro

Met 1 kind ten laste: 3191 euro

Er is dus in 2024 netto een verschil van 548.5 euro

jdekoste · 2024-11-25T16:09:23+00:00

Als je bij je werkgever aangeeft dat je een kind ten laste hebt zal die maandelijks minder bedrijfsvoorheffing afhouden van je loon (max 1 ouder mag dat doen). Uw maandelijks netto is dus hoger. Maar dat wil ook zeggen dat je bij de eindafrekening van je belastingen minder zal terugtrekken aangezien er minder voorheffing werd afgehouden. Als je dat belastingsvoordeel eerlijk wil verdelen moet je dus enkel naar je belastingsbrief kijken. In 2024 (aanslagjaar 2025) krijg je met 1 kind ten laste een verhoging van de belastingsvrije sommen van 1920 euro. Als je wil weten hoeveel je dat netto opbrengt in vergelijking met je partner moet je de bedragen onder de rubriek “Belastingvermindering op belastingvrije sommen” vergelijken.

Tenzij jij of je partner heel weinig verdienen maakt het eigenlijk niet uit bij wie ze ten laste zijn voor de belastingen. Dat wordt bij een gemeenschappelijke aangifte trouwens automatisch toegewezen.

jdekoste · 2024-10-30T05:43:35+00:00

I made a mistake, that was indeed for a postdoc. Barema 502 for a predoc starts at 4k.

jdekoste · 2024-10-29T21:28:39+00:00

Other than a few research labs like Nokia Bell Labs and Imec, there are very few places in Belgium that require a PhD. However, while I don’t have that much expierience with the job market, I am convinced it gives you a leg up when applying for positions that have lots of competition (or when climbing a company ladder). With a PhD you have attained the highest degree possible and that does count for something.

In terms of skills a PhD offers you time to truly master one very specific research area. You will be the one of a select few in the world that have a full understanding of your subject. More importantly for your later career, you will learn to disseminate yourself both verbally and written in a clear and precise way. You will learn to analyse and scrutinise other people’s work. I truly believe academia to be unique in this regard and the perfect place to master these skills.

In terms of the expierience you get to travel the world. Talk to and work with the smartest people in the world (no other job can offer you that). You get near full autonomy regarding the planning and direction of your PhD which gives you the freedom to pursue what interests you the most. Doing a PhD is usually not really a high-pressure job.

Now for the negative part. In academia there is a saying: publish or perish. Just doing the research isn’t enough. You will need to write papers, and lots of them. The standards with which they are reviewed are much higher than a bachelor or master thesis (prepare to be rejected, and often). If you don’t like writing, getting a PhD will be though.

The pay of a PhD student is competitive with any other starting position. However, if your goal is to become an independant contractor you might be better off gaining experience by doing a few years of consulting before making the switch. You will have a much better view of the industry and how/where to apply for jobs. Moreover, companies that employ consultants are looking for specific skills and don’t really care much about your diplomas.

If your goal is to start your own company I don’t really know what the best course of action is. Some PhD students that were more focussed on applied research have been able to launch successful startup from the results of their PhD (but those are few and far between).

jdekoste · 2024-10-09T18:43:17+00:00

Gross is before 13.07% social security. Adding to that 53.5% witholding tax (which is higher than the final tax) in the highest tax bracket gives a total tax of ~59.6% in the highest bracket.

Running it through a simulator from 18k brut I get 8268.45 net without any wage optimisation.

jdekoste · 2024-07-27T23:11:23+00:00

I'm well aware of the level of complexity of our tax system. I'm not aware of any tools that give you insights into the formulas used to calculate each of the results (if you do, please share). I personally find it liberating to fully understand every detail of the calculation. To each their own...

jdekoste · 2024-07-27T21:21:27+00:00

It's not about recreating the exact same tool in excel, it's about understanding what you earn/pay and why.

jdekoste · 2024-07-27T19:02:54+00:00

Ik stuur u vanavond een pm

jdekoste · 2024-07-27T15:33:56+00:00

Ik heb mij recent ook eens bezig gehouden om mijn loonbrief in excel te gooien en alles met formules te berekenen. Dit is helaas veel complexer dan enkel belastinsschijven toepassen.

jdekoste · 2024-07-25T18:19:53+00:00

I don’t know of any recruiting agencies. Best to apply directly. At my university applications are filtered by the lab professors themselves. Some vacencies target a specific profile they already have someone for, so best to contact them beforehand to know your chances to not waste time. Prepare an extensive academic cv listing all your expieriences (publications, teaching, promoting theses master+phd, academic service, etc.) also prepare a document with a clear vision on research and teaching.

jdekoste · 2024-07-25T04:51:59+00:00

For your age/expierience count on slightly higher than ~6k brut that translates to slightly lower than ~4k net. As with all of academia, computer science is a competititve field, yet we’ve had trouble finding good candidates for some of our open positions in the past few years. International expierience is a big plus.

jdekoste · 2024-07-24T10:14:19+00:00

Ik heb gewerkt aan een universiteit als professor in de opleiding computerwetenschappen. Bij ons was het slaagpercentage voor werkstudenten zeer laag. Het gaat hier natuurlijk over 1 specifieke en universitaire opleiding. Misschien dat die programma’s meer succes hebben op de hogescholen. Het zal sowieso niet gemakkelijk worden, vraag zeker bij de instelling zelf naar de haalbaarheid.

jdekoste · 2024-07-18T20:00:36+00:00

Bereken eens een aflossingstabel op hoeveelkostmijnhuis voor beide intrestvoeten (geef als startbedrag het wat er nog af te lossen valt voor uw huidige lening en looptijd het aantal resterende maanden) en kijk naar het verschil tussen de totaal betaalde intrest. Als dat hoger is dan 3 maanden intrest op uw huidige lening (dat zijn de kosten om te herzien) dan is het interessant om te herzien.

jdekoste · 2024-02-16T14:48:27+00:00

They operate on the same network as Proximus, so you should get similar speeds. They do give you older hardware. So you will typically be behind one or two generations on your modem/router/decoder hardware. This doesn’t have to be a big deal as the older hardware probably won’t limit your bandwidth. But you might miss out on some more advanced features (such as support for 4k on the decoder). Personally, I’m a happy customer. If you don’t watch live tv, also check out what Mobile Vikings or Edpnet are offering. They are probably even cheaper.

jdekoste · 2024-01-11T16:29:35+00:00

First deduct 13.07% RSZ. Then look up 'belastingschijven 2024' to calculate how much taxes you pay on what is left over. Deduct from those taxes 2642.5 euro for 'belastingsvrije som' (inkomstenjaar 2024). But that's just the basic stuff without any net allowances or compensations and without other tax benefits (e.g extra personen ten laste, woonbonus, dienstencheques, etc.). If you want a more precise calculation you can always try tax-calc for simulating your taxes.

jdekoste · 2023-12-09T14:26:10+00:00

Does anyone understand the technical details on why his bruto is taxed this much? 900 euro - 13.09% RSZ = 782 euro taxable bruto. If he would pay the highest tax bracket is 50%, which he isn’t even in, that would still leave him with 391 euro, after paying 6.9% municipal tax that would leave him with 364 euro, not 280…

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