In Portugal a creator invoices four hundred and receives three hundred and seventy two, because the client withholds a slice of income tax. In Belgium the invoice says four hundred and the transfer says four hundred.
That feels simpler, and it is the trap. What Belgium takes is not a slice of each payment. It is a set of recurring declarations, and they arrive on a calendar rather than on an invoice.
What Belgium asks for instead
The periodic VAT return
If you are in the normal VAT regime, you file a return on a fixed rhythm and pay what you collected minus what you paid. Nothing about it is difficult. Everything about it is a deadline, and deadlines are what independent creators miss.
The annual client listing
Once a year you file a list of the Belgian VAT registered clients you invoiced, above a threshold. This one surprises almost everybody, because no other obligation in a creator's year looks like it: you are not paying anything, you are declaring who your clients were.
It exists whether or not you remember it. Ask your accountant about it in your first year rather than your second.
The intracommunity statement
If you invoice a company in another European Union country, that service goes without Belgian VAT under the reverse charge, and it has to appear in a periodic intracommunity statement.
That is the piece creators discover after their first foreign client, usually when someone asks why the amount is missing from a declaration.
The calendar, which is the real subject
| The obligation | When it falls | What triggers it |
|---|---|---|
| Periodic VAT return | On a fixed rhythm, quarterly or monthly | Being in the normal VAT regime |
| Payment of VAT collected | With that return | Having charged VAT to anyone |
| Intracommunity statement | On the same periodic rhythm | Invoicing a company elsewhere in the European Union |
| Annual client listing | Once a year | Having invoiced Belgian VAT registered clients above a threshold |
| Social contributions | Quarterly | Being registered at all |
None of these depends on how much you earned. They depend on what you did, which is why a quiet quarter still carries obligations.
The exemption regime
Small activities can operate under a VAT exemption below a turnover threshold. You do not charge VAT, you cannot recover it on your purchases, and your invoices carry the legal mention explaining the regime.
The threshold moves, so check the current figure with your business counter or your accountant rather than with a creator group. And know the direction of travel: crossing it is a change of regime, not a penalty, and it usually arrives in a good year.
What the invoice has to carry
Your enterprise number, the client's details, a sequential number, a date, a real description of the service, the amount, and either the VAT or the mention explaining why there is none.
Two Belgian details worth knowing. Clients frequently ask for a structured communication, a reference format that lets their bank match the payment to the invoice automatically. Giving them one gets you paid faster, because it removes a manual step at their end.
And electronic invoicing between businesses is becoming the norm rather than the exception here. If your process is still a PDF attached to an email, ask your accountant where that stands for your situation, because it is moving.
Describing the work
Write what an outsider would understand: three vertical videos, advertising rights for six months, one round of revisions. Not "marketing services".
This matters more in Belgium than elsewhere because of the language split. An invoice in French for a Dutch language video, with no description, is exactly the kind of document that raises a question inside an accounts department, and questions cost weeks.
The habit that removes all of this
Put the deadlines in a calendar the day you register, not the day you are reminded. Every obligation above is known in advance, none of them is a surprise, and all of them become expensive only when they are late.
And keep the invoices in one folder with consistent naming from the first month. The annual listing is trivial when your invoices are ordered and miserable when they are not.
Keep reading
- UGC Creators in Brussels
- UGC Creators in Flanders
- What to Charge for UGC in Belgium
- Who Hires UGC Creators in Belgium
- The complete UGC guide for Belgium
Publish your creator profile →
Frequently asked questions
Why does the full amount arrive, unlike in Portugal or Spain?
Belgium does not withhold income tax on invoices between independents. It collects through periodic returns instead.
What is the annual client listing?
A once a year declaration of the Belgian VAT registered clients you invoiced above a threshold. It surprises most creators in their second year.
Do I charge VAT to a client in another EU country?
Generally no, under the reverse charge, and the amount has to appear in your intracommunity statement.
What should the invoice description say?
The deliverable in plain words. Vague descriptions raise questions, and questions delay payment.
Sources
- SPF Economie, business registration in Belgium
- SPF Finances, Belgian tax authority
- Belgian social security portal
Checked on 27 August 2026. Thresholds and rates change: where this guide and the official source disagree, the official source is right.