Salary & Taxation

Come on guys, I was hoping for some help !

use another website for xpats, it's more likely to bring you responses.

Even a person without expat tax status could survive easily on a salary you have quoted. We are a family of 6 and hubby's salary is less than that, we are comfortable.

There is also already a few discussions about tax on this site maybe those will help a bit its a little hard to work it out without getting around same salary myself to compare

@whoami

I guess it all depends what line of work you're in to come up with a minimum and maximum monthly salary expectation.

But 4000 Euro a month is a decent wage.

Thanks guys for your responses. I have a couple of more questions, the answers (if possible) to which I would very much appreciate !

1. Would my wife be entitled to a free work permit in Belgium once I get my work visa ?

2. In case my wife doesn't work, would she be entitled to an annual unemployment benefit ?

3. What would be the average rental costs (including utilities) for a 2 bed-room apartment (~80-100m2) in Brussels/Leuven?

4. For my education (PhD) and industrial experience (4yrs) both in the field of semiconductor electronics, is EUR 4000 gross ( amounting to about EUR 2800-3000 (net) with a non-resident status ) an okay/good monthly salary to survive comfortably ?

1 you don't say your nationalities, cannot answer
2 I very much doubt it, unless your wife has already paid into the Belgian SS system, under normal Belgain tax regime, you do however get an allowance for a non working wife, do not know about expat tax status
3 most expensive area of Brussels, you can still pay 10 euro per m2 per month, therefore 800 euro for 80m2, 1000 euro for 100m2. For 2 people, even a 50m 2 apartment would be sufficient, well for me it would, we share 150m 2 between 6, gives us 25m 2 each. In Leuven, you could get a bit more space for your money, same for less affluent areas of Brussels.
4 cannot comment on salary for your field, but 2800 for 2 people is more than adequate for 2 people, I'd limit myself to 700 euro a month on rent - general rule is landlords allow tenant where income is a maximum of 1/3 monthly salary, personally would not want to go above 1/4 monthly salary. I'd be putting away into savings at least 1000 euro a month, if I were on that salary and without child dependants.

Schoolmum has covered it pretty well.

Your profile indicates that you are Indian, so in answer to #1-2, I would say more definitely: no. You don't just get money for free, and you are not from the EU so your wife would not get any sort of permit just because you have one.

Ok as Indian nationals, you both have to obtain job offers and then work permits and visas to live and also work here.

As you are asking about Leuven too, I am guessing the job offer is connected with KU Leuven. If this is the case, I would personally live in Leuven. Prices are not much cheaper however in Leuven and the rental market is much smaller, so it might be harder to find accommodation you like in Leuven. Neither Leuven nor Brussels has any significant Indian community.

Hello,
Im interested to work in Antwerp as Product manager, I dont know how much they pay and I really afraid if is a good idea to move.
Could you pls inform me about the average salaries?
I have search it a lot in web but I can't find something specific.

Also, as an exapt. I have to pay the same taxes?

thank you in advance

Hello,
Anybody can help me????

Hi katrinp1,

You should start a new topic on the Belgium forum for better visibility. Thank you.

Hi, there is something called Expatriate Status in the Belgian tax system (maybe check out https://multimediafiles.kbcgroup.eu/ng/ … ersion.pdf

Anyway, to my best knowledge you must be hired by a non-Belgian organization that has a registered office in Belgium and you are a foreigner. So that being said if you had 4000 euros a month in salary, they would first take out all the regular taxes  and then you's get a tax refund for the previous year at the end of June.

OK, 4000 gross, take out about 35% and that would be what you get per month. that's excluding some possible charges. I'm not exactly sure about this bu your search criteria should be 'expatriate tax Belgium' that should do it.

the good news is that medical insurance is cheap and great.

Good luck!