Summer is here - principles of student work
17 Jun 2025
The summer holidays are fast approaching and both students and employers might still be looking for, respectively, a summer job or one or more students to compensate for employees going on holiday during the coming months. The perfect time to recap the general principles of student work!
Definition of ‘student’
To be considered a student in the regulatory framework explained below, an individual must be:
at least 16 years old (or 15 years and no longer subject to compulsory full-time education) and;
enrolled full-time in high school, college or a university (exceptions apply for part-time education and pupils in a dual learning system, provided conditions are met).
One of the labour law reform measures from the new Belgian government, is setting the minimum age for student work at 15 years old across the board and doing away with the requirement of no longer being subject to compulsory full-time education. At the moment of writing, this measure has, however, not yet been enacted into law.
Once students work for the same employer for an uninterrupted period of 12 months, they can no longer continue working there under an employment agreement for student work.
General principles and formalities
Under Belgian law, when employing a student, an employment agreement must be concluded in writing at the latest when they start working. This employment agreement must contain several specific provisions, including e.g. the start- and end date of the employment, working time and salary. The employer must also hand over a copy of the company’s work regulations, for which the student must sign an acknowledgement of receipt.
The first three working days of the employment agreement for student work constitute a probationary period, during which both parties can terminate the agreement without notice or indemnity in lieu of notice. The employment agreement for student work will automatically terminate on the agreement’s expiry date without formalities, however, parties can also terminate the agreement before its expiry date by observing a short notice period.
To determine a student’s salary, the industry-specific regulations must be consulted. If there aren’t any industry-specific provisions available, the guaranteed minimum monthly salary will apply.
A prior notification must be filed with the National Social Security Office (the so-called DIMONA notification) no later than on the day the student starts working.
Social security and income tax consequences
In principle, student work is subject to regular social security contributions. However, for a maximum number of hours of qualifying student work per year, no regular social security contributions will be due. Instead, a solidarity contribution of 8.13% – split between employer (5.42%) and employee (2.71%) – will apply. This maximum threshold used to be set at 475 hours, was temporarily increased to 600 hours for 2023 and 2024, and has now – as one of the first employment-related reforms of the new Belgian government – been structurally increased to 650 hours per year.
Similarly, no withholding taxes will be due on the student’s salary during this maximum period of 650 hours per calendar year.
If this threshold is exceeded, regular employer and employee social security contributions, as well as withholding taxes, will be due on the student’s salary for the hours that exceed the threshold.
Student@Work
To keep track of how many hours a student has already worked, an official database is available: www.student@work.be. This platform allows students to consult their outstanding balance of hours that can be performed under the beneficial system of solidarity contributions. They can also print out a certificate of their outstanding balance to present to their (future) employer, as well as give their employer read-access to their data on the platform.
Action points
Companies looking to employ students must keep in mind the specific formalities that must be complied with and should verify the students’ outstanding balance of hours that can be performed under the more beneficial system of solidarity contributions to avoid any unforeseen costs.
If you are considering hiring a student during the summer months and are looking for more guidance, don’t hesitate to reach out; we’d love to hear from you!
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