Severance pay in Belgium

Your gross severance indemnity, based on your full remuneration package.

Your situation

Step 1 of 3: Who is ending the contract?

Step 2 of 3: The dates

The day you actually started working, not the day you signed.

Step 3 of 3: Your salary and benefits

Your status

Before social security and withholding tax.

Left blank, one month's salary is used.

Left blank, 92% of one month's salary is used.

Add other benefits (optional)

Average over the last twelve months. Not a CAO 90 bonus or profit premium.

Value of the private use.

The employer's share only.

Employer premiums only.

Fields marked * are required.

Checked on 22/09/2026. Source: FPS Employment, in Dutch and French only (dismissal, resignation).

How severance pay is calculated

  1. Your start date decides which table applies: the law changed on 1 June and on 1 August 2026, each time only for contracts starting from that day.
  2. When the contract ends immediately, no notice period starts and the Monday rule does not apply: seniority counts up to and including the day the contract ends.
  3. The tool looks that seniority up in the table for dismissal, or in the one for resignation (13 weeks at most).
  4. The indemnity is your annual package multiplied by those weeks and divided by 52.

Frequently asked questions about severance pay

What is a severance indemnity?

The amount your employer pays when the contract is ended immediately instead of having you work out the notice period. It matches the pay and benefits you would have earned during that whole notice period. In Belgium it is also called a notice indemnity or compensatory indemnity.

How is the amount calculated?

The statutory notice period is worked out first, as on the notice period page, with one difference: seniority counts up to the day the contract ends, not to the Monday a notice period would have started. That number of weeks is then multiplied by your current remuneration: annual package × weeks ÷ 52.

Why can the indemnity be 4 weeks lower?

An employee dismissed with an indemnity of at least 30 weeks is entitled to 60 hours of outplacement. If the employer makes a valid offer and actually carries it out, the indemnity is reduced by 4 weeks, which match the value of the outplacement. Without a valid offer, or if the employer does not carry it out, you receive the full indemnity. The tool shows both amounts. The rule does not apply to a resignation.

What counts as "current remuneration"?

Gross salary plus the benefits acquired under the contract: the end-of-year bonus, double holiday pay, the average of your variable pay over the last twelve months, the private-use value of your company car, the employer's share of meal vouchers, and group and hospitalisation insurance premiums. How several of these are treated is contested in case law, so read the result as a well-founded estimate. For white-collar staff, leave the end-of-year bonus or holiday pay blank and the tool uses one month's salary and 92% of one month's salary. For blue-collar workers holiday pay does not count: the holiday fund pays it, including for the period the indemnity covers.

Does my company car count?

Yes, at the value of the private use rather than at what the car costs your employer. The same goes for other benefits in kind. How exactly they are valued is a classic point of dispute when the amount is contested.

Is this a gross or a net figure?

Gross. Severance is subject to social security contributions and withholding tax. Because it is paid in one go, the deduction is usually steep and the net figure is considerably lower.

When does the indemnity have to be paid?

It falls due at the moment the employment contract ends and is in practice paid with the final settlement, together with your departure holiday pay and the social documents.

Can I draw unemployment benefit in the meantime?

Not for the period the indemnity covers. That period is treated as though you were still employed; benefits can only start once it has run out. Register as a jobseeker straight away all the same.

What if my employer has me work part of the notice period?

That is allowed. You then work part of the period and receive an indemnity for the remainder. In that case calculate on the weeks that are left, not on the full period.

What does the tool leave out?

Deviations in the collective agreements of your joint committee, protected situations such as pregnancy, time credit or a staff-representative mandate, and dismissal for urgent cause. For anyone already employed before 1 January 2014, the tool deliberately gives no figure. In those cases, have your situation checked by an employment lawyer or your union.

What if I leave without working my notice?

Then you owe your employer an indemnity: your current remuneration for the notice you should have given, so under the resignation table (13 weeks at most). Choose "The employee" above to see the amount. The two of you can agree to waive it. If you found a new job while serving notice after a dismissal, a shorter counter-notice is enough.