The Act of 15 July 2026 reforming personal income tax (published in the Belgian Official Gazette on 29 July 2026) reintroduced the copyright tax scheme for the IT sector, with retroactive effect from 1 January 2026. Good news? Yes, but only partly. Whilst your developers, software architects and IT specialists can once again invoice code under copyright arrangements, the net tax benefit has halved compared to the former scheme.
What has changed: the end of flat-rate expenses for IT
Copyright income remains taxed as movable income at a rate of 15% up to an annual ceiling of €77,220 (for 2026 income). The preferential 15% rate therefore remains in place. But what has disappeared is the mechanism that made the optimisation so powerful: flat-rate expenses.
Until the 2025 income year, a flat-rate deduction of 50% applied to the first income bracket of €20,100, then 25% on the bracket between €20,100 and €40,190. Before 2026, thanks to flat-rate expenses, the taxable base could fall to around €5,000 for €10,000 of copyright income, and the 15% tax would be limited to approximately €750, representing an effective tax cost close to 7.5% of the gross amount.
The programme law of 30 May 2026 removes this flat-rate deduction from the 2026 income year onwards, except for holders of an "ordinary" or "plus" attestation du travail des arts. Individuals receiving copyright income in other sectors, such as journalism, IT or other non-artistic activities, can no longer benefit from this flat-rate deduction.
The result: on €10,000 of copyright income, the tax rises to approximately €1,500, which effectively doubles the tax cost compared to the old system. The scheme remains advantageous, but is half as generous as before for IT profiles.
The social security trap: a fiscal and social misalignment
Second point of attention: the broadening of the fiscal scope to computer programmes is not accompanied by a corresponding amendment on the social security front. Result: the same income received by a developer could be treated as movable income (without withholding tax) for tax purposes, but would remain subject to social security contributions.
Whereas the scheme previously avoided social security contributions under certain conditions, the social security exemption has not been restored for computer programmes. This creates an area of uncertainty that you must manage with your social secretariat and your tax adviser.
Ceilings and conditions: nothing changes
The rest of the provisions remain unchanged. In addition to the absolute ceiling of €77,220 for the 2026 income year, above which income from the transfer or licensing of copyright is taxed as professional income, the relative limit and the average calculated over four taxable periods must be taken into account.
Software developers must satisfy the condition that the rights are transferred or licensed to a third party for the purposes of public communication, public performance or reproduction. This condition must be rigorously documented, with a clear contract and a genuine transfer of rights—not just a rebranded salary package.
What this changes for your remuneration policy
If you had restructured your remuneration packages between 2023 and 2025 to compensate for the loss of copyright income, the reintroduction of the scheme significantly complicates implementation. The scheme does not allow you simply to substitute gross salary with copyright income. In many cases, the grant will need to be made in addition to existing remuneration.
In practice, for a developer on a gross salary of €60,000, adding €20,000 in copyright income generates a net gain of approximately €8,200 per year (without attestation du travail des arts), compared to nearly €10,000 before the reform—a reduction of 18% in net gain. The scheme retains an interest, but the trade-off must be recalculated on a case-by-case basis.
Our recommendation
If you employ developers, software architects or creative technical profiles, you can revisit the copyright question, but be realistic about the actual benefit: it is half what it was before 2023, the structure is more regulated, and alignment with social security remains unclear. Document everything (formal transfer of rights, creative nature of the work, commercial exploitation), consider a ruling if you want to secure the position, and recalculate the net impact before amending your salary packages.
Need an analysis of your situation? AgiFid supports you with your tax structure and integration into Odoo. We'll look together at whether the game is worth the candle for your profiles.