Income tax - How to change your withholding tax rate?
Verified 01 January 2025 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
Your withholding tax rate no longer corresponds to your situation? You can ask to lower it or increase it. You can also choose a lower rate than your Civil partnership or partner, or refuse to pass on your personalized rate to your employer. We'll tell you what you need to know.
You can request a change in your withholding tax rate depending on your situation:
Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement
You want to lower your rate
Your withholding tax rate is recalculated each year based on your tax return.
The new rate applies from September following your return.
However, if your situation has changed, you can request a rate change.
If your revenues have gone downHowever, you can ask tax authorities to reduce your withholding tax rate to avoid paying too much income tax.
You can ask for the change in the event of a deviation of more than 5% between:
- Levy at the rate modulated downwards
- Direct debit at your current rate.
Example :
The amount of your annual levy is €2,000.
Due to your declining revenues, you estimate your annual levy at €1,850.
The difference is 7.5% .
You can therefore ask for a reduction in your withholding tax rate.
You can request the change directly in your Special Space online:
Taxes: access your Special Space
You must specify your net taxable income and expenses, as you estimate them for the current year.
To calculate your net tax income from your gross income, you can use the tax calculator:
Simulator for calculating net tax income from gross income
The new rate shall apply no later than 3e month after your request.
Warning
The reduced rate will apply until 31 December. You will need to make a new change request at the end of the year if your revenues remain reduced after 1er January.
If you want to obtain personalized information, you can contact the tax information service:
Who shall I contact
Tax Information Service
By telephone:
0809 401 401
Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 7 pm, excluding public holidays.
Free service + call price
You want to increase your rate
Your withholding tax rate is recalculated each year based on your tax return.
The new rate applies from September following your return.
However, if your situation has changed, you can request a rate change.
If your income has increased, you can ask tax authorities to increase your withholding tax rate to avoid having to pay too much additional tax at the end of the year.
You can request the change directly in your Special Space online:
Taxes: access your Special Space
You must specify your net taxable income and expenses, as you estimate them for the current year.
To calculate your net tax income from your gross income, you can use the tax calculator:
Simulator for calculating net tax income from gross income
The new rate shall apply no later than 3e month after your request.
Warning
The higher rate will apply until December 31. You will need to make a new change request at the end of the year if your revenues remain higher after 1er January.
If you want to obtain personalized information, you can contact the tax information service:
Who shall I contact
Tax Information Service
By telephone:
0809 401 401
Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 7 pm, excluding public holidays.
Free service + call price
You want a lower rate than your Civil partnership or partner
If you are married or past, you make a joint declaration and you have the same take-down rate.
However, you can opt for an individualized levy rate.
Each member of the couple thus obtains one rate according to his own income.
FYI
From 1er september 2025, each member of a married or former couple (subject to common taxation) will automatically benefit from an individualized rate, depending on his or her income. It will be possible to opt for the tax shelter, based on the couple's income.
You can request the change directly in your Special Space online:
Taxes: access your Special Space
The new rate shall apply no later than 3e month after your request.
If you want to obtain personalized information, you can contact the tax information service:
Who shall I contact
Tax Information Service
By telephone:
0809 401 401
Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 7 pm, excluding public holidays.
Free service + call price
You don't want your employer to know your personalized rate
If you do not want to pass on your personalized rate to your employer, the employer will apply a neutral rate (also called default rate).
This rate is based on your monthly tax base, which is the amount of your salary.
The rate is applied on the basis of a annual scale. It varies from 0% to 43%.
Warning
In most cases, the neutral rate will be higher than your custom rate.
If the neutral rate is lower than your personalized rate, you will have to pay monthly the difference between the levy made and the one that would have been made with the personalized rate.
You can request the change directly in your Special Space online.
Taxes: access your Special Space
The new rate shall apply no later than 3e month after your request.
If you want to get personalized information, you can contact this service:
Who shall I contact
Tax Information Service
By telephone:
0809 401 401
Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 7 pm, excluding public holidays.
Free service + call price
Vous avez choisi
Choisissez votre cas
You want to lower your rate
Your withholding tax rate is recalculated each year based on your tax return.
The new rate applies from September following your return.
However, if your situation has changed, you can request a rate change.
If your revenues have gone downHowever, you can ask tax authorities to reduce your withholding tax rate to avoid paying too much income tax.
You can ask for the change in the event of a deviation of more than 5% between:
- Levy at the rate modulated downwards
- Direct debit at your current rate.
Example :
The amount of your annual levy is €2,000.
Due to your declining revenues, you estimate your annual levy at €1,850.
The difference is 7.5% .
You can therefore ask for a reduction in your withholding tax rate.
You can request the change directly in your Special Space online:
Taxes: access your Special Space
You must specify your net taxable income and expenses, as you estimate them for the current year.
To calculate your net tax income from your gross income, you can use the tax calculator:
Simulator for calculating net tax income from gross income
The new rate shall apply no later than 3e month after your request.
Warning
The reduced rate will apply until 31 December. You will need to make a new change request at the end of the year if your revenues remain reduced after 1er January.
If you want to obtain personalized information, you can contact the tax information service:
Who shall I contact
Tax Information Service
By telephone:
0809 401 401
Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 7 pm, excluding public holidays.
Free service + call price
You want to increase your rate
Your withholding tax rate is recalculated each year based on your tax return.
The new rate applies from September following your return.
However, if your situation has changed, you can request a rate change.
If your income has increased, you can ask tax authorities to increase your withholding tax rate to avoid having to pay too much additional tax at the end of the year.
You can request the change directly in your Special Space online:
Taxes: access your Special Space
You must specify your net taxable income and expenses, as you estimate them for the current year.
To calculate your net tax income from your gross income, you can use the tax calculator:
Simulator for calculating net tax income from gross income
The new rate shall apply no later than 3e month after your request.
Warning
The higher rate will apply until December 31. You will need to make a new change request at the end of the year if your revenues remain higher after 1er January.
If you want to obtain personalized information, you can contact the tax information service:
Who shall I contact
Tax Information Service
By telephone:
0809 401 401
Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 7 pm, excluding public holidays.
Free service + call price
You want a lower rate than your Civil partnership or partner
If you are married or past, you make a joint declaration and you have the same take-down rate.
However, you can opt for an individualized levy rate.
Each member of the couple thus obtains one rate according to his own income.
FYI
From 1er september 2025, each member of a married or former couple (subject to common taxation) will automatically benefit from an individualized rate, depending on his or her income. It will be possible to opt for the tax shelter, based on the couple's income.
You can request the change directly in your Special Space online:
Taxes: access your Special Space
The new rate shall apply no later than 3e month after your request.
If you want to obtain personalized information, you can contact the tax information service:
Who shall I contact
Tax Information Service
By telephone:
0809 401 401
Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 7 pm, excluding public holidays.
Free service + call price
You don't want your employer to know your personalized rate
If you do not want to pass on your personalized rate to your employer, the employer will apply a neutral rate (also called default rate).
This rate is based on your monthly tax base, which is the amount of your salary.
The rate is applied on the basis of a annual scale. It varies from 0% to 43%.
Warning
In most cases, the neutral rate will be higher than your custom rate.
If the neutral rate is lower than your personalized rate, you will have to pay monthly the difference between the levy made and the one that would have been made with the personalized rate.
You can request the change directly in your Special Space online.
Taxes: access your Special Space
The new rate shall apply no later than 3e month after your request.
If you want to get personalized information, you can contact this service:
Who shall I contact
Tax Information Service
By telephone:
0809 401 401
Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 7 pm, excluding public holidays.
Free service + call price
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For general information
Tax Information Service
By telephone:
0809 401 401
Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 7 pm, excluding public holidays.
Free service + call price
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