The individual account (individuele rekening) is the social document you keep as an employer for each employee, showing per pay period the work done, the pay and the deductions, and which you close every year. You give the employee a copy before 1 March 2027 for the year 2026 and, on departure, within 2 months after the end of the quarter in which the contract ended. You keep the account for 5 years after the annual closing. A copy delivered late costs a level 2 fine per employee concerned.
This guide covers the individual account only: what goes on it, who keeps it, which deadline runs when and what the inspectorate checks. For every document you hand over when someone leaves, see our checklist of social documents on dismissal.
What is the individual account of an employee?
The FPS Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue describes it like this: the individual account shows, pay period after pay period, the work an employee did for you during a year, with the pay that goes with it. Together with the staff register (personeelsregister), it is one of the two general social documents imposed by Royal Decree no. 5 of 23 October 1978. The details are in the Royal Decree of 8 August 1980 on keeping social documents.
You keep one for every employee: blue-collar workers, white-collar employees, students, homeworkers and anyone working under your authority without an employment contract, such as an apprentice. An employer who no longer has staff still has to keep the accounts.
The account has two readers. The employee uses it to check his pay, his days and his deductions. The inspectorate uses it to check whether you declared correctly and applied the social rules properly: working hours, public holidays, annual leave, collective agreement wages.
What must the individual account contain in Belgium?
The Royal Decree lists the entries one by one. In plain language they form five blocks.
About you as the employer. Article 14 of the decree lists 7 items: your name or company name and registered office, your NSSO (RSZ) number, your registration with the National Annual Holiday Office or a holiday fund, your occupational accident insurer with the policy number, your child benefit fund, your social secretariat with the membership number, and your joint committee and, where applicable, subcommittee.
About the employee. The decree lists 16: name, date of birth, sex, address, marital status, dependants for tax purposes, social security identification number, number in the staff register, legal nature of the contract, job, professional classification under the collective agreement, start date and end date, place of work, and starting pay with the other pay components and payment frequency.
Per pay period. The period, the days actually worked, the days without work with the reason (treated as worked or not), the basic pay and the unit, the normal hours, overtime per premium rate, every other pay component such as bonuses, holiday pay or notice pay, benefits in kind with their value, the amounts subject to social security contributions, the employee contribution, the taxable amount, the withholding tax, deductions such as wage garnishment with the reason, and the net amount to be paid. Also every other payment, such as a commuting allowance or a gratuity, with its reason and amount.
Per quarter. The days actually worked, the days of inactivity by reason, the total subject to social security contributions and the employee contribution.
Per year. The total subject to social security contributions, the employee contributions, the taxable amount and the withholding tax.
If you or your social secretariat use codes or abbreviations, their meaning appears on the document itself. For temporary agency workers, agencies are exempt from listing the job and the place of work.
The individual account in practice: what it looks like
The decree prescribes entries, not a fixed form. An individual account therefore looks different with every secretariat or payroll package, but the structure always follows the blocks above:
| Part | What you read in it |
|---|---|
| Header | Your details and the employee's, contract, job, joint committee |
| A column or block per pay period | Days, hours, pay components, social security, withholding tax, net |
| Quarterly total | Days, inactivity, contribution base and employee contribution |
| Annual total | Contribution base, contributions, taxable pay and withholding tax |
| Legend | The meaning of the codes used |
The payslip as part of the account. According to the FPS Employment, the payslip you give with each payment is a kind of extract of the individual account. If all entries per pay period are already on the payslip, you do not have to repeat them on the account. The condition is that you keep a copy of those payslips with the individual account and make it available to the inspectorate. The FPS also mentions the system of a single document, in duplicate, that serves both as payslip and as partial individual account. That is valid as long as every required entry is on it.
When each entry goes on the individual account
The decree sets a deadline for each block.
| Data | At the latest |
|---|---|
| Employer and employee (except the end date) | Before you start using the account |
| End date of the contract | Within 7 calendar days after the end |
| Pay per pay period | When the pay becomes due |
| Other payments, such as travel costs | Day 10 of the month after the payment |
| Quarterly data | The last day for the DmfA declaration of that quarter |
| Annual data | The last day for the DmfA of the fourth quarter |
For the year 2026 this means the annual data must be on the account by 31 January 2027 at the latest, the deadline for the fourth-quarter DmfA. How that quarterly declaration works is explained in what is DmfA.
Who keeps the individual account?
You, the employer. According to the FPS Employment, you can draw up the account yourself or entrust it to a social secretariat. Employers who calculate pay with software or through a secretariat often produce the payslip and the account in one go: the FPS notes that companies increasingly draw up both documents at the same time.
The decree lets you choose where the accounts are kept: at the address under which you are registered with the NSSO, at one of the workplaces, at your home or registered office, or at the office of your social secretariat. If you choose one of the last three places, you first inform the district head of the Social Legislation Inspectorate for that area by registered letter. After closing, the individual account may also be stored at the office of the social secretariat, with the same prior notice.
The copy of the individual account for the employee
The employee receives a copy at fixed moments. That is your obligation, even if the secretariat produces the document.
| Moment | What the employee receives | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Start of employment | Copy with your details and his | Within 2 months of the start |
| New job or workplace | Written notice of the change | Within 1 month of the change |
| Every year, during the contract | Full copy of the past year | Before 1 March of the following year |
| End of the contract | Copy for the current year | Within 2 months after the end of the quarter |
| Payment after departure | Copy covering that payment | Within 2 months after it |
On departure the other documents come on top: the C4 by the last working day at the latest, see the C4 document, and for a white-collar employee the holiday certificate. The tax form on the same pay is a different document with its own deadline: see form 281.10.
Timeline for 2026 and 2027: two employees
An example with two white-collar employees in the same company. Ines starts on Monday 14 September 2026. Tom leaves on Monday 30 November 2026.
| Date | What | For whom |
|---|---|---|
| 14 November 2026 | At the latest, the first copy with the identification details | Ines |
| 30 November 2026 | Last working day of November: anyone receiving electronically who wants paper for 2027 must say so by now | Everyone with an electronic agreement |
| 7 December 2026 | At the latest, the end date on the account | Tom |
| 31 December 2026 | End of the quarter in which Tom's contract ended | Tom |
| 1 January 2027 | Paper copies start for those who asked in November | Everyone with an electronic agreement |
| 31 January 2027 | At the latest, the 2026 annual data on every account | Ines and Tom |
| 28 February 2027 | At the latest, the copy of the 2026 account | Tom |
| Before 1 March 2027 | Full copy of the 2026 account | Ines |
If Tom is paid a bonus for 2026 in March 2027, you give him a copy of the account covering that payment within 2 months after it. You close the 2026 account in early 2027. From that closing you keep it for 5 years, so until 2032.
How long do you keep the individual account?
5 years, together with the annexes such as copies of payslips or time records. The period does not start when the employee leaves but at the annual closing of the account, so every year has its own end date. If there is a dispute about a payment made after departure, storage runs until five years after the date on which those last amounts had to be declared to the NSSO.
If you stop employing staff, you keep the documents at your home or registered office in Belgium. Anyone who was once an employer remains bound by this storage duty.
Digital storage and an electronic copy
Storage. You may keep social documents in any form of reproduction, including digital, provided they are clearly legible and allow effective inspection. A PDF archive per year and per employee is enough, as long as the inspectorate can open it quickly.
Delivering the copy electronically. The Act of 3 June 2007 allows you to send and store the individual account, the payslip and the record of work electronically. Three conditions apply:
- You agree on it with the employee, in writing or electronically. The agreement applies for at least the current calendar year.
- The document also goes to a qualified electronic archiving service, which issues a receipt. That storage is free for the employee and remains guaranteed until 5 years after the end of the contract.
- If the inspectorate asks for the document, you produce it immediately, from your own storage or from the archiving service.
If the employee or you want to go back to paper after that calendar year, a clear notice is enough. For the individual account, that notice must be given by the last working day of November: paper then starts on 1 January and applies for at least a full calendar year. An email from someone asking for paper around New Year therefore only counts for the year after.
What the inspectorate checks and what it costs
During an inspection, the Social Legislation Inspectorate asks for the individual accounts and their annexes. It checks that there is an account for each employee, that it is complete and correct, that the copies reached the employees on time, and that you keep the accounts where you said you would. How an inspection works is explained in what the social inspectorate checks during an inspection.
The Social Penal Code punishes per offence:
| Offence | Level | Administrative fine |
|---|---|---|
| No account, or an incomplete or incorrect one | 3 | € 1,000 to € 10,000 |
| Copy not given to the employee on time | 2 | € 250 to € 2,500 |
| Account not kept or stored at the notified place | 2 | € 250 to € 2,500 |
| Account not always available to the inspectorate | 1 | € 100 to € 1,000 |
Each of these fines is multiplied by the number of employees concerned, capped at the maximum times 100.
Common mistakes with the individual account
- Thinking the payslip is enough. That only works if all entries are on it and you keep the copies with the account. The annual closing and the annual copy are still needed.
- Forgetting the first copy. Within 2 months of the start, every new employee receives a copy with the identification details.
- Waiting for the annual closing to produce the departure copy. On departure, the deadline runs from the end of the quarter, not the end of the year. For someone leaving in November, that is the end of February.
- Paying a bonus after departure without a copy. Every later payment gets its own copy.
- Sending electronically without an agreement or archiving service. The employee has then formally not received a copy.
- Leaving the accounts at the secretariat without informing the inspectorate. The decree requires a prior registered letter.
- Throwing accounts away after departure. The storage period runs from the annual closing, also for those who have left.
Requesting your individual account as an employee
If you are an employee looking for your individual account, you ask your employer or former employer. The Royal Decree of 8 August 1980 requires him to give you a copy: every year before 1 March and, after you leave, within 2 months after the end of the quarter. If you received it electronically, it remains available free of charge at the archiving service until 5 years after the end of your contract.
What Business Centrum does for you
Business Centrum keeps the individual account of every employee within your payroll, together with Acerta, from the same payroll run as the payslips and the DmfA. When someone leaves, we also produce the copy, so you can give it to the employee on time. You have one fixed contact person for it. Want to know how that works for your business? Ask us.