Wijninckx contribution: what do you need to know? - AG Employee Benefits
Wijninckx contribution: clear overview

Published on 18/07/2023

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Everything you need to know about the Wijninckx contribution

​The special social security contribution for generous supplementary pensions, a.k.a. the Wijninckx contribution, came into effect in 2012. After a transition period, the definitive measures have applied since the start of 2019. Read on for a clear overview of the situation.​​


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Attention, the pension agreement of 10 July 2023 doubles the Wijninckx contribution from 3% to 6% from 1 January 2028.​

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What do the Wijninckx contribution entail?

The Wijninckx contribution is a special social security contribution at the expense of employers or company directors if, on 1 January of the year preceding the contribution year, the supplementary pension accrued by the employee or company director, converted into an annuity and added to the accrued statutory pension, exceeds is then the maximum pension of the public sector, taking into account the career that the employee or manager has already completed.

If this amount is exceeded, a contribution of 3% of the increase in the supplementary pension reserves in the year preceding the contribution year is due. The government has decided to double this percentage to 6% from 1 January 2028.​

Sigedis (the non-profit organisation that manages DB2P, the second pillar database) will be responsible for collecting the necessary information from the various pension institutions. This information will then serve to calculate the contribution amount.

How is the Wijninckx contribution calculated?

For each salaried employee and self-employed executive with a supplementary pension, Sigedis will calculate whether a special social security contribution is due based on the following steps.

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Step 1: Does the contribution need to be paid?

The contribution will be payable if the combined total of the salaried employee’s or self-employed executive’s state pension and supplementary pension is greater than the statutory “pension target amount”. This threshold is equal to the maximum state pension in the public sector on 1 January of the previous year.

  • ​The second pillar supplementary pension reserves are expressed as an annuity
  • The state pension is estimated as a fixed benefit amount and multiplied by the career fraction
  • ​The maximum pension for a civil servant is EUR 84,923.40 (1/1/2022), multiplied by the career fraction

Using this formula, the second pillar pension reserves can be calculated, and if they exceed the threshold amount, the contribution will be payable.

​Number of years 
of service on​ 1/1/2022
​		 Total 2nd pillar pension reserves on 1/1/2022​​ ​
Salaried employees​ Self-employed 
executives​
1​ EUR 35.796,83​ EUR 50.312,27​
5​ EUR 178.984,13​ EUR 251.561,33​
10​​ EUR 357.968,26​ EUR 503.122,66​
20​ EUR 715.936,52​ EUR 1.006.245,32​
30​ EUR 1.073.904,78​ EUR 1.509.367,98​
40​ EUR 1.431.873,04​ EUR 2.012.490,64​
45​ EUR 1.610.857,17​ EUR 2.264.051,96


 

Step 2: How much is the Wijninckx contribution?

If the pension target amount has been exceeded, the plan sponsor will be required to pay a 3% contribution on the share above the pension reserves for the year N compared with the year N-1:

C​ontribution = 3% x ​(pension reserves on 1/1/Year N – pension reserves on 1/1/year N-1*)

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In other words, for the contribution year 2023, this means:

Contribution 2023 = 3% x (pension reserves on 1/1/2023 – pension reserves on 1/1/2022*)

    *The pension reserves on 1 January of the year N-1 will be corrected to reflect capitalisation.


 

Infographic on the Wijninckx contribution
 

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How will you be notified if you need to pay the 3% contribution?

If you owe the 3% contribution for your salaried employees or self-employed executives, Sigedis will notify you in October: 

  • via your e-box (secure mailbox with the Social Security authorities) 
    or
  • by ordinary mail if your company is not yet registered on the Social Security portal
The payment procedure remains unchanged: 

  • ​​For salaried employees, you will need to report the amount due and pay it to the NSSO along with your multifunctional declaration (“DmfA”) and payment for the fourth quarter of the contribution year. 
  • For self-employed executives, the amount due must be paid to the NSSO by 31 December of the contribution year to to NSSO.

Important: The calculation reflects the entirety of the plan participants’ pension reserves (including reserves that have accrued with previous employers). Sigedis is the only one that has this information. If you would like to know the details behind the calculation, we recommend that you check the Supplementary Pensions Database (DB2P) website: www.db2p.be​.