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Belgium has introduced a number of tax-friendly incentives around home working, some of them seemingly overlapping, so one would certainly be excused for not seeing the wood for the trees here. Employers are allowed to pay certain tax-free benefits and allowances, but which are they required to pay? To answer this question, let’s go back to basics, which in this case is National Collective Labour Agreement nr. 85 on working from home.

What is required

In terms of the actual obligations, CLA nr. 85 states that the employer is obliged to provide the homeworker with the equipment necessary to work from home, to install it, and to maintain it. Furthermore, the employer should exclusively bear the costs of connections and communications related to the homeworking. The CLA goes on to state that if employees use their own equipment, the expenses of installing computer programmes, the operating and maintenance outlay and the cost of depreciation of equipment related to homework are all the responsibility of the employer.

In this day and age, it is fair to say that most employees will not be able to work from home without a computer or laptop, an internet connection and possibly also a mobile phone (although Teams and Zoom have significantly reduced the need for our trusted little companion). The employer has the choice between either providing this equipment with internet connection to the employee at its expense, or contributing to the cost of the employee’s use of his own equipment. Where you choose the latter, you may pay up to 20 EUR per month for the internet connection and 25 EUR for the purchase of the computer, in each case exempt from social security contributions and withholding tax. The compensation for the professional use of a second computer screen and/or printer or scanner without a private computer is a maximum of 5 EUR per month per item, with a maximum limit of 10 EUR per month for a maximum of three years.

These amounts are maximum amounts —  the employer may decide to pay a lower amount, the lower limit being the obligation to compensate the actual cost of connections as well as the operating and depreciation costs of the equipment. CLA nr. 85 states that the cost to be borne by the employer shall be calculated “in proportion to the days of homework or according to a distribution key agreed between the parties”. In other words, whatever parties agree should be reasonable in light of the number of days worked from home and it should be confirmed in the addendum to the employment contract. The employer Is not allowed to take into account any savings the employee may be making on commuting or the expensive cafes and coffee shops which previously saw him/her through the working day.

What is allowed

The above summarizes the actual obligations of the employer. But the tax and social security service allow employers to interpret their obligations more broadly and to pay a tax-free allowance to cover a wider set of costs related to the home office.  This allowance covers all general office expenses that your employees incur when working from home and includes for example the following costs: the use of office space at home, printer and computer material, office supplies, utilities, maintenance, insurance, property tax, coffee, water, snacks (indeed, quite some employees must have discovered just how many cookies they were grabbing from the office jar when all of a sudden they had to stock that jar themselves …) .

The fixed expense allowance is tax free up to an amount of 129.48 EUR per month. Until September 2021, as part of the Covid measures, that allowance has been increased to 144.31 EUR. These amounts do not have to be reduced proportionally for part-time employees and they can continue to be paid during normal holiday periods.

Although again not required, the lump-sum office allowance may be combined with:

• A reimbursement of the purchase price of computer equipment
• A lump sum allowance for the use of:
• A private internet connection; and
• A private computer or a second computer screen and/or printer or scanner.
• A provision of computer equipment

An item we haven’t touched upon yet is office equipment such as that ergonomically sensible but often disconcertingly expensive chair and the adjustable desk. But let us keep this topic for the next episode, shall we?

Source: EmploymentLawWorldView

Post-pandemic hybrid work models should be carefully planned, taking into account individual and organisational needs.

With the end of the pandemic in sight, organisations are rethinking when and where their employees will work. Over half of office workers want to keep working remotely for three or more weekdays and while employer enthusiasm is somewhat lower, this does seem feasible for 20%-25% of the workforces in advanced economies. Many companies will likely adopt a hybrid combination of on-site and remote work, with work from home estimated to be optimal at one to three days a week.

While this hybrid future creates opportunities for geographic mobility and for tackling regional inequalities, employers will need to find well-functioning models of organisational flexibility for their workforces. An update to the European Union’s 2002 Framework Agreement on Telework could facilitate the implementation of flexible working conditions in a way that ensures minimum protection for on-site and hybrid workers, while fostering harmonised standards within the EU single market.

Hybrid work comes with organisational challenges that are often grouped into three categories: bricks, bytes and behaviour, ie the spaces, tools and culture of remote work. What is missing is a fourth B, a blueprint for the allocation and coordination of tasks across time and space. While traditional organisational design deals with the question ‘who does what task?’ the hybrid model must additionally ask ‘who does what task when and where?’

Flexible work arrangements have existed for over 50 years and cover both time and space dimensions. While in 2013 more than 65% of EU28 establishments offered some form of flexitime, only 30% of employees in the EU27 reported in 2019 having a say in the start and end times of their work day, and of those only a third could decide their hours without restrictions.

When rethinking flexible work arrangements, companies have to consider whether (1) to align employees’ working time (synchronous or asynchronous), and (2) whether to have employees work in the same space or be dispersed geographically. The traditional model of work is synchronous, co-located work, while flexitime and telework provide flexibility in terms only of when or where work is done. The combined freedom in terms of place and time of work is known as an anyplace, anytime policy.

A series of challenges have been established by experts:

• Challenge 1: Assessing the potential for individual flexibility
• Challenge 2: Designing an optimal configuration of flexibility at the collective level

Research shows that teleworking increases coordination costs: less opportunity for informal coordination (in terms of networking, coaching and one-on-ones) increases the need for formal coordination (more time spent on meetings, calls, or answering e-mails). This increased coordination cost reflects the presence of task interdependence which, in a hybrid context, needs to be investigated through two additional lenses: spatial and temporal.

Source: www.bruegel.org

The first half of this year produced 25% more new start-up companies in Belgium than the same period in 2020, according to figures produced by Graydon for Unizo, the organisation for the self-employed.

In the first six months of this year, 60,111 new companies saw the light of day, 25.77% more than in 2020, just at the time when the coronavirus pandemic was at its worst.

“Apparently this year’s starters also include entrepreneurs who actually wanted to start last year, but then took a rain-check because of corona,” said Danny Van Assche, managing director of Unizo.

“But apart from that, it remains remarkable that so many candidates took the plunge, while we were certainly still in a full crisis during the first months of this year and we have only recently begun to crawl out of the valley.”

With increases of 27.71% and 27.09% percent respectively, Flanders and Wallonia recorded a significantly greater increase in the number of starters in the first half of 2020 compared to the Brussels region on 15.11%.

Source: Brussels Times

The coronavirus pandemic continues to have a negative impact on the Belgian economy. Many businesses are experiencing difficulties due to the rising cost of imported raw materials and increased transport costs.

Small and medium-sized businesses are especially badly hit as they are often unable to increase the prices they charge their customers to compensate for their own increased costs.

Unizo, the enterprise federation that represents small and medium-sized businesses has expressed concern.

Unizo’s, Danny Van Assche told VRT Radio 1’s morning news and current affairs programme ‘De ochtend’ that “Many SMEs that are dependent on imported goods are now having to run at a loss. This is because they are stuck in long-term contracts with suppliers. We are talking about raw materials from wood and aluminium to semi-finished goods such as steel and paper pulp and hi-tech products such as computer chips”.

Unizo tells businesses to stress the rise in their own costs when they are negotiating contracts with customers so that they are able to charge prices that won’t see them going into the red. However, small businesses often don’t have enough clout to be able to do this. Unizo says that the EU can and should do something to help them.

«It is important that with the European Union we create strategic stockpiles of important raw materials and semi-finished products and that we, much more than is currently the case, invest in recycling. This will make we in Europe less dependent on the rest of the world”, Mr Van Assche said.

The increase in costs for business comes on top of the other difficulties that the coronavirus pandemic has caused.

Source: VRT.be

Tras la preocupante situación epidemiológica, a partir del lunes 19 de octubre entran en vigor nuevas medidas más estrictas. A partir de hoy, esta situación sitúa a todo el país en el nivel de alerta 4 del barómetro Covid-19 (nivel de alerta muy alto).

La presión sobre los hospitales y sobre la continuación de la atención sanitaria no vinculada al Covid-19 está aumentando. Algunos hospitales se enfrentan a numerosas ausencias entre su personal. La atención primaria, especialmente la medicina general, también se enfrenta a una presión cada vez mayor.

El número de pacientes con Covid-19 en cuidados intensivos es ahora 2,5 veces mayor que a finales de marzo. Para evitar que los hospitales se encuentren en una situación aún más problemática, que las escuelas tengan que cerrar, que la economía se paralice y que demasiadas personas queden aisladas debido a la contención generalizada, el Comité de Concertación Interinstitucional ha decidido adoptar una serie de medidas:

1. Los contactos cercanos están limitados a un máximo de una persona.
2. Las reuniones privadas se limitan a cuatro personas durante dos semanas y siempre las mismas personas.
3. Las reuniones en la vía pública están limitadas a un máximo de cuatro personas.
4. El teletrabajo se convierte en la regla, para las funciones que se prestan a ello y con respeto a la continuidad de la gestión de las empresas y organizaciones, servicios y actividades.
5. Los mercados y ferias de pequeña envergadura siguen abiertos, pero el consumo de bebidas y alimentos está prohibido. Están prohibidos los mercadillos y los mercados navideños.
6. Los cafés y restaurantes estarán cerrados. Esta medida es válida por un período de cuatro semanas y se revisará después de dos semanas. La comida para llevar se puede recoger en el establecimiento hasta las 22h. Están prohibidas las recepciones y los banquetes organizados por un servicio profesional de restauración o catering, excepto en los hoteles para los huéspedes que se alojen en ellos y las recepciones relacionadas con funerales (máximo cuarenta personas).
7. Las tiendas nocturnas deben cerrar a las 22h. La venta de alcohol está prohibida a partir de las 20h.
8. Está prohibido estar en la vía pública entre las 24h y las 5h, excepto para los viajes esenciales y no aplazables, como los viajes por razones médicas urgentes, los viajes de negocios y los viajes entre el hogar y el trabajo.
9. Las actividades en interiores siguen estando sujetas a los protocolos existentes hasta su evaluación el próximo viernes 23 de octubre. La venta de alimentos y bebidas está prohibida.
10. Competiciones deportivas: reducción a la mitad del espacio reservado a los espectadores de 400 a 200 (profesionales) o compuestos sólo por miembros de una misma unidad familiar (aficionados). Las cafeterías y los bares están cerrados.

El gobierno federal y los gobiernos de las entidades federadas harán todo lo posible para proporcionar el mejor apoyo posible a todos los afectados económicamente. Tanto es así que el gobierno federal duplicará la ayuda que ofrece en concepto de derecho de transición para los autónomos que se vean obligados a cerrar. Se ampliarán las medidas de apoyo existentes. También se introducirá una exención de la ONSS (Oficina Nacional de Seguridad Social).

Las medidas entran en vigor hoy, lunes 19 de octubre y permanecerán vigentes durante un mes antes de ser sometidas a evaluación.

Fuente: belgium.be