Self-employed or employed

Working freelance

You can register as self-employed if you want to make your sex work official. You can choose between the following two options.

Every freelancer who registers at the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (Kruispuntbank) receives a unique company or ID number (NACE code or "General Nomenclature of Economic Activities in the European Community"). This code corresponds to the economic activity you carry out. However, there is no code linked to self-employed sex work.

You can register under NACE 96099 which refers to “Other personal services”.

When you have decided to go it alone, you need to sort out the following: 

What are the advantages of being self-employed?

As an independent sex worker can set your own working hours and activities. You have an official income and consequently you may be able to get a loan, for example to buy a house. Professional costs, such as the rent of a window or room, transport costs, clothing, can be deducted from your taxes.

What are the risks?

As an independent sex worker, you must pay a number of regular costs. These include:

• Four times a year: social contributions to the social insurance fund for the self-employed.
• Your accountant.
• Contribution to a mutual health insurance fund.
• Rent of your premises (if applicable).

In addition to these costs, you also must pay Belgian income tax on your annual income. As a full-time freelancer, you will not get a very high pension and your sickness benefits are lower than those of someone with a regular employment contract. Get advice well before setting up your own business to get an idea of what you are getting into.

Conclusion

Working as an independent sex worker gives you an official income and entitles you to a few social benefits. Even though prostitution is not a recognized profession, once you have fulfilled all the requirements to set up as a freelancer, you are fine. The administrative procedures are not easy, and you must ensure that your monthly income is enough to cover all costs. For example, if you want to reduce your workload every few months, you will still have to meet a number of your regular financial obligations.

TIP: If you have a regular part-time employment contract and work as a freelancer the rest of the time, your financial obligations can be spread. For example, your main job pays the costs of the mutual health insurance and your social contributions are also a lot lower. Self-employment as a secondary occupation is therefore a very interesting option financially.

Working with an employment contract

You can choose to work as an employee which means you have an employment contract with a boss who is your employer.

What are the advantages?

An employment contract gives you specific rights that you don’t have when you work as a freelancer, such as the right to:

• a minimum wage.
• paid holiday.
• an income when you're sick (depending on how long you're sick).
• a redundancy package.

What are the risks?

This type of employment status is not straightforward for sex workers because:

• Pimping is forbidden in Belgium.

This means that those who employ a sex worker are punishable. In practice, a policy of tolerance is adopted. More information can be found on our operators’ page for .

• The power dynamics of an employer-employee are complex in the specific case of sex work.

When there is an employment contract, your employer will determine and monitor your work and working hours in accordance with employment regulations. However, as sex work involves working with the body in an intensive and intimate way, sex workers want to be able to choose when and how long they work and what they do and don’t do. The problem is that employment laws are not followed in this type of work.

• Employment contracts are often not fully transparent.

The gross wage stated on your pay slip is often very low because you get extra pay based on the number of customers you receive. Sometimes, sex workers must also pay their employer social contributions. If the amount on your pay slip is too low and you don’t always work, you may not reach the legal minimum social contributions and lose your employment benefits such as sickness and unemployment benefits, family allocations, ... even if you have an employment contract.

• Prostitution has no real employment contracts.

Many bars, clubs and the Ghent windows work with employment contracts in which sex workers fall into the category of waitresses in the hospitality sector. Unfortunately, these employment contracts are ineffective because the risks and safety regulations for waitresses in the hospitality industry are not comparable to those of a sex worker. For example, these employment contract will never have any clauses related to sexual health or the use of condoms.

• Watch out for bogus or false self-employment.

In the case of bogus or false self-employment, you are self-employed, but in practice you work for a boss, who imposes all kinds of rules and is not a bonafide employer. He/she expects you to pay your own social contributions as if you are a freelancer. As the contract is not transparent you mistakenly belief that everything is taken care of. However, if the contributions are not paid, you are not entitled to any assistance such as sickness, unemployment and pension benefits.

Conclusion

An employment contract is preferable and guarantees you better rights than if you work as an independent. Belgium has no legal framework for employment contracts between operators in the sex industry and sex workers. The existing employment contracts do not give sex workers any flexibility and protect operators against conviction. Prostitution employment contracts exist in a grey area of the law and a lot depends on the agreements made between the sex worker and his/her employer. Always read the contract carefully before signing. If in doubt, ask advice. Violett can help you with these matters.