Are you considering bringing in volunteers to support your non-profit organization's activities? Whether it's for a one-time assignment or long-term mission, it's important to have a good understanding of the legal framework for volunteer work in Belgium. What obligations does a non-profit have toward its volunteers? What rights and protections do they enjoy? How can you correctly manage expense reimbursements without violating regulations? We provide the answers in this guide.
Volunteering: what are we talking about?
Volunteering is an activity carried out without any remuneration or obligations. It is carried out for the benefit of others in a not-for-profit organisation, (NPO, foundation, public service, etc.), and outside a family or private setting (mutual assistance between neighbours or within a family is not volunteering).
Furthermore, a person may not be engaged both as a paid worker and as a volunteer for the same task with the same employer. Volunteering may not be used by an employer to avoid paying overtime to an employee.
This legal framework ensures that volunteering remains separate from traditional employment relationships, while enabling individuals to become actively involved in social, cultural or educational causes.
Voluntary work is not subject to the same strict rules as salaried contracts. There is no strict subordinate relationship, and the volunteer does not receive any remuneration, but the NPO can decide to compensate its volunteers.
Volunteer reimbursements: what is permitted?
Although unpaid, a volunteer may receive reimbursement for expenses. They must choose one of the two reimbursement systems for the entire current tax year:
📌 Fixed rate expense reimbursement (2024 limit):
- Max. €41.48/day and €1,659.29/year
- Non-taxable if the limits are respected
📌 Reimbursement of actual expenses:
- Based on supporting documents (e.g. travel, meals, phone)
- No upper limit, but subject to verification
⚠️ Important: Reimbursements are not taxable provided that the activities are carried out altruistically, the amounts remain reasonable, and one of the two reimbursement systems is chosen and adhered to. Failure to comply with the rules will result in the entire reimbursement for the same period being considered taxable income.
Administrative obligations
Finally, to work with volunteers, the NPO must comply with the following obligations:
- 📃Volunteers must sign an information sheet introducing the organisation and informing them of their rights and duties (information sheet template).
- 📃The volunteer must sign a volunteer agreement (volunteer agreement template).
- 🛡️The NPO is obliged to take out civil liability insurance for its volunteers. COCOF offers NPOs in the Brussels-Capital Region free volunteer insurance covering 200 days of volunteering per calendar year. The application form to take out this insurance is available on the COCOF website.
Other key considerations
It is not permitted :
- to do volunteer work in the legal sense of the term for a self-employed person or a commercial company. However, to help a self-employed person, you can look into helper status.
- to do volunteer work for individuals.
It is permitted (but under certain conditions):
- NPOs that engage in profit-making operations and are subject to corporation tax may still use volunteers, provided they pursue an altruistic goal and there is no reward for their members (circular 2023/C/2).
- Unemployed people receiving benefits may engage in volunteering while retaining those benefits, provided that the National Employment Office (NEO) is notified in advance in writing.
The director of the unemployment office may prohibit people from engaging in the activity while retaining benefits or only approve it subject to certain restrictions, if they can prove that it is not actually volunteering within the meaning of the law, that the activity in question is not in principle carried out by volunteers, or that the job seeker is no longer sufficiently available in the employment market. - People who have taken early retirement, receive social integration income or benefits in lieu may in principle do volunteer work (in the latter case, the medical officer of the health insurance fund must certify a good state of health for the activity in question).
Good to know :
- It is possible to use the services of a volunteer for a single day. Information on taking on volunteers for a single day.
Ressources
- The Plateforme francophone du Volontariat (French-speaking Platform for Volunteering) has a website entirely devoted to this subject: www.levolontariat.be is a mine of information both for volunteers and people who want to make use of volunteers.
- The tax regime for volunteers is explained on the FPS Finance website.
- The Conseil supérieur des Volontaires (High Council of Volunteers) can answer any questions about volunteering.