Doesn’t Time Fly: From a Two-Year Assignment to Two Decades in Brussels

I can hardly believe that it is 20 years since I started working in Belgium. Twenty years!

I came to Belgium on a two-year assignment with Deloitte, and we immediately loved it here. I localised and spent nine years at Deloitte before joining AIRINC in 2014.

I’m regularly asked why we stayed, and there are multiple reasons: from fantastic education and health systems to a vibrant cultural scene. Although, like everywhere, the traffic is often appalling!

Another key factor is the great standard of living. That might sound odd given Belgium’s reputation as one of the highest-taxing countries in Europe, but we could never afford the lifestyle we have if we were in London.

That got me thinking… if I were moving to Brussels now, would it be an attractive proposition? To get the answer, I ran a sample scenario through our Global Salary Comparison tool:

Married + 3 children
Move: Permanent International Transfer
From London to Brussels
UK Current Salary – £100,000
New Belgian Employment Salary – EUR 125,000

The result was fascinating!

Gross: I’d be 8.1% better off at the gross level (£100,000 = EUR 115,600) compared to EUR 125,000.

Yay! My gross looks great! …but hang on, aren’t taxes really high in Belgium?

Net: I’d be 6.2% worse off at the net level (EUR 82,026 vs EUR 76,961) due to the stonking tax rates in Belgium.

Ouch. So you’re asking me to go for less!? Hmmm… but why do my Belgian colleagues appear better off than me?

Purchasing power: I’d be 15.6% better off in purchasing power terms.

Fab! Just think of all those extra Belgian beers, chocolates, and moules-frites I can afford!

To protect London purchasing power, I’d need EUR 66,554 net in Belgium. This is because housing is 41.7% cheaper and goods and services are 5.4% cheaper. I’d actually be getting EUR 76,961 net, so in real purchasing power terms, I’d have an extra ten grand in my pocket each year.

This really demonstrates that you need to understand the full picture:

Gross looks good
Net looks terrible
Purchasing power looks really good

If you’re moving someone permanently across borders, don’t make the decision based on half the story. The Global Salary Comparison tool gives you all the information you need to understand the whole picture.

Here’s to the next 20 years in Belgium!