Service vouchers

Service vouchers are a subsidised payment method. If you are an adult residing in Belgium, you can pay for your household and ironing services with service vouchers at an affordable price. As well as the affordable rate, each service voucher you buy is tax deductible.

Every adult residing in Belgium can order up to 500 service vouchers per calendar year.

You can order a maximum of 500 service vouchers per calendar year.

In the Flemish and Walloon regions for the first 400 service vouchers, you pay 9 euros per voucher. For the last 100 vouchers you pay 10 euros per voucher.

As of 1/1/2023 the first 300 service vouchers in the Brussels-Capital Region cost 10 euros per voucher. For the last 200 vouchers, you pay 12 euros per voucher.

Tip: The maximum number of service vouchers is limited per person, not per household. Do you and your partner collectively use more than 400 (Flemish and Walloon regions) or 300 (Brussels-Capital Region) service vouchers per year? We advise you to register with Pluxee (Sodexo). That way, you can buy a larger number of service vouchers at the lowest price.

Service vouchers have a validity period of 12 months. Unused service vouchers that have not yet expired can be exchanged. This applies to both paper and electronic vouchers.

Exchanging service vouchers

Service vouchers that are unused or which have not yet expired can be refunded or exchanged through Pluxee.

• You pay 0.25 euros per order for a refund of the vouchers.
• Exchanging paper vouchers costs 0.25 euros per voucher. Exchanging electronic vouchers is free.

The tax deduction for service vouchers varies per region. That is why Pluxee, the service provider that issues service vouchers has separate departments for Flanders, the Brussels-Capital Region and Wallonia.

Tax deduction in Flanders:
1.80 euro per voucher for the first 191 purchased service vouchers per person.

Tax deduction in Brussels:
1.35 euro per voucher for the first 163 purchased service vouchers per person.

Tax deduction in Wallonia:
0.90 euro per service voucher for the first 150 purchased service vouchers per person.

How does the tax deduction work?

Every year on 1 March, you receive a tax certificate from Pluxee. This certificate is also available in the Pluxee app if you use electronic service vouchers. The amount used for your tax deduction is automatically entered into Tax on Web.

Tip: each year, you receive a tax deduction on a certain number of purchased service vouchers per region. If your household uses more than this, you and your partner should sign up for service vouchers individually, as you can benefit from greater tax advantages.

Users with a low income can also benefit from a tax deduction. This is arranged through a refundable tax credit. To request the refund, submit the tax certificate with your tax return. Haven't received a tax return? Contact your local tax office to request it.

If you have any more questions, contact the Contact Center of the FOD Financiën via T. 02 572 57 57 (normal rate).

Are you self-employed and did you recently become a mother? If so, you are entitled to 105 hours of maternity help when you get back to work.

You pay for the maternity help with 105 service vouchers, which you receive from the Social Insurance Fund for Self-Employed Persons (Sociaal Verzekeringsfonds voor Zelfstandigen or SVZ) that you are a member of.

Conditions

To be entitled to free service vouchers, you must:

• fall under the social status 'self-employed person' during the two quarters prior to the quarter in which you gave birth. Also, you must have paid your social contributions for these quarters.
• continue to fall under the social status 'self-employed person' until the provision of the help and you must have paid the contribution for the quarter in which you gave birth.
• register your newborn in the National Register as a member of the mother's family.
• resume your self-employed activities after the birth of the child.

How do you apply for service vouchers?

You can request the service vouchers in the 6th month of your pregnancy at the earliest and until the last day of the 15th week after the birth.. The request must be received by the SVZ within this timeframe to be eligible.

To ensure that self-employed mothers receive this entitlement and to help them remember to submit the application, the SVZ contacts new mothers directly. If you, as a self-employed mother, state that you wish to receive service vouchers, the SVZ will take care of your application:

1. The SVZ provides you with the relevant application forms.
2. Once the SVZ has received your request, you are sent a confirmation of receipt along with the conditions for the issuing of service vouchers.
3. If the conditions are met, SVZ will purchase 105 service vouchers from Pluxee.
4. Pluxee will then provide you with the service vouchers.

Each hour of service, costs one service voucher. In other words, one voucher for every 60 minutes. What about if your household helper occasionally takes less or more time to finish their work, such as 15 minutes extra? For these 15 minutes, another voucher must be paid. The remaining 45 minutes is carried over to your next cleaning visit.

1. A few days after the service is provided, you will receive a message from Sodexo.
2. Confirm the service online, via the app or the online platform.
3. The confirmed number of service vouchers is deducted from your balance.

Tip: ensure that your electronic wallet is always topped up. Arrange a monthly direct debit to Sodexo to ensure that you always have enough service vouchers.

If it's not possible for you to use electronic service vouchers, you can pay with paper service vouchers.

1. Fill in the date, sign the voucher and tick the activity.
2. Your household help will add their name, National Register number and signature.

Tip: don't forget to leave your service vouchers for your household helper to take or to hand them to your household helper.

Each item in your ironing basket corresponds to a fixed number of points. One point equals one minute of ironing. The sum total of these points determines how many service vouchers you will need to pay.

60 points = 1 hour of service = 1 service voucher.

You pay one service voucher per hour of service started. But you receive the remaining points as credit for your next ironing basket. For example:

Your ironing basket adds up tot 75 points. You pay 2 service vouchers. The credit of 45 points is carried over to your next ironing basket.

See below the rates for ironing points:

Ironing point (home ironers) 

1. A few days after the service is provided, you will receive a message from Sodexo.
2. Confirm the service in the app or on the online platform.
3. The approved number of service vouchers is deducted from your balance.

Tip: ensure that your electronic wallet is always topped up. Arrange a monthly direct debit to Sodexo to ensure that you always have enough service vouchers.

If electronic service vouchers are not an option for you, you can pay with paper service vouchers.

1. Fill in the date, sign the voucher and tick the activity.
2. Your household help will add their name, National Register number and signature.