Choosing a form - Belgium
Company Types in Belgium
Compare the BV/SRL, NV/SA, cooperative, partnerships and branch by capital, liability and running cost, and find out which one fits a non-resident founder.
- 7 statutory forms, no LLC or Ltd
- BV/SRL: no minimum capital
- NV/SA: EUR 61,500 minimum
- One decision, one handoff
What "Company Type" Means in Belgium
Belgian law recognises seven company forms with legal personality: no "LLC", no "Ltd", whatever an old KBO extract calls the company. Every form must show its real name on every invoice and website (Art. 2:20 CSA). This page compares the seven and routes you to what it takes to open a Belgian company from abroad.
The Seven Belgian Company Forms
The closed catalogue of Art. 1:5 CSA names seven forms with legal personality, plus two others recognised separately.
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BV/SRL
No minimum capital: the CSA abolished it outright (Art. 5:1 CSA). One founder is enough; liability stays limited to the contribution, tested by a financial plan instead (Arts. 5:3, 5:4 CSA).
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NV/SA
EUR 61,500 minimum capital, fully paid up at incorporation (Art. 7:2 CSA). One founder; a collegiate board of at least three directors, or two while under three shareholders.
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CV/SC
Needs at least three founders, on pain of nullity, and a genuine cooperative purpose in the articles (Arts. 6:1, 6:3 CSA). Same sufficiency-of-funds duty as the BV/SRL; liability limited to the contribution.
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VOF/SNC
No capital, two founders minimum, run by the partners themselves under a private deed. Every partner is personally and jointly liable, without limit, for the company's debts (Art. 4:22 CSA).
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CommV/SComm
No capital, two founders minimum, private deed. The commandités carry unlimited joint liability; the commanditaires contribute capital only and cannot manage the company (Art. 4:22 CSA).
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Branch
No Belgian deed and no capital: the foreign company's own constitutive documents are filed instead. No liability ring-fence; the foreign parent answers for the branch without limit (Arts. 2:23 to 2:26 CSA).
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Sole proprietorship
No legal personality, no capital and unlimited personal liability. KBO registration is the entire formality. See registering as self-employed in Belgium for the full route.
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GEIE
The European economic interest grouping: recognised as a legal person separately from the seven-form catalogue, for cross-border cooperation between companies in different EU states (Art. 1:5 §3 CSA).
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Société simple
The one form the CSA holds without legal personality at all (Art. 1:5 §1 CSA): an informal vehicle for two or more people, rarely the right choice for a foreign founder.
Not forming a non-profit? See Company Registration Belgium: ASBL and VZW: Non-Profit Associations in Belgium for the ASBL/VZW route instead.
Which Form Fits Your Situation
The federal business portal confirms these founder, capital and liability figures cell for cell; match your situation to a form below.
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The solo founder
A solo founder who does not want to lock up capital: the BV/SRL needs none, only a financial plan proving sufficient own funds (Art. 5:1 CSA).
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Multiple founders with a cooperative purpose
Multiple founders meeting shared needs rather than raising outside capital: the CV/SC needs at least three founders, on pain of nullity (Arts. 6:1, 6:3 CSA).
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The foreign parent
A foreign parent that wants presence without a new Belgian legal person: a branch avoids incorporation but publishes the parent's own accounts here, without a liability limit (Art. 2:24 CSA).
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The non-EU founder
A non-EU founder who will run the company personally, not just hold shares: a professional card is needed before self-employed KBO registration in principle, narrowly exempted for occasional board meetings.
How We Help You Choose
- Decide: entity or branch. Ring-fence liability with a new Belgian entity, or keep a branch of your existing company. A branch has no separate legal personality and files your parent's home-state accounts here (Art. 2:24 §1 CSA).
- Decide: limited or unlimited liability. A limited form (BV/SRL, NV/SA, CV/SC) needs a notarial deed and a publication fee; an unlimited one (SNC, SComm) needs neither, but exposes the partners' own assets (Art. 4:22 CSA).
- Decide: BV/SRL or NV/SA. No capital against EUR 61,500 fully paid up; one director against a three-person board; a BV share transfers by private deed, subject to a default approval lock-up (Art. 5:63 CSA).
- Check: is the CV/SC even open to you? It needs at least three founders, on pain of nullity, and a genuine cooperative purpose stated in the articles (Arts. 6:1, 6:3 CSA); it is no longer a flexible capital vehicle.
- Check: your own eligibility. An EEA or Swiss national needs nothing extra. A non-EU founder who will be self-employed here needs a professional card first, with a narrow exemption for occasional board attendance.
- Check: whether the activity is regulated. Wallonia and Brussels still enforce proven access-to-profession competence for some activities, verified by the business counter at KBO registration; allow one to three days for this check.
- Size the annual cost before you choose. Which annual-accounts model applies, which NBB filing tariff follows, whether a statutory auditor becomes compulsory, and which annual company contribution band the form falls into.
- Commit, then move to the form's own page. The form's service page carries the deed, the documents and the filing steps, or browse a belgian shelf company for sale to skip formation entirely.
Not Sure Which Form Is Right for You?
Get a form recommendation matched to your founders, capital and liability appetite, direct from the team that files the deed.
What Each Form Costs to Set Up and Keep Alive
Every form above needs a Belgian seat; see Company Registration Belgium: Registered Office in Belgium if you don't have one yet. What follows is what the state, not us, charges to set one up and keep it going.
Documents You'll Need to Start the Conversation
- Identity document for every founder, director and beneficial owner
- For a corporate founder: constitutive deed, current articles, and a certificate of existence
- For a branch: the parent's latest annual and consolidated accounts
- A proxy, if you will not sign in person (Art. 2:8 §1, 3° CSA)
- A financial plan, for the SRL, SA and CV/SC
- A professional-card file, for a non-EU founder who will be self-employed
- A Belgian registered address for the statutory seat
What the State and the Regulated Notarial Tariff Charge
The notarial tariff applies to a BV/SRL incorporation only; the NBB filing fee and the annual company contribution apply every year the company exists. None of these figures are our fee.
| Item | Amount | Note | Source level |
|---|---|---|---|
| KBO/BCE registration, one establishment unit | EUR 111.50 | 2026 tariff; the same amount applies on de-registration; a later modification may be free through My Enterprise | Official source |
| Fixed notarial professional fee, BV/SRL incorporation only | EUR 217 plus EUR 298, excl. VAT | Fednot tariff from 1 January 2024, tied to Art. 2:22/1 al. 2 CSA, the BV route only; not traced to a royal decree | Estimate; no official text traced |
| Moniteur belge, incorporation, electronic filing | EUR 236.50 excl. VAT, EUR 286.17 incl. | Tariff for filings from 1 March 2026 | Official source |
| Moniteur belge, incorporation, paper filing | EUR 292.90 excl. VAT, EUR 354.41 incl. | Same tariff page | Official source |
| Moniteur belge, amending deed, electronic or paper | EUR 171.70 excl. VAT, EUR 207.76 incl. | This is the figure for a later change, not an incorporation | Official source |
| NBB filing of annual accounts, 2026 | Full model EUR 379.50 XBRL or EUR 449.70 PDF; abridged EUR 89.40 or EUR 159.50; micro EUR 67.00 or EUR 137.30 | By annual-accounts model | Official source |
| Late filing of annual accounts, from 1 January 2026 | EUR 120 to EUR 1,200 by month of delay | Small or micro companies pay the lower end; Art. 3:13 CSA; refundable on a force-majeure application within 18 months | Official source |
| Annual company contribution | EUR 399.73 or EUR 998.47 | 2025 amounts, based on the 2023 balance sheet; no 2026 figure retrieved, re-verify before publication | Official source |
Add the notarial and Moniteur lines to the KBO fee for an electronic BV/SRL filing and the state and tariff cost comes to about EUR 863 excluding VAT. For an NV/SA, only the Moniteur and KBO lines apply: no fixed tariff has been traced for the notarial deed, so the notary quotes it directly.
These state charges sit alongside corporate income tax itself: see the tax rates page for the 25% and 20% figures.
What Happened to the Old Company Names
An old shareholders' agreement or an old KBO extract may still show one of nine names the CSA retired; see our company register overview to look up what a company's record shows today. Every company had to bring its articles into conformity by 1 January 2024, or its directors answer personally and jointly for the resulting damage (Art. 39 §1 al. 3 CSA).
| Old name | What happens to it | Mechanism | Article | Since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPRL | Reads as SRL by operation of law, even where the articles were never amended | Renaming by operation of law | Art. 39 §2 al. 2 | 1 January 2020 |
| SCS | Reads as SComm | Renaming by operation of law | Art. 39 §2 al. 2 | 1 January 2020 |
| SCRL | Reads as SC, but only if the company meets the Art. 6:1 cooperative-purpose definition | Renaming by operation of law | Art. 39 §2 al. 2 | 1 January 2020 |
| SCA | Became an SA with a sole director | Transformation by operation of law | Art. 41 §2 | 1 January 2024 |
| Société agricole | Became an SNC, or a SComm if it had limited partners | Transformation by operation of law | Art. 41 §2 | 1 January 2024 |
| GIE | Became an SNC | Transformation by operation of law | Art. 41 §2 | 1 January 2024 |
| SCRI | Became an SNC | Transformation by operation of law | Art. 41 §2 | 1 January 2024 |
| SCRL not meeting the Art. 6:1 definition | Became an SRL | Transformation by operation of law | Art. 41 §2 | 1 January 2024 |
| Union professionnelle | Became an ASBL | Transformation by operation of law | Art. 41 §2 | 1 January 2024 |
These conversions are verified against the Law of 23 March 2019 introducing the CSA, Arts. 39 and 41.
Common Mistakes When Choosing a Belgian Company Form
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Assuming "LLC" or "Ltd" exists here
Neither is in the closed Art. 1:5 CSA catalogue; the nearest equivalent is the BV/SRL, and every company must show its real form on every invoice and website (Art. 2:20 CSA).
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Relying on an old article naming a BVBA or SPRL
It reads as BV/SRL by operation of law from 1 January 2020, but the articles themselves still needed conforming by 1 January 2024, on pain of personal director liability.
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Funding a BV/SRL with "EUR 1"
Some formation guides still quote it, but Art. 5:1 CSA abolished capital outright; the real duty is sufficient own funds, backed by founder liability if the company fails within three years on manifestly insufficient funding (Art. 5:16, 2° CSA).
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Choosing the NV/SA for prestige
EUR 61,500 of locked capital, a blocked bank account and a three-director board buy nothing a BV/SRL would not carry just as well for most businesses.
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Choosing the CV/SC because it "sounds flexible"
It needs three founders on pain of nullity and a genuine cooperative purpose in the articles; the CSA closed off its old use as a flexible capital vehicle.
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Budgeting only the formation fee
The annual company contribution, the NBB filing fee and a late-filing surcharge, criminal for directors since 1 September 2026 (Art. 3:43 §1, 1° CSA), arrive later, not on the setup invoice.
Why Work With Us
From our practice. Maarten De Wilde leads formation and corporate structuring (Dutch native, English, French): twelve years on Belgian company files, Ghent University law faculty, then eight years on a Brussels notarial office's company-law desk. His daily work drafts the notary file for a BV/SRL or an NV/SA, and coordinates a branch, a holding structure or a share transfer through the register.
Related Company-Form Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the BVBA / SPRL still exist, or is it something else now?
No. From 1 January 2020 an old BVBA or SPRL reads as a BV/SRL by operation of law, even where the articles were never amended (Art. 39 §2 al. 2, Law of 23 March 2019). Every company still had to bring its actual articles into conformity by 1 January 2024, or its directors answer for the resulting damage personally.
Which Belgian form has no minimum capital at all, and what replaces it?
The BV/SRL: the CSA abolished capital for it outright (Art. 5:1 CSA). What replaces it is a duty to provide initial own funds sufficient for the planned activity (Art. 5:3 CSA), tested by a financial plan (Art. 5:4 CSA) and backed by founder liability if the company fails within three years on manifestly insufficient funding (Art. 5:16, 2° CSA).
How many people do I need to set up a Belgian company?
One founder is enough for a BV/SRL or an NV/SA. A CV/SC needs at least three, on pain of nullity (Art. 6:3 CSA), plus a genuine cooperative purpose stated in the articles. An SNC or a SComm needs two partners, since the form is built on a partnership between them.
Do I need a statutory auditor?
Not if the company is small under Art. 1:24 CSA: exceeding no more than one of 50 FTE headcount, EUR 11,250,000 turnover excluding VAT, and EUR 6,000,000 balance-sheet total, and not listed or a public-interest entity (Art. 3:72 CSA). Micro companies under Art. 1:25 CSA sit well inside that threshold.
What does a Belgian company cost to keep alive each year, beyond the formation fee?
The published state items: an NBB annual filing fee from EUR 67.00 (micro, XBRL) to EUR 449.70 (full model, PDF), an annual company contribution of EUR 399.73 or EUR 998.47 (2025 amounts), and a late-filing surcharge from EUR 120 to EUR 1,200 by month of delay if either is missed (Art. 3:13 CSA).
Branch or subsidiary: which is the right vehicle for a foreign parent?
A branch has no separate legal personality: the foreign parent is liable without limit for it, and must file its own home-state annual accounts in the Belgian record (Art. 2:24 §1 CSA). A subsidiary, a BV/SRL or an NV/SA in its own right, ring-fences liability at the cost of forming a new Belgian entity.
What happened to the SCA, the GIE and the agricultural company after 2019?
All three were transformed by operation of law on 1 January 2024 (Art. 41 §2, Law of 23 March 2019): the SCA became an SA with a sole director, the société agricole became an SNC or a SComm depending on whether it had limited partners, and the GIE became an SNC.
What is an LLC in Belgium?
There is no LLC in Belgian law. The closed catalogue of Art. 1:5 §2 CSA does not include one; the nearest equivalent is the BV/SRL, whose shareholders commit only their contribution (Art. 5:1 CSA). Unlike a US LLC, the BV/SRL has no default members' agreement and no pass-through taxation.
What kinds of company types are there?
Seven with legal personality under Art. 1:5 §2 CSA: SNC, SComm, SRL, SC, SA, SE and SCE. The GEIE is recognised separately as a legal person (Art. 1:5 §3 CSA), and the société simple exists without legal personality at all (Art. 1:5 §1 CSA). Not six, and not eight.
What does "BV company" mean in Belgium?
BV is short for besloten vennootschap, the Dutch name for the private limited company; the French name is société à responsabilité limitée, abbreviated SRL. Both names describe the same company under the same statute (Art. 5:1 CSA); a founder sees one or the other depending on the language of the file.
What is considered a limited liability company?
In Belgium, any form whose shareholders answer only for their contribution: the BV/SRL, the NV/SA and the CV/SC all qualify (Arts. 5:1, 7:2, 6:2 CSA). "LLC" itself names no Belgian form; it describes the liability rule these three forms share, not a fourth form.
Is it better to be a PLC or LTD?
Neither is a Belgian legal form, so the question does not translate directly. The nearest Belgian equivalents by function are the NV/SA, a public company needing EUR 61,500 in capital (Art. 7:2 CSA), and the BV/SRL, a private company needing none (Art. 5:1 CSA).
Does Europe have LLCs?
No single EU-wide LLC exists. Each member state keeps its own closed catalogue of company forms, and Belgium's is set out in Art. 1:5 CSA: seven forms with legal personality, plus the GEIE and the société simple. A founder comparing countries is comparing different catalogues, not one shared form.
What are the new rules in Belgium for 2026?
For company forms specifically: failing to file the annual accounts became a criminal offence for directors from 1 September 2026, with a maximum fine of EUR 80,000 and the company also civilly liable (Art. 3:43 §1, 1° CSA). It sits on top of the 1 January 2024 conformity deadline already in force for renamed and transformed forms.
Can a foreigner start a business in Belgium?
Yes. Ownership carries no nationality or residence restriction under the CSA (Art. 2:147 CSA). Running the company is different: an EEA or Swiss national needs nothing extra, while a non-EU national needs a professional card before self-employed KBO registration, with a narrow exemption for attending board meetings under 90 days a year.
Get Your Company-Form Recommendation
Tell us your founders, your capital and your liability appetite, and we tell you which Belgian form fits, then handle the deed.