Up until 31 December 2008, the statute of limitations for social security purposes has been set at 5 years. As a result, in case of a reclassification of benefits into remuneration and/or in case of a reclassification of a self-employed collaboration into an employment agreement, the company cost could increase significantly, also taking the interest rate and surcharges into consideration.
As of 1 January 2009, this statute of limitations for social security purposes will be reduced to 3 years. Nevertheless, it should be noted that
- this reduction of the statute of limitations only applies for social security purposes and not for employment law purposes, where the statute of limitations remains unchanged.
- In case of fraud, the statute of limitations will be increased to 7 years;
As a result, the liabilities that could arise from a reclassification for social security purposes will generally be reduced, compared to the years before 2009. Only in case of fraud a higher liability may arise. Such fraud should then however be proven by the social security authorities.
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