Wage attachment 2026: what must the employer do?
Last updated: August 2026
A registered letter lands on the HR desk. A bailiff serves you with an attachment order on the pay of one of your workers. You are neither the creditor nor the debtor, and yet you are the one who has to act, within a deadline that is already running.
That is what makes this file unusual: it happens to you, but the responsibility is yours. If you withhold nothing, or withhold the wrong amount, you can be declared debtor in your own right for what your worker owed. Somebody else's debt becomes yours.
This letter is not something to handle by feel, and that is good news: everything about it is framed. There is a scale, there is a deadline, and there is a declaration to draw up.
In short: an attachment is imposed by a creditor through a bailiff, whereas an assignment is accepted by the worker themselves. In both cases only part of the net pay can be taken, according to a banded scale indexed each year. You have fifteen days to draw up your declaration as garnishee.
Attachment or assignment: what is the difference?
Both end in a deduction from pay, but they do not have the same origin. Wage attachment is imposed: a creditor freezes part of the wages in your hands, through the courts. Wage assignment is voluntary: the worker has agreed by contract to assign the assignable part of their pay to a creditor, most often when taking out credit.
For you, the practical difference lies in where the letter comes from and in the procedure that follows. An attachment arrives via a bailiff and triggers immediate formal obligations. An assignment stems from a contract signed by your worker, one you are not party to, but which binds you as soon as it is served on you.
What does not change is the ceiling. The same pay bands protect the worker in both cases. A creditor cannot obtain more because they hold an assignment rather than an attachment.
Nor does your responsibility change. The precise consequences differ by procedure, but neither leaves you the option of ignoring the letter.
What share of the wages may you withhold?
The calculation is made on net pay, after deducting social security contributions, payroll withholding tax and any deductions for a supplementary social security benefit. Not on the gross. The bands and amounts are set out in article 1409 of the Judicial Code, the reference for this whole subject. If the path from one to the other is unfamiliar, our guide to the calculation from gross to net sets out the steps.
The 2026 scale by band
The ceilings are adjusted each calendar year to the consumer price index of December of the previous year. These were set by the Royal Decree of 3 December 2025, published in the Belgian Official Gazette of 10 December 2025, and have applied since 1 January 2026 (FPS Employment, accessed 31 August 2026).
| Monthly net pay | Earned income | Replacement income |
|---|---|---|
| Up to €1,419 | 0% | 0% |
| From €1,419.01 to €1,524 | 20% | 20% |
| From €1,524.01 to €1,682 | 30% | 40% |
| From €1,682.01 to €1,839 | 40% | 40% |
| Above €1,839 | 100% | 100% |
Which column you need depends on the nature of the income: the pay of someone in work falls under earned income, whereas benefits such as unemployment or sickness allowances fall under replacement income. The gap sits in the third band, where replacement income is taken at 40% against 30% for earned income.
The mechanism is progressive, like income tax: each percentage applies only to the part falling within its band, not to the whole wage. So is net pay of €1,600 attachable at 30%? Certainly not, and it all comes down to how the bands stack: the first €1,419 stays untouchable, the next €105 falls in the 20% band and the remaining €76 in the 30% band. That gives €43.80 in total, not the €480 that a 30% rate on the entire wage would produce. Like wage indexation, these thresholds move on 1 January: last year's scale will skew every calculation you make.
Note the last line: above €1,839 net, the excess is attachable at 100%. That is why the amounts become significant so quickly on average salaries.
The reduction per dependent child
Since 1 January 2026 the attachable share is reduced by €88 per dependent child. That reduction applies to the attachable amount as calculated, not to the starting wage.
It is not automatic: it assumes the dependent child status is established. That deserves attention, because a forgotten reduction means withholding too much, and withholding too much is just as much a mistake as withholding too little.
There is more administration behind this than "my worker tells me he has two children". The worker must make a declaration on a form whose template is set by ministerial decree, and they send that declaration to you and to the creditor alike, by registered post or against a signed receipt. They attach supporting documents together with a sworn statement that the child genuinely remains a dependent. A health insurance fund certificate, a household composition certificate, a ruling or agreement on shared custody, or bank statements showing maintenance payments all count as accepted proof (Securex, accessed 31 August 2026).
Two practical consequences for you. No deadline frames that declaration, but the moment you receive it determines when you start applying the reduction: it takes effect from the month following receipt, provided ten working days remain before the payment date. And if you have doubts about the documents produced, you neither apply nor set aside the reduction on your own authority: a court decision or an agreement between the parties is needed, and that assessment does not engage your liability (Securex, accessed 31 August 2026).
The full calculation, step by step
Take a worker whose monthly net pay comes to €2,100, with two dependent children.
- Band up to €1,419, at 0%: €0
- Band from €1,419.01 to €1,524, so €105 at 20%: €21
- Band from €1,524.01 to €1,682, so €158 at 30%: €47.40
- Band from €1,682.01 to €1,839, so €157 at 40%: €62.80
- Share above €1,839, so €261 at 100%: €261
- Attachable subtotal: €392.20
- Reduction for 2 dependent children, at €88 each: minus €176
- Amount to withhold: €216.20
The worker therefore keeps €1,883.80 of their €2,100. Without the two dependent children the deduction would have been €392.20, close to double. Family circumstances are no administrative detail in this calculation.
One point comes round twice a year: holiday pay and the year-end bonus are attachable too, and they are not calculated separately. The bonus is added to the normal pay for the month in which it is paid, and the attachable share is calculated on the total. On those payslips the deduction is therefore a good deal higher than in an ordinary month.
What must you do when the letter arrives?
The first obligation is a declaration, not a payment. You have to tell the creditor and the worker what you know, within a short deadline, before you withhold anything at all. It is a formality that is easy to underestimate, and yet it is the one that engages your liability.
The declaration as garnishee, within fifteen days
Fifteen days from when? From receipt of the attachment. Within that period you must draw up a declaration as garnishee and send it by registered post, or hand it over against a receipt, to the attaching creditor or their bailiff and to the worker. Both recipients, not one or the other.
From the moment you receive the writ, you may no longer dispose of the sums covered by the attachment. The deduction therefore applies from the first payslip after service. You do not wait for the fifteen days to expire, since those only concern the declaration. Paying the worker their full wages as though nothing had happened exposes you directly.
An assignment follows a different procedure
An assignment is not handled like an attachment, and it arrives in two stages. You first receive, by registered post, a copy of the letter in which the creditor informs the worker of their intention to enforce the assignment. Ten days later at the earliest, a second registered letter sends you the certified copy of the deed of assignment and asks you to enforce it. Do you have to withhold from the first letter? No: it is the second that triggers the deduction.
Between the two, the worker may object. If they do, they send you a registered letter: you inform the creditor and immediately suspend any deduction. The worker then receives their full pay until the justice of the peace, on the creditor's application, confirms the assignment.
No declaration as garnishee is required in that case: that formality belongs to the attachment procedure.
What the declaration must contain
It states the amount, the date and the method of payment of the wages you pay the worker each month. You attach the record of attachments and assignments already served for that person, together with the supporting documents in your possession.
That record is not an extra formality. Where several creditors come forward, an order of priority applies, and it is your declaration that makes it possible to establish it. An incomplete declaration creates a dispute between creditors in which you become the unwilling referee.
Keep everything: the service of the writ, your declaration, and the detail of the deductions made month by month. Those documents fall under your retention obligations in the same way as your other social documents.
What do you risk if you withhold nothing?
The penalty has a name that says it all: you can be declared debtor in your own right for the amounts your worker owes. Not a fine, not a proportionate penalty: the debt itself. You pay in someone else's place, out of your own funds.
In concrete terms, an employer who pays the full wages after an attachment has been served has let frozen sums leave their own assets. The creditor does not have to chase the worker: they turn to you.
The same reasoning applies to meeting the deadline and to the accuracy of the declaration. The procedure is strict because it governs the fate of funds that stopped being yours the moment the writ was served.
And is it safer to withhold too much, just in case? Precisely not: the worker then has a claim against you for the share that was due to them. The only safe ground is the exact calculation, and it is checked on the payslip, where the deduction must appear. Our guide to reading and understanding a payslip shows where to find it.
Are maintenance debts an exception?
Yes, and it is the most important exception to know. For maintenance debts, the banded scale does not apply: the whole of the pay is attachable or assignable. The same rule covers the delegation of sums in favour of a spouse, under article 1412 of the Judicial Code (FPS Employment, accessed 31 August 2026).
The bands protect a minimum income meant to support the worker and their family. Where the debt is precisely a maintenance obligation towards that family, the protection loses its purpose.
In practice, that means the same worker may fall under two different regimes depending on the nature of the claim served on you. So always read the basis of the request before applying the scale.
What about temporary workers?
Nothing changes in principle: an agency worker or a payrolled employee enjoys the same protections and triggers the same obligations. What changes is who receives the letter. The attachment is served on the legal employer, the one who pays the wages, and not on the company where the worker performs the work.
Where staff are provided through an authorised operator, it is therefore the operator who is the garnishee, who draws up the declaration and who makes the deduction. The user company has nothing to do on that front.
The real difficulty with flexible staff lies elsewhere: in the irregularity of the work performed. Pay that varies from month to month makes the attachable share vary with it. That is a point our guide to payroll employee rights also covers.
So redo the calculation at every payslip rather than carrying over last month's figure. A deduction carried over mechanically onto a wage that has fallen pushes the remainder below the protected minimum, and then it is the worker who has a claim against you.
What employers should remember
- Attachment and assignment differ in origin, not in ceiling. One is imposed by a creditor, the other accepted by the worker, but the protective scale is the same.
- The calculation is on the net, in progressive bands. Nothing up to €1,419, then 20%, 30% and 40% per band, and 100% above €1,839.
- €88 per dependent child is deducted from the attachable amount, since 1 January 2026.
- Fifteen days for the declaration as garnishee, addressed to the creditor or their bailiff and to the worker.
- The risk is paying someone else's debt. An employer who fails to follow the procedure can be declared debtor in their own right for the amounts their worker owes.
- Maintenance debts fall outside the scale: the whole of the pay is then attachable.
How Recruit helps you
An attachment landing on a flexible worker means a calculation to redo at every payslip, with a deadline running. At Recruit the operator remains the legal employer: so we receive the writ and we carry the procedure.
With Recruit:
- Legal employer clearly identified - The writ is served on us, not on you
- Accurate payroll - Attachable shares applied to the net, scale and indexation kept current
- Dimona and social documents - Immediate employment declaration and supporting documents kept and available
- Month-by-month tracking - Every deduction traceable and retrievable, not reconstructed afterwards
- Personal support 24/7 - A dedicated contact who knows your file and your sector
Try Recruit or contact our HR experts for tailored advice.
Frequently asked questions
May I refuse to apply an attachment?
No. From the moment the writ is served, the sums concerned are frozen in your hands and you may no longer dispose of them. Paying the full wages to the worker exposes you to being declared debtor in your own right for their debt. You do not have to judge whether the claim is well founded, only to apply the procedure.
Must I notify my worker?
Yes. The declaration as garnishee is addressed to the attaching creditor or their bailiff and to the worker concerned. Both must be sent within the same fifteen-day period, by registered post or against a receipt.
Is holiday pay attachable?
Yes, as is the year-end bonus. Both are added to the pay for the month in which they are paid, so the attachable share is calculated on that total and the deduction for that month rises noticeably.
What if several creditors come forward?
An order of priority applies between them, and it is your declaration as garnishee that makes it possible to establish it, since it lists the attachments and assignments already served. Where claims compete, the question becomes technical: have it checked rather than allocating by feel.
Does the deduction change if the wage varies?
Yes. The attachable share is calculated on the net pay for the month, so a variable wage produces a variable deduction. For flexible staff whose work changes from month to month, the calculation has to be redone at every payslip.
Can my worker object to an assignment?
Yes, and it concerns you directly. If they object, they send you a registered letter: you must then inform the creditor and suspend any deduction immediately. The worker receives their full pay until the justice of the peace, on the creditor's application, confirms the assignment. That right of objection does not exist against an attachment.
The information in this article is provided for general guidance only and does not replace professional legal advice. Labour legislation changes regularly. Always consult the legislation in force or contact an HR expert for advice suited to your situation.