What is "titres-services" ?


The story ...

The “titres-services” is a system that is subsidized by the Belgian Government, which allows individuals to hire a housekeeper from an accredited company for household chores.

 

To make it easy, you pay the cleaning lady with a so called “voucher” or “titre-service”, one for each hour of work.

 

The system was initially created and set up by Belgium Government to cut down on illegal working and worker exploitation, and eventually put back to work unemployed.

 

The worker gets a decent salary with social security benefits and holiday pay.

As a user, you are sure that the worker is insured, that you don't run the risk of fines for employing illegally, and the titres-services vouchers are partially tax deductible if you are a Belgian tax payer.

How much ?

You pay Euro 9 for an hour work and the Government subsidizes the rest to guarantee a solid income for the workers.

The activities that are allowed with these vouchers are :

  • Cleaning the home including windows;
  • Washing and/or ironing;
  • Preparing meals

The activities that are NOT allowed with these vouchers are :

  • Babysitting – care for elderly or sick
  • Any manual work (Painting or wallpapering -garden maintenance – electrical work
  • Watching your pets
  • management or administrative work
  • Professional businesses like a doctors waiting room, your store.