Using the KMO-portefeuille for Your Website: Can You Still?

No, since 1 February 2026 you can no longer use the KMO-portefeuille to have a website built. The Flemish government reformed the advice pillar, which now only covers advice on cybersecurity. Websites, webshops and marketing advice no longer fall under it. In this article you will read how it used to work, what exactly changed, what is still possible via the KMO-portefeuille, and which alternatives exist to (partly) finance your website project.

Can you still use the KMO-portefeuille for your website?

For building a new website, that is no longer possible. Since 1 February 2026, only advice on cybersecurity still qualifies for support via the advice pillar of the KMO-portefeuille. Having a website designed or (re)built used to be submitted as an advice track, and that is exactly the category that has been scrapped.

In concrete terms, this means that a new application for a website, webshop or associated marketing advice will be rejected. There is a transitional arrangement: advice tracks officially started before the reform may continue and be settled, but you can no longer submit new files for website construction. So do not count on this subsidy if you are planning a new website project today.

Important to know: this concerns the Flemish KMO-portefeuille (VLAIO), intended for small and medium-sized enterprises with an establishment in the Flemish Region. The conditions and interpretations change regularly, so always check the current rules on vlaio.be before you make decisions based on a subsidy.

How did it work before and what has changed?

Until early 2026, the KMO-portefeuille consisted of two pillars: training and advice. Under the advice pillar you could get back part of the costs for services from a registered service provider, and having a website made often fell under that. Many entrepreneurs used the portfolio this way to recover part of their investment.

That advice pillar has been reformed. From 1 February 2026, only cybersecurity remains as a subsidisable theme within advice. All other forms of advice, website construction included, drop away. The reason is a political choice to concentrate the resources on a more limited number of themes. That the reform drew criticism from the sector changes nothing in practice: for an ordinary business website, the advice support has disappeared.

What stayed the same is the general structure of the support. For what does still qualify, a small enterprise usually receives 30% support and a medium-sized enterprise 20%, with an annual ceiling in the order of 7,500 euros in support. For the themes of digitalisation and cybersecurity, those percentages are higher, around 45% for small and 35% for medium-sized enterprises. Those figures apply to the remaining categories, not to website construction.

What remains possible via the KMO-portefeuille?

Training remains subsidisable unchanged. The reform affected the advice pillar, but the operation of the KMO-portefeuille for training stayed the same. There is indeed an opportunity there for a website project, only in a different way than before.

Think of training your own team, given by a registered service provider. A few examples that fit the spirit of the scheme:

• A course to manage content yourself and update pages in your CMS.
• Training on SEO, so your team understands how to stay findable after a new site.
• A course in conversion-focused writing, so your texts effectively lead visitors to a contact moment.

In addition, advice on cybersecurity remains within the portfolio. That is relevant if your website processes sensitive data or brings in leads via forms, but it covers the security analysis, not building the site itself. Whether a specific course or a cybersecurity track qualifies depends on the accreditation of the service provider and the exact scope. Check that case by case, because only registered service providers count.

The practical gain from this is modest but real. If you learn internally to manage your site yourself, you pay less afterwards for every small change, and you keep adjusting faster when a page does not perform. For many B2B companies that is, in the long run, more valuable than a one-off discount on the build, because a website is never finished and requires ongoing maintenance.

Which alternatives are there to finance your website?

The most important alternative is a tax measure rather than a direct subsidy: the investment deduction. Since assessment year 2026, the deduction for digital investments is higher than before, at 20% for digital assets, against an ordinary base deduction of 10%. This increased digital deduction applies to sole proprietorships and small companies.

Watch the difference with a subsidy. An investment deduction is not a cash refund, but an additional deduction that lowers your taxable profit. The actual benefit therefore depends on your tax rate and your profit, and not every website component automatically qualifies as a deductible digital investment. Whether your website project qualifies and under which percentage, you had best have confirmed by your bookkeeper or accountant. So treat the below as a direction, not a promise.

Besides the tax route, there are sometimes sectoral or local support measures, and the training subsidies above remain available. The common thread: for the build itself there is no simple replacement for the old advice support, so plan your website from a realistic budget and not from the assumption that a subsidy will lower the bill.

What does this mean for your website project?

The loss of the subsidy changes nothing about what a good website should do: turn visitors into leads and revenue. We prefer to steer clients on that result rather than on a subsidy amount, because a refund of a few hundred euros never outweighs a site that does or does not convert.

In practice it means three things. First, set your budget based on the return you expect, not on a discount that no longer exists. Read our B2B website guide if you want to know how that return comes about and which choices determine it. Second point: invest the money where the difference lies, namely in a clear structure, strong copy and a site that truly generates leads instead of only looking nice. And if you are replacing an existing site, then plan the approach to your redesign carefully, because a failed switch costs you more than any subsidy brings in.

We are platform-independent and choose the right solution case by case, whether that is Webflow, WordPress or a headless setup. Want to know what a conversion-focused approach costs for you, then see how we build a professional website.

The short summary

Since 1 February 2026 you can no longer use the KMO-portefeuille to have a website built, because the advice pillar only covers cybersecurity. Training does remain subsidisable, so training your team on CMS, SEO or content management still qualifies. For the build itself, look at alternatives such as the digital investment deduction, in consultation with your bookkeeper. More important than the subsidy question: do not let the budget determine your strategy, because a website pays for itself through leads, not through a discount. Always check the current rules on vlaio.be.

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