Individual tax residence and foreign income

Factual domicile or wealth-management centre

Belgian resident taxation applies when domicile is established in Belgium, meaning actual, enduring residence with continuity. If there is no Belgian domicile, a Belgian seat of wealth can also establish residence: this is the place from which assets are managed. The assessment depends on facts, not a nationality label or an isolated day count.

Registration and household rules

National Register registration creates a rebuttable presumption of Belgian residence. For married couples and legal cohabitants, the household's location normally determines their tax domicile.

Residents report worldwide income

Residents must report Belgian and foreign income, including foreign employment pay, pensions, property income, dividends and interest. Foreign income missing from a simplified return must still be supplied through the appropriate return process.

Treaty exemption does not remove reporting

Whether foreign income is taxed in Belgium or abroad depends on its source country and the applicable agreement. Income exempt in Belgium under a treaty must still be declared and can affect the rate on other income and, in some cases, municipal or agglomeration tax.

Non-residents and Belgian-source income

Someone without Belgian domicile or seat of wealth can nevertheless owe non-resident tax on specified Belgian-source income. The residence country may also tax that income; where a double-tax treaty applies, Belgium may tax only insofar as that treaty gives it taxing rights.