- Expatriates -
20 octobre, 2008 - 23:00 | taxadvisers
As each year the tax people are playing with our (and your) feet and let us wait for knowing when will the (2007) income non-resident tax returns be sent and have to be filed.
Well we are getting an answer although indirectly as the electronic formulars have now been issued today.
This might mean that the paper formulas, legally required, will indeed be sent end of October 2008 with end of November as a due date ( ? ).
Ready for the stress ?
14 septembre, 2008 - 23:00 | taxadvisers
As regards secondments of expatriates to Belgium we frequently find the situation where the executive continue to be paid by the foreign company which seconds him near the Belgian company (within the framework of a provision of personnel) and curiously when on the basis of a net take home pay basis where taxes are paid by the Belgian company.
In this context I raise three questions:
9 août, 2008 - 23:00 | taxadvisers
17 avril, 2008 - 23:00 | taxadvisers
We all know that to benefit from the special statute the foreign executive must still prove that he has maintained the centre of his social and economic interests abroad.
Does the fact of having an employment contract with a fixed duration ( limited period ) become for the administration an important criterion in the appreciation of the maintenance abroad of the centre of these interests?
Based on an April 2008 letter of a local foreign control this seems now to be the case.
12 avril, 2008 - 23:00 | taxadvisers
Note for the expatriates arriving in Belgium who will benefit from the special tax statute.
When you plan to come to work in Belgium you may find quite beneficial to seriously analyze your tax situation before your arrival taking into account that Belgium is a country with (very) high rates of taxation. For example as soon as you gain more than 32.500, 00 EUR each additional euro is taxed at 53, 50%.
Computations, in general, are carried out by considering that your family will also be established in Belgium with a non working spouse.
6 avril, 2008 - 23:00 | taxadvisers
When a local tax control questions an expatriate on the maintenance of the centre of its economic and social interests because he lives ....... a difficult separation in fact and on the question of knowing if the tax advantage of the Circular of 08.08.1983 is well allotted to the employer because it would be paid on the basis of a gross remuneration !
9 juillet, 2007 - 23:00 | taxadvisers
This article is not in anyway intended to reiterate that Belgium grants preferential tax treatment to expatriates temporarily seconded to Belgium. That much is common knowledge, and I have no intention of boring you with the minutiae of how this works in practice.
9 juillet, 2007 - 23:00 | taxadvisers
You are expatriated in Belgium and, under the regime of the regulation 1408/71 of the EEC, you remained subject to the social security of your country of origin, member state of the European Union, since five years.
Do you know that if you retire in the three years following the expiration of these five years you can remain subject to the foreign social security while remaining in Belgium ?
Do you know that even if you do not intend to retire it is possible to benefit from a 6 months to one year extension to remain under the home country social security umbre
9 juillet, 2007 - 23:00 | taxadvisers
Brussels, may 27, 1999
The tax circular of august 1983 granting a favourable regime to the expatriates transferred temporarily in Belgium:
What kind of reimbursements of expenses by the employer may be treated as non taxable in the hands of the expatriates ?
To avoid any misunderstanding when transferred the expatriate should read my comments on this matter so to be able to raise the appropriate questions with his employer before the transfer.
The first type of expenses that may be reimbursed by the employer upon the transfer in Belgium are the e
9 juillet, 2007 - 23:00 | taxadvisers
Brussels, March 10, 2006
The tax people are becoming more and more tough regarding their requirements.
They now start applying quite strictly the circular.
During audits they ask frequently to support the professional nature of the trips (names and addresses of the enterprises visited with related proofs such as summaries of meetings, exchange of correspondence ...etc) which might be quite a nightmare if you have not collected these proofs at the right time or when you are no longer working for the company.
9 juillet, 2007 - 23:00 | taxadvisers
Brussels, August 20 2007
The ways for an expatriate to support his travels abroad.
Lessons from experience.
General remark
It is the responsibility and up to the expatriate to substantiate his travels abroad as well as their professional character.
Up to now the tax people require the following elements of proof:
1.
Airplanes tickets, boarding passes ; eventually: invoices from the travel agency.
The boarding passes are required because too many
9 juillet, 2007 - 23:00 | taxadvisers
The Circular of 08.08.1983 granting a special tax regime to the executives / expatriates transferred temporarily in Belgium.
A. The philosophy
B. The way to compute the taxable basis
C. The so-called travel exclusion
D. The way to compute the percentage of business travels abroad
E. Administrative requirements - Procedure
F. Social security
G. General
H. Example of the computation of the non taxable indemnities
9 juillet, 2007 - 23:00 | taxadvisers
Some Frequently Asked Questions
When an expatriate is transferred from aboad to Belgium to work e.g. in one of the subsidiaries of the foreign mother company he may benefit from a special tax status implemented by the administrative Circular of August 8, 1983 that will grant him the status of a Belgian non tax resident even if he stays 10 years or more in Belgium provided he can still justify that he has maintained the centre of his social and economic interests aboad (house, relatives – but not family which generally will also be in Belgium -, savings, social activity …) which will not be the case if e.g. he buys two houses in Belgium while having none abroad.