Context

In principle, the taxable period for Belgian individual income tax purposes runs from 1 January to 31 December. The “tax year” (also referred to as “assessment year”) is the year following the income year.

However, if the individual changes from resident tax status to non-resident tax status or vice versa during the calendar year, there will be two taxable periods, i.e. from 1 January until the date of change of status, and from the latter date until 31 December. In this case, the “tax year” equals the taxable period.

In this respect it should be noted that the indexation of tax brackets, tax deductions, tax exempted amounts, etc. depends on the tax year, not on the year of income.

The question has arisen whether the taxable period for a non-resident individual always corresponds to the calendar year, or whether the taxable period should be limited to the part of the calendar year during which the non-resident individual derived taxable remuneration from Belgium in that capacity.

The Belgian tax authorities defend the view that a calendar year is only to be considered partly in the event of a change of taxpayer status (e.g. switch from resident to non-resident status for Belgian income tax purposes). Therefore, the taxable period for a foreign expat (non-resident) leaving Belgium always corresponds to the calendar year.

In practice, their position resulted in the fact that no specific “special” tax return is due after leaving Belgium, but this position was overruled by the Belgian Court of Cassation in two recent judgments.

News

In response to the above case law and with a view to confirming the initial position of the Belgian tax authorities, the taxable period has been further defined by a Royal Decree of 22 December 2010, published in the Official Gazette of 7 January 2011 and applicable from tax year 2011, confirming that no “special” tax return is due after a non-resident  taxpayer (benefiting from the special expat tax regime) has left Belgium.