Working in Belgium via Connexion

[fatboyContractor]

btw, something that Connexion is not telling us:
It is not 75-25......but 75-20......the 5% is Connexion's fee!!!!!!
To tell you more we also pay some 120 euros per month for that accountant who is useless. He never helped me with the expenses and he preferred to put the 3000 euros forfait amount in order to not loose time with the calculations.
There are accountants who charge 300-400 in a year and not 1500 as he does!!!!
It really makes no sense to go on with this schema.

I spoke to Connexxion earlier and as I have always said their negotiating posotion is very very weak, they are giving ground the whole time.

Trust me I have been in Belgium for quite a few years and I know that the BTA will prevail in all this.

Not only are you right in your earlier post when you say that you wil have to pay up to 50%/55% depending on the family sitation, not on the 31.5% which as reported by Jason last week - seems there was a meeting with the BTA - but wait for it, the 75/25% split is for non Belgian residents only from 01/01/2009.

This means if you arrive in Belgium you will get 75%/25% for 36 months - you will be classified as non Belgian resident for this period - after that, it moves
to 85%/15% you fall into belgian resident - I don't need to tell you as has already been pointed out at that level, there is no point in using any manco.


As I said earlier just wait for the penaties on top.

[ContractorGR]

fatboyContractor, can you send me an email at dmgr@libero.it so we can talk privately?

[ContractorGR]

[QUOTE=fatboyContractor;773338]
This means if you arrive in Belgium you will get 75%/25% for 36 months - you will be classified as non Belgian resident for this period - after that, it moves
to 85%/15% you fall into belgian resident - I don't need to tell you as has already been pointed out at that level, there is no point in using any manco.
[QUOTE]

Who told you that after 36 months you are considered as a resident?
I think this depends on the type of declaration your accountant makes for you
If he declares only your Belgian income then this is a non-resident tax declaration. Otherwise he should declare also income you have from other countries. e.g. if you have a House in UK you don't declare it in Belgium, right?
I may be wrong as I am not a professional accountant

[fatboyContractor]

[QUOTE=ContractorGR;773435][QUOTE=fatboyContractor;773338]
This means if you arrive in Belgium you will get 75%/25% for 36 months - you will be classified as non Belgian resident for this period - after that, it moves
to 85%/15% you fall into belgian resident - I don't need to tell you as has already been pointed out at that level, there is no point in using any manco.

Who told you that after 36 months you are considered as a resident?
I think this depends on the type of declaration your accountant makes for you
If he declares only your Belgian income then this is a non-resident tax declaration. Otherwise he should declare also income you have from other countries. e.g. if you have a House in UK you don't declare it in Belgium, right?
I may be wrong as I am not a professional accountant

Conexxion told me today.

I spouted off at them saying the thing is moving the whole time,with every day it gets worse, as I have said their postion is no position, they have nohing to stand on.

I said way back we would never get 75%/25% - it isn't possible, not law even and lo and behold !

What they say is for 36 months you can have 75%/25% - they can argue short term people, expat etc etc bla bla, so no hassle, they can wing it for that peruiod, after 36 months you are considered as fully Belgian Resident and you get 85%/15%, so don't bother..

Dump Connxion immediately and set up your own ltd/aprl/bvba, this is the only way to poceed, and even then - of course you will be 100% legit - you will not make any money because of the huge tax burden you will face.

[Northerner]

A word of warning

I would be careful not to be so open on a public forum. A simple Google on a couple of words put this page near the top of the list. (Maybe the admin of this site should block Google searches from their site)

Also a couple of posts on other threads looks like the authorities are fishing for information.

[acis]

connexion fee

Hi all,

did you guys noticed that connexion included their fees in the calculation of the lump sum ? I was astonished to see that that they altered the amount invoiced as total agency invoiced amount (connexion fee included) instead of effective invoice amount - (Tot. Agency invoiced - Connexion fee) * xxx = Tax adjust. That stands for paying a connexion chunk for the services they were unable to provide eventually. I have never knew about those money up until now. I am suppose to pay their debts and boost up my social taxes by declaring it. How will this be handled with the new rule of paying directly to BTA?

[fatboyContractor]

Hi all,

did you guys noticed that connexion included their fees in the calculation of the lump sum ? I was astonished to see that that they altered the amount invoiced as total agency invoiced amount (connexion fee included) instead of effective invoice amount - (Tot. Agency invoiced - Connexion fee) * xxx = Tax adjust. That stands for paying a connexion chunk for the services they were unable to provide eventually. I have never knew about those money up until now. I am suppose to pay their debts and boost up my social taxes by declaring it. How will this be handled with the new rule of paying directly to BTA?

Hi Acis,

Don`t seem to be many posting -but plenty reading.

Concerning your point - what can I say!

I have very firm ideas about the Connexion fee and its make up - meaning - what it was they were selling for the 5% tyey charged. I can tell you it certainly wasn`t a factoring service, as they always paid out following receipt of money and it wasn`t simply a small fee for processing your invoice.

The facts are clear, the sum paid was completely out of proportion in relation to the fees normally charged for the processing of a couple of invoices where the money is already in hand.

The reality was payment was made for their "Solution" . As we have said higher up, even their sales guys email signatures says "Solution Providers", (we`ll soon see if they are reading this thread when the signatures get removed) trouble was that their "Solution" was about as water tight as a sieve - but we still paid for it.

We paid for their advice. Even though it was bad.

Take a look at "way back machine you can see even in 2007 their site was proclaiming wonderful solutions for contractors.

Here is the main WBM link where you can try any of the various names they used over the years

http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

And here is an actual site of theirs from 2007.

http://web.archive.org/web/200711211...ioneurope.com/

It has solution provider all over it as they all do.

For example

"Connexion Europe select and market the widest range of effective payment solutions for contractors, staffing suppliers and global businesses. Combining a proven track record with our in-house developed secure data systems, we already cater for virtually every discipline, wherever you might happen to be based."

or how about

"Enhanced net income begins with good planning.

Connexion gives international contract workers access to efficient planning solutions which can improve and enhance their earnings."

They were offering a tax solution gents !

I am not even going to go down the route of "We woz robbed" or "I want my money" back

I think what you forgot to mention in your post was the word "highwaymen", I am surprised there isn`t a lynching party moving in the direction of Luxembourg.

Before anyone says OK Fatboy wot u gonna do about it - PM me.

[tim123]

The facts are clear, the sum paid was completely out of proportion in relation to the fees normally charged for the processing of a couple of invoices where the money is already in hand.

Actually it's not.

Amazing as it might seem, companies offering 100% legit foreign (PAYE equivilent) payroll service for one person, look to charge you 5% of turnover. They know that you don't have much other choice.

tim

[Fatterboy]

Boeraeve (or whatever his name is) has made it clear that they got fined for the previous years as some sort of fixed fee. It is not specifically seen as a fine but as the back tax owed as such by contractors (pre 2007). He also said that they are trying to get this to be a fixed fee for 2007/8. The thought then follows that "if" they do manage to get these two fiscal years (the years for which they are asking you contractors to pay the tax back for) to a fixed fee and the amount of money they recoup from you all is MORE than the fixed fee then you can bet your bottom dollar that there will be another mansion in Cape Town.

Under no circumstances should you pay that money back to them, if you have to pay it then you should use the lawyer or an intermediary under some form of Escrow set-up.

Hi fatboyContractor,
Same situation here. Working for 5 years in Belgium.
What do you guys plan to do?
Are you going to pay the amount to that guy?
Will you continue using Connexion?

My personal impression is that Connexion has been cought by BTA and they got fined. In order to lower the fine they came to an agreement with BTA and they have given all our names promising to BTA that we will pay the taxe difference till 75% of initial income

I don't really understand what kind of service are they offering with a 75-25 splitting.....e.g. if you have a rate of 450 euros per day you get some 9000 euros per month which means pay taxes on 6750 and save 35% on 2250 which is 787 euros - 450 (of their fee) = 337 of saving per month
Does it make any sense using their services??
In my case I pay only taxes as I pay Social Security in my Home Country (providing an E101 document) so it is about 35%
Situation is really dodgy....
We have not paid taxes for 2007 yet (it will be around July I think) so how can we already pay to this guy the money for 2007 and 2008?
Is there any deadline for applying to this ruling?

[ContractorGR]

Boeraeve (or whatever his name is) has made it clear that they got fined for the previous years as some sort of fixed fee. It is not specifically seen as a fine but as the back tax owed as such by contractors (pre 2007). He also said that they are trying to get this to be a fixed fee for 2007/8. The thought then follows that "if" they do manage to get these two fiscal years (the years for which they are asking you contractors to pay the tax back for) to a fixed fee and the amount of money they recoup from you all is MORE than the fixed fee then you can bet your bottom dollar that there will be another mansion in Cape Town.

Under no circumstances should you pay that money back to them, if you have to pay it then you should use the lawyer or an intermediary under some form of Escrow set-up.

Have you talked to Boeraeve?
How do you know that they are trying to get a fixed fee for 2007/2008
Connexion never asked to pay money directly to them
They want people to adjust spontaneously their tax declarations for 2007 and 2008