Contracting in Belgium - A Short Guide to Tax and Social Security

[jhughes]

Hello, i have some questions - read all this thread and it's very interesting, but!

I have been working in Belgium for a client via an agency from end OCT 09 to mid DEC 09, and then for the same client in the UK from this week. I will be back in Belgium from JAN 25 until MAR 31, when the contract ends

I am using a UK LTD company to operate.

It is not clear to me where the seat of tax liability is here. Do I have to declare everything to Gordon or to Brussels, given that the contract is well under 183 days?

Should I be worried that Brussels can come along and demand a piece of my company income for SS and Income Tax as well as UK Plc??

I intend to return to permanent work after the contract has expired. Can I just wind the company up, lose as much as possible on expenses and dividend the rest after corp tax?

[nodric]

Hello, i have some questions - read all this thread and it's very interesting, but!

I have been working in Belgium for a client via an agency from end OCT 09 to mid DEC 09, and then for the same client in the UK from this week. I will be back in Belgium from JAN 25 until MAR 31, when the contract ends

I am using a UK LTD company to operate.

It is not clear to me where the seat of tax liability is here. Do I have to declare everything to Gordon or to Brussels, given that the contract is well under 183 days?

Should I be worried that Brussels can come along and demand a piece of my company income for SS and Income Tax as well as UK Plc??

I intend to return to permanent work after the contract has expired. Can I just wind the company up, lose as much as possible on expenses and dividend the rest after corp tax?

The key phrase is 'Centre of Economic Interest'.

If you are a single guy with no roots or home in the UK, operate a one man band LTD Co, and have rented a house in Brussels, the Belgians will try and claim you have move the companies operating seat.

However, Hector and his chums will always maintain that if a company was setup and registered in the UK, even if the only Director is a overseas resident, taxes are due in the UK.

If you are a family man, have a permanent home and roots (kids/wife etc) in the UK, and have other financial interests (mortgage) in the UK etc, you should be able to demonstrate that the Belgian role is a temporary overseas posting of your company.

Then apply the advice in this thread for working as an expat. You will however, be subject to tax and SS on your personal income in Belgium as an employee, and you should have complied with LIMOSA by now if you have worked more than 5 days in any one month within Belgium since you started the contract.

Should you worry about the local BTA? Perhaps not. Given that the contract is very short, and assuming you're leaving soon, then your suggestion of cutting and running may prove to be sound.

Declare it all back home through your company as that's where the agency invoices have been coming from. Pay your PAYE in Blighty in the normal way, and if the BTA ever get in touch once you've left, get your UK accountant to argue the relevant double taxation treaty. i.e. You've paid in the UK so don't have to pay in Belgium. The fact you're no longer here, and the amounts are relatively small, you won't be a person of much interest.

If you did register at the Commune, and you should have, then it complicates things a little. You will receive a tax return at that registered address in due course. Of course, if you've left then you'll never receive it will you!! Just make sure when you leave you pop by the Commune and de-register leaving them a forwarding address where you can be contacted. Of course if you misspell the address really badly then don't expect any mail to reach you from Belgium

However, if you intend to continue working here through your UK LTD Co then you should seek a good Belgian accountant without delay.

.

[jhughes]

Hi!
Thanks for the information

I do indeed have a mortgage here in the UK and my family is based here also. Company registered here, all invoices come here, bank accounts (business & personal) are here, I do other work as well here, so I presume it should be reasonably easy to argue the toss.

I have not registered for LIMOSA, nor have I registered for the commune (probably a bit dodgy I know), and I live in an apartment hotel on a 1 month rolling contract which is in the company name back here in the UK.

I don't pay any sort of salary via the traditional PAYE structure, it's all the company money at the moment and I'm covering the costs of living on expenses.

[nodric]

Hi!
Thanks for the information

I do indeed have a mortgage here in the UK and my family is based here also. Company registered here, all invoices come here, bank accounts (business & personal) are here, I do other work as well here, so I presume it should be reasonably easy to argue the toss.

I have not registered for LIMOSA, nor have I registered for the commune (probably a bit dodgy I know), and I live in an apartment hotel on a 1 month rolling contract which is in the company name back here in the UK.

I don't pay any sort of salary via the traditional PAYE structure, it's all the company money at the moment and I'm covering the costs of living on expenses.

Currently you're what's colloquially known as 'in the black'. Usually meaning you are completely hiding your activities in Belgium, and salting all the dosh away without intending to cough up some of the lolly for the BTA.

However, whilst you haven't complied with LIMOSA and local registration, you are acting in a professional and legal manner. Local registration is only possible if you have a fixed address anyway, e.g. a rented flat, so this should not concern you.

If you intend to stay on then LIMOSA registration is a legal requirement, although so far any penalties for not doing this have yet to be defined and enforced! The worst that can happen is an audit by the authorities. However, they need to know you are here in the first place, and the way you are working and living means that’s not very likely, unless someone tells them.

If the contract is ending soon I’d simply bugger off and keep everything in the UK as you have thus far. If you intend to hang around and do more contract work simply get sorted as an expat.

.

[jhughes]

Again, thanks for the informative reply!

[jimmer]

Recommendations

Hi, thankyou so much for the effort you'e put into this thread

I could do with the local accountant recommndations you PM'd to someone else if you could supply please?

started for a manco, they were awful, went via UK Ltd (have other clients this year) as thought it would be short lived but will be 2nd extension this month so need a more permanent solution.

[nodric]

Hi, thankyou so much for the effort you'e put into this thread

I could do with the local accountant recommndations you PM'd to someone else if you could supply please?

started for a manco, they were awful, went via UK Ltd (have other clients this year) as thought it would be short lived but will be 2nd extension this month so need a more permanent solution.

ADMIN - Can you upgrade Jimmer for PMs, so I can send him details.

TIA

[aingeru]

Help setting up a company

Hello,

The info you have put up here is the most helpful I have found so far regarding contracting in Belgium.

I am currently in Belgium on a 6 month contract through a Swiss company. I pay SS in Switzerland so that I can avoid paying the much higher SS rates in Belgium (E101). However, I'm planning on going on another contract on my own and I have decided that starting my own Belgian company is the way to go. Can you please send me the information of this consultant/accountant that can help me create the company? Thank you.

[nodric]

Hello,

The info you have put up here is the most helpful I have found so far regarding contracting in Belgium.

I am currently in Belgium on a 6 month contract through a Swiss company. I pay SS in Switzerland so that I can avoid paying the much higher SS rates in Belgium (E101). However, I'm planning on going on another contract on my own and I have decided that starting my own Belgian company is the way to go. Can you please send me the information of this consultant/accountant that can help me create the company? Thank you.

ADMIN - Can you enable PMs. TIA

[CssBoyo]

Many thanks to all (especially Nordic) on this thread and others, it's really helped me figure out the whole tax situation in Belgium as I'll be heading there this summer as my wife starts a new job.

Lived in Antwerpen back in the late 90's (really enjoyed it too) and did the umbrella company thing then; however looks like a Belgian BVBA (is that the Ltd. equivalent?) is the way to go, especially as we're moving from Canada.