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

[wilkens]

permanent contract in Belgium but no permanent address in Belgium

Hello,

I'm looking for some help.

I have a permanent contract with a company in Belgium, which requires a lot of travel. In fact they don't mind where I am, or where I live. I was living in Belgium until now, but I'm thinking about moving to the UK.

My question is: Can I have a contract with a Belgium company and not have a permanent address in Belgium? If possible, what are the implications of that?

Thank you for any help!
Kind regards,
Lucas

[nodric]

Hello,

I'm looking for some help.

I have a permanent contract with a company in Belgium, which requires a lot of travel. In fact they don't mind where I am, or where I live. I was living in Belgium until now, but I'm thinking about moving to the UK.

My question is: Can I have a contract with a Belgium company and not have a permanent address in Belgium? If possible, what are the implications of that?

Thank you for any help!
Kind regards,
Lucas

And here’s me thinking everyone is on holiday!

By permanent contract, I assume you mean a permy job? i.e. On salary?

Simple facts. If you are a permy in Belgium, then you will be expected to pay local taxes and SS, at the full, starve your children rates. Expect to loose 60+% of your income.

However, depending on how important you are, the company may decide to employ as an overseas member of staff, and pay you in that local country, assuming your days in Belgium do not exceed 5 per month. This will of course mean the company needs to have a local payroll where you intend to be resident, and be prepared to increase their admin just for you

The last option is to request TCN status for you. Third Country National.

This is a special tax status they can apply if you are an executive, or senior manager appointment. You then enjoy a special expat tax regime, not dissimilar to the UK levels of Tax, well pre-recessionary anyway

I've seen TCN applied to good techies before, but it is not usual.

If on the other hand you are a contractor, read this entire thread as most of the answers you seek will be there.

In short, you can have a contract and been resident elsewhere. There are tests to ensure you are really permanently resident out of Belgium, and some hoops you will have to jump through to ensure you don’t fall foul of the local Hector.

You can work through your own MyCo, and avoid local taxes altogether, but you need to avoid the pitfalls. Read the thread, and then ask remaining questions.

[Sergeant Murphys Cosh]

And here’s me thinking everyone is on holiday!

Not on holiday at all. Have been musing over the next point in our discussion, these past few weeks.

[markinbrussels]

For those Born and die in Belgium.

They can retire on a pension of about €1000 a month against about €400 in the UK. The socialists would like this increased to about €1400 nett
There are no hospital waiting lists and you can go to a specialists without first going
You can actually live on the unemployed benifits and are accepted as unemployable afer 55
The list goes on

For late arrivals after 50
Health benefits only

You made it sound look a good thing.

Now the drawbacks:

1. your income taxes are 50%. Namely, you work half of the year for the state

2. wanna buy a house? Stamp duty is 12.5% (10% in Flanders)

3. VAT is 21%

4. Taxes here, taxes there, taxes up, taxes down, taxes left,taxes right

5. healthcare is good, but ain't totally free. You better have a good private insurance.

6. public services are sh1t. Motorways/roads are potato fields.

7. Most of Brussels is a sh1thole. People carrying AKs while the police does nothing

8. Railways are reasonably cheap, but punctuality is nil

etc etc etc

I've lived here for 10 years and am fed up. Wife is British, so we might leave this fvcking country soon (or whatever is left of it).

My advice: come here for short-term gigs, don't bother with the Belgian system... but long-term, no no no

[markinbrussels]

Definition of a Non Resident

An individual is regarded as non resident if he spends less then 183 days a year in Belgium, and has his main home or his centre of economic interest outside of Belgium. e.g. He does not have a permanent home in Belgium.

I'm a permie with expat status, ie non-resident, so my taxes are (luckyly) rather low. I work for a bodyshop company pretending to be a consultancy, so I have the best of the two worlds: permiedom secuirity and contractor lifestyle.

As a matter of fact, non-resident means nothing. I only have an account with 200 euros in my home contry, but I am still considered to have my centre of economic interest abroad, which is rubbish.

I know people who have been non-residents for 10 years now, who have bought property, etc. Also, you are supposed to lose your status if you change companies, but some people have managed to get it back. So, in short, nobody knows what non-resident means. It's actually a tax inspector in a dark room who decides who is NR and who isn't, although the Belgians know that without it, many high skilled workers would leave right away. The system works well for companies and foreign workers: the pay you less but at the end of the day you get more than a Belgian after taxes. Only drawback is lower pension contributions, but, OK, whoever think that he is going to get a pension from Michel Daerden is dreaming...

[nodric]

You made it sound look a good thing.

Now the drawbacks:

1. your income taxes are 50%. Namely, you work half of the year for the state

2. wanna buy a house? Stamp duty is 12.5% (10% in Flanders)

3. VAT is 21%

4. Taxes here, taxes there, taxes up, taxes down, taxes left,taxes right

5. healthcare is good, but ain't totally free. You better have a good private insurance.

6. public services are sh1t. Motorways/roads are potato fields.

7. Most of Brussels is a sh1thole. People carrying AKs while the police does nothing

8. Railways are reasonably cheap, but punctuality is nil

etc etc etc

I've lived here for 10 years and am fed up. Wife is British, so we might leave this fvcking country soon (or whatever is left of it).

My advice: come here for short-term gigs, don't bother with the Belgian system... but long-term, no no no

Lacking some eloquence but all very true I'm sad to say.

The infrastructure is collapsing, money is being spent on stupid projects despite the fact Belgium is technically broke (read the GDP/public borrowing figures), and Brussels is a dump! with much of it being ghettoised. Beggars from Eastern Europe all over the city hassling everyone who passes them. Petty crime levels on the up, and house break ins on the increase.

And maybe it's just me, but I'm finding a lot more anger in people. Road Rage, impoliteness and sheer ignorance in shops and public places, and as unpalatable as it maybe to say it, a wave of immigrants who simply ignore our values and treat us as fair game. Simple disagreements, or occasional traffic misdemeanours being met with hostile screaming and even physical threats.

Just walking around town, in and out of shops etc, is simply not enjoyable anymore. Overcrowded, people barging into you, filth, smells, high prices. Even when Ole Blighty slaps 21% VAT on everything, it will still be 30% cheaper! I avoid Brussels like the plague.

I think a combination of debt, work life balance, worry over actually having a job, a huge growth in economic migration, and an increase the population in the cities has a lot to do with it. Add to that all the problems the lack of government and fiscal irresponsibility has added.

And finally don't think the German style witch hunt won't find its way to Belgium. Its already started, albeit with less zeal and malice.

I'm as fed up as the OP. And before anyone says "why don't you leave", don't presume it's not in my medium term planning

[Sergeant Murphys Cosh]

Before you complain too much, have you tried England lately? Just watch a bit of UK telly and you'll see 10 year olds raping 8 year olds. Gun crime. Knife crime. Drink & drugs.

At least 3 times per week, there is yet another article on one of the above. Now tell me how bad Brussels is.

It's a lot, lot worse over there.

[markinbrussels]

Before you complain too much, have you tried England lately? Just watch a bit of UK telly and you'll see 10 year olds raping 8 year olds. Gun crime. Knife crime. Drink & drugs.

At least 3 times per week, there is yet another article on one of the above. Now tell me how bad Brussels is.

It's a lot, lot worse over there.

The UK has bad areas, but you can avoid living in them. I used to live in Uccle, which is supposed to be a family-oriented leafy suburb. Only problem is that the Muzz ghetto of Forest is just a few blocks away. Same in Etterbeek. In Brussels you have a good area and, a few streets apart, you have the ghetto. In any case, central London is safe. The center of Brussels is not.

Wikipedia:

According to Urban Audit, in 2001, Brussels had the fourth highest number of recorded crimes of European capitals (behind Stockholm, Amsterdam, and Berlin, and virtually on a par with Helsinki).

Elsewhere, not better:

http://crossroadsmag.eu/2005/12/lieg...-crime-league/

[cojak]

Before you complain too much, have you tried England lately? Just watch a bit of UK telly and you'll see 10 year olds raping 8 year olds. Gun crime. Knife crime. Drink & drugs.

At least 3 times per week, there is yet another article on one of the above. Now tell me how bad Brussels is.

It's a lot, lot worse over there.

If you believe everything you see and hear, that is...

[Sergeant Murphys Cosh]

According to Urban Audit, in 2001, Brussels had the fourth highest number of recorded crimes of European capitals (behind Stockholm, Amsterdam, and Berlin, and virtually on a par with Helsinki).

Of European capitals !!! That ignores non-capital cities not in Europe, for God's sake.

It's not a very 'complete' view of the world when you start restricting things like that. Is London included in Europe, nowadays?

Where does New York come ? Glasgow?

What about Mafia-ridden countries such as Russia? Bulgaria?