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

[sleek]

read this

http://www.investinflanders.be/appl/...oyees_1209.pdf



So although you are non-resident you still tax income from Belgian sources.

As it says there you will be expected to register with the Belgian authorities within 90 days.

Yes, I have read that manual. It's probably 100% correct in generic cases, but it won't take in account special cases lake varying tax agreements between countries. It cannot do that because then there would be dedicated page for each country Belgium has mutual tax agreements with!

Like I said, I verified this from Finnish tax officials. However, just to make sure, I'll contact Belgium accountant also to sort everything out. Last thing I want is to get trouble with goverments...

Thank you again, I appreciate your input!

Ps. And yes, I have already contacted city hall to register myself in Belgium. Haven't completed the process yet though. Would not want to get expelled form Belgium either...

[sleek]

Oh and to make it interesting, my Finnish umbrella company is paid by Luxembourgish company which is paid by Belgian company. Probably nobody would EVER find out if I would just take the money and run. Don't want to do that though, there's some decency left in me. I think.

Edit: I read tax agreement again. It is very clear. I well be taxed only by Finland IF:

* I stay in Belgium under 183 days per calendar year.

AND

* My employer is not based on Belgium

AND

* My employer does not have office in Belgium.

I can't imagine how Belgium could tax me if I leave from Belgium before I have spent time here for 183 days in this calendar year and will not step inside Belgium borders until next year. If they try then it's time to hire lawyers, though that I would always want try to avoid...

Ps. Again, this comes from mutual agreement between Belgium and Finland, it's not the case with every country. Thus I can understand that in this forum probably no-one can give me exact answers...

[sleek]

Ok, I'm still struggling to calculate my net income if I would pay everything to Belgium. How is it calculated?

If my umbrella company will bill 8000 EUR from my client, what is deducted? Currentl I have following:

8000 EUR - 33% (SS by employer) - 13% (SS by employee) - 55% (tax) - 6% (Brussels). This would make 1970 EUR per month. This cannot be, what I am doing wrong?

[stek]

Ok, I'm still struggling to calculate my net income if I would pay everything to Belgium. How is it calculated?

If my umbrella company will bill 8000 EUR from my client, what is deducted? Currentl I have following:

8000 EUR - 33% (SS by employer) - 13% (SS by employee) - 55% (tax) - 6% (Brussels). This would make 1970 EUR per month. This cannot be, what I am doing wrong?

Looks correct to me if you are in the Belgian Tax Regime from a legal perspective. Don't do it!

[sleek]

Looks correct to me if you are in the Belgian Tax Regime from a legal perspective. Don't do it!

Jesus Christ. How do Belgians survive? I will leave, no doubts. Thanks!

[EMEAfixer]

I left

Jesus Christ. How do Belgians survive? I will leave, no doubts. Thanks!

Just under 2k net out of 8k invoiced sounds about right for the punishing tax regime in Belgium. I was there, I left, and I don't plan on ever going back there again.

[sleek]

Just under 2k net out of 8k invoiced sounds about right for the punishing tax regime in Belgium. I was there, I left, and I don't plan on ever going back there again.

Phew... I am SO happy I found this forum and got this settled out. I'll leave the country just before I have to start paying taxes to Belgium. Thank you for warning guys, you just saved me a big penny!

- S

[sleek]

Then I'll have another problem. I have triple checked and according to agreements, I will not pay taxes to Belgium should I not stay there over 183 days per calendar year. However I smell nothing but troubles. If I will register to municipality as I should, by default I am considered as tax-resident. This can be opposed AFAIK and I should succeed opposing it pretty easily. Even if I wont succeed and Belgium considers me tax-resident, this STILL wil not allow Belgium to tax me (again, those mutual agreements between Finland and Belgium), but oh boy I am sure they will try to.

To make it even more complicated, if I oppose to be consider as tax-resident I will probably succeed but after 183 days I will become tax-resident automatically again. This is before 183 days on next calendar year because I arrived to Belgium earlier. So actually there is two 183 day limit counting just right now and I am sooooooo sure that Belgian tax officials will be more than happy to try to use earlier limit against me.

So here comes the dilemma: Should I just not register to municipality? Belgian tax officials wont even know I exist and I am still paid all the taxes I need to pay. I registered to LIMOSA for two months but that probably will not matter - they know I was here for two months and that's it. Probably would save me a LOT of hassle not to register. Then again if I get busted for some weird reason, I probably will get fined because I should have registered and then I'll need to deal again with tax officials. And probably I will get arrested for a while also and everything and I'm not sure if I could be expelled also.

What do you think? Oh well, I think I'll have to hire accountant or lawyer which will sort this out for me. Really Belgium, WHY? You don't have skilled workers because you had to hire me all the way from Finland and then you drive me away? I already started to love the place but I don't feel any feedback!

[Boo]

So here comes the dilemma: Should I just not register to municipality?

If you stay in a Bed & Breakfast or in a Hotel then you won't need to register (in fact you cannot register from these types of accommodation). I did that and everything was fine.


Boo

[BlasterBates]

Ok, I'm still struggling to calculate my net income if I would pay everything to Belgium. How is it calculated?

If my umbrella company will bill 8000 EUR from my client, what is deducted? Currentl I have following:

8000 EUR - 33% (SS by employer) - 13% (SS by employee) - 55% (tax) - 6% (Brussels). This would make 1970 EUR per month. This cannot be, what I am doing wrong?

If you are covered for social security in another country that should be sufficient, you wouldn´t be expected to pay Belgian social security. If you are taxed in income in Belgium for an income of 35,000 you would pay 33% tax (I checked). If you did pay tax on your Belgian income there would either be no tax to pay on it in Finland or a top-up amount. A lot of the horror figures banded around here are based on being tax resident in Belgium. Since you won´t be in Belgium for longer than 183 days this won´t be the case. Who knows maybe you can wangle paying no tax.

Once you´ve registered with LIMOSA I think you can assume they´ll expect a tax return.

Take advice from an accountant in Belgium and I think you have little to fear.

By registering and declaring you can avoid the unfortunate incident of the contractor in Germany facing a criminal prosecution because they cross checked an invoice which wasn´t declared.