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

[bluepeter]

If you are not a director of the company but instead an ordinary employee so that it is managed and controlled from the UK while you are in Belgium, then you would be able to use the EU rules for posted workers. It doesn't work, though, if the location of management and control of the company moves to where you are.

Hotel is the only reasonable option. If you rent a house or a flat, that would in most cases generate a physical establishment, meaning that your company would have to register as a foreign branch in Belgium and maintain a separate bookkeeping for the branch (and bank account).

Alternatively, you could register as self employed in Belgium.

I am the director/sole employee, so it wouldn't work.

Do I really need to register at the commune if I'm at an AirBnb? Or just a hotel?

[stek]

I am the director/sole employee, so it wouldn't work.

Do I really need to register at the commune if I'm at an AirBnb? Or just a hotel?

Up to you but if you get caught....

[bluepeter]

Up to you but if you get caught....

So registration is always required regardless of a hotel stay. There's so much conflicting information on this thread 😠

[SueEllen]

I am the director/sole employee, so it wouldn't work.

Do I really need to register at the commune if I'm at an AirBnb? Or just a hotel?

Shame you didn't check this before you went as you could have got other family members to be directors as well.

[Mordac]

This "freedom of movement of labour" lark is working a treat, isn't it?

[bluepeter]

Shame you didn't check this before you went as you could have got other family members to be directors as well.

I was offered a dodgy umbrella contract with the agency which I now need to convert to something legal

[bluepeter]

Recommend a Belgium accountant for a Uk Ltd

Hi

I've managed to find some Uk clients to bolster my Uk presence, so Ive decided to take the Uk Ltd approach. Can anyone
suggest a Belgium accountant to make this work

thanks

[Jolie]

I have been reading the comments here with interest as I have been considering a contract in Belgium for a while now.

The following are my views and should not be acted upon and I do not claim to be an expert on the law in these areas, I am merely coming from a common sense angle.

As I am sure most of you will agree, this is not about avoiding paying tax, or even paying less tax, it's about going about your business in a way that is fair and reasonable while benefiting the country you are working in.

There seems to be a lot of commentary about one man businesses, which implies that they are a fraud or somehow not a legitimate business. I work in a sector that means I am usually the only person that a company contracts in to do a piece of work. There are no other people on site who can do this work. I can work from my premises in the UK, but there are security implications that means I can't Does that make me any less of a business? Of course it doesn't.

As usual a piece of legislation originally designed to catch people living and working in a country without paying tax anywhere is impacting on those of us who are genuinely trying to do the right thing, without having a huge overhead of red tape and bureaucracy.

However, there are some pointers that are useful to help us, in particular the grey areas of registration and the 183 day rule. As a UK citizen you are deemed to be resident if you have any ties within the UK. If you then go and service a contract in another country which means you are abroad only for the working days, then regardless of the number of days a year you work in that country, you cannot possibly be resident there, as your country of residence remains the UK. Add to that the issue of not having a permanent home, a mobile phone, a car or a bank account and it is pretty clear cut.

The issue of residence and registering at the commune is only for people who are moving completely to live in Belgium indefinitely, not for Mon-Fri workers who stay in an aparthotel. If you don't have a permanent residence then you are not resident.

So the 183 day issue is a moot point. If you are not resident then tax cannot apply from day 1 or day 184. You may be resident in their eyes because you have been there over 183 days, but without an address to issue the tax demand they cannot do much. As someone pointed out in an earlier comment they could arrest you, but that would be illegal. So the only thing left for them to do is refuse you entry back into the country.

This also makes LIMOSA a pointless exercise for legitimate contractors, regardless of the fact that LIMOSA could still be illegal under EU law, but then the issue of Brexit may come into play, however the fact that they allow citizens of other non-EU European countries to freely enter their borders would be a good indicator against Brexit being an issue, but I would welcome any comments on how Brexit may affect this.

So that gives rise to a double taxation issue, the UK are not going to back down and allow you to only pay tax in Belgium, indeed they are moving towards a point where all UK ex-pats remain tax resident in the UK regardless of where they are in the world or how many years they have been gone. Believe me this is coming.

With all that in mind you have two options, run away and find an easier life, or go and service the contract and say nothing. What annoys me is this particular company struggle every year to find contractors to fill this position because there are few of us around who are skilled enough to offer these services and those that can are usually put off by these issues. Those that do go get scared and bail out.

[tangram]

One-man UK Ltd , 12 months in Belgium, house/mortgage/car/bills all in UK

Hi,

I have digested the entire thread and huge thanks to everybody for all the info. Many thanks in advance for looking at following:

1.
I may sound/look totally silly now for asking something I could not figure out - although some parts in the thread seem to suggest below may be correct indeed?

If I start in Belgium on a fixed term contract (12 months) as one-man UK Ltd, but I have house with mortgage, phone and utility bills, car and car insurance, other covers etc. all in UK... it would safely avoid making me Belgian-centred in terms of my economic interest?

Surely my entire life being in UK, and although as a one-man Ltd went to Belgium to work for more than 6 months, I remain "centred" on UK for economic and otherwise all possible other interests?

2.
On the side, the commune registration after 2 weeks reading of all possible websites left me hugely confused. Although it is "mandatory", it CANNOT be done without a "permanent" address and most stated that a B&B on monthly bookings will NOT be possible for commune registration. Therefore... how would one avoid the problem as it is a complete paradox... they do not accept such accommodation, and I am certainly not going to sign 9-year leases with huge penalties for just 1 year working over there?


3. Expat registration - it occurred a few times in thread, but it seems separate from LIMOSA and everything else. Is it a step I must take in addition and how?


Thanks again for your time and attention

[Brussels Slumdog]

Hi,

I have digested the entire thread and huge thanks to everybody for all the info. Many thanks in advance for looking at following:

1.
I may sound/look totally silly now for asking something I could not figure out - although some parts in the thread seem to suggest below may be correct indeed?

If I start in Belgium on a fixed term contract (12 months) as one-man UK Ltd, but I have house with mortgage, phone and utility bills, car and car insurance, other covers etc. all in UK... it would safely avoid making me Belgian-centred in terms of my economic interest?

Surely my entire life being in UK, and although as a one-man Ltd went to Belgium to work for more than 6 months, I remain "centred" on UK for economic and otherwise all possible other interests?

2.
On the side, the commune registration after 2 weeks reading of all possible websites left me hugely confused. Although it is "mandatory", it CANNOT be done without a "permanent" address and most stated that a B&B on monthly bookings will NOT be possible for commune registration. Therefore... how would one avoid the problem as it is a complete paradox... they do not accept such accommodation, and I am certainly not going to sign 9-year leases with huge penalties for just 1 year working over there?


3. Expat registration - it occurred a few times in thread, but it seems separate from LIMOSA and everything else. Is it a step I must take in addition and how?


Thanks again for your time and attention

The good news is that in a few years I will be renting out the flatlet on my 3rd floor so you would be able to register you as permanent.