Company in Poland, leaving in Belgium and working in Germany.

[gregbenelux]

Dear experts,

Hopefully some of you will be able to advice me how to proceed with my case.

I am Polish and am Polish resident. Have an pernament address and property in Poland.
Curently leave in Belgium as my wife works for EU.

I am an employee of a Belgian IT company. End of March I will leave my current employer and will start my own business.

Obvieusly I wanted to optimize my tax model and not eager to pay highest tax in Europe which would be approx 60% of my revenue.

I have asked 2 accountants in Belgium who actually immediately advised me not to open a company in Belgium, but somewhere else in order to avoid high tax!
One of them proposed me to do it in Ireland, 2nd was in favor of having business in Luxembourg.

My preferred option though would be in Poland where I'd pay slightly higher tax, but still a way better than in Belgium.
However I struggle to get a definitive answer whether it's legal...i got few contradicting advises from different accountants.

So, here it is:
1. I am Belgian resident, registered in the commune. Having own appartment in Brussels. normally I leave here.
2. I am Polish resident, having property and an address.
3. My work will be completely executed outside Belgium, mainly in Germany.

Thus I would like to pay taxes in Poland. Belgian accountants advised me that I would still declare income in both countries but since the work is done outside Belgium, I would be able to pay taxes only in Poland.
Ist that really truth?

Another model that I was thinking of was to open a LTD in poland (sp.z.o.o) and have a director there. This company would definately have its economical intrest in Poland. This company would hire myself and pay a salary, so me as having personal intrest in Belgium would pay taxes only out of this income.
Other income would be payed in form of dividents and there is no double taxation of this kind of income (?).

Question to the experts: Would you say any of above mentioned model could work and is legal? Any other advises?

Thank you and best regards

[stek]

Company in Poland, leaving in Belgium and working in Germany.

Let's have a poll, I say Belgian tax resident....

[northernladuk]

Let's have a poll, I say Belgian tax resident....

Totally.

[SueEllen]

If you are working in another EU country especially Germany then you need to pay taxes there first, and then use the dual tax agreement they have with Belgium to decrease your tax bill in Belgium.

Also in some EU countries i.e. Germany running a limited will increase your overall tax bill.

[Brussels Slumdog]

Belgian Polish double taxation

Dear experts,

Hopefully some of you will be able to advice me how to proceed with my case.

I am Polish and am Polish resident. Have an pernament address and property in Poland.
Curently leave in Belgium as my wife works for EU.

I am an employee of a Belgian IT company. End of March I will leave my current employer and will start my own business.

Obvieusly I wanted to optimize my tax model and not eager to pay highest tax in Europe which would be approx 60% of my revenue.

I have asked 2 accountants in Belgium who actually immediately advised me not to open a company in Belgium, but somewhere else in order to avoid high tax!
One of them proposed me to do it in Ireland, 2nd was in favor of having business in Luxembourg.

My preferred option though would be in Poland where I'd pay slightly higher tax, but still a way better than in Belgium.
However I struggle to get a definitive answer whether it's legal...i got few contradicting advises from different accountants.

So, here it is:
1. I am Belgian resident, registered in the commune. Having own appartment in Brussels. normally I leave here.
2. I am Polish resident, having property and an address.
3. My work will be completely executed outside Belgium, mainly in Germany.

Thus I would like to pay taxes in Poland. Belgian accountants advised me that I would still declare income in both countries but since the work is done outside Belgium, I would be able to pay taxes only in Poland.
Ist that really truth?

Another model that I was thinking of was to open a LTD in poland (sp.z.o.o) and have a director there. This company would definately have its economical intrest in Poland. This company would hire myself and pay a salary, so me as having personal intrest in Belgium would pay taxes only out of this income.
Other income would be payed in form of dividents and there is no double taxation of this kind of income (?).

Question to the experts: Would you say any of above mentioned model could work and is legal? Any other advises?

Thank you and best regards

You and your wife are Belgian Tax residents so you need to declare all your world wide earnings in Belgium. In Belgium married couples file a joint tax declaration

You declare your total worldwide income less deductions
Calculate the Belgian Tax on the Gross amount
Now calculate the percentage of your non belgian earnings ie in your case 100%
Deduct this percentage from your Belgian tax payable and that is the amount you need to pay.
You need to pay tax in the country that you are working to take advantage of double taxation agreements. If you work in Germany and pay tax in Poland you will end up in a legal nightmare both in Belgium and Germany. Poland will take your money without question
Normally you cannot be tax residents in two countries at the same time. Whether you are tax resident in Poland or Belgium is for the two countries to decide and according to my tax advisers that could take years. Get advice from tax advisers not Accountants

[JustMe]

I am in the same situation.

I live in Belgium, but I have not a Belgium passport. And I work in Germany.

Step 1) You pay tax in Germany .
Step 2) You declare you German income also in Belgium. You do not have to pay (almost) no tax in Belgium , because you already paid in Germany (Double Tr.)
Almost no tax means , you still have to pay the community tax in Belgium, but you get this as a discount on the german tax.
Step 3) Income from property in Poland should be declared in Poland.
No tax in Belgium , because you already paid in Poland (Double Tr.)

Good luck.
Justme

[Brussels Slumdog]

I live in Belgium, but I have not a Belgium passport. And I work in Germany.

Step 1) You pay tax in Germany .
Step 2) You declare you German income also in Belgium. You do not have to pay (almost) no tax in Belgium , because you already paid in Germany (Double Tr.)
Almost no tax means , you still have to pay the community tax in Belgium, but you get this as a discount on the german tax.
Step 3) Income from property in Poland should be declared in Poland.
No tax in Belgium , because you already paid in Poland (Double Tr.)

Good luck.
Justme

I paid community charges on income from Germany and Netherlands but not on income from UK and Switzerland
I think this rule applies to frontier states

[gregbenelux]

Company registered in Germany or Belgium?

I live in Belgium, but I have not a Belgium passport. And I work in Germany.

Step 1) You pay tax in Germany .
Step 2) You declare you German income also in Belgium. You do not have to pay (almost) no tax in Belgium , because you already paid in Germany (Double Tr.)
Almost no tax means , you still have to pay the community tax in Belgium, but you get this as a discount on the german tax.
Step 3) Income from property in Poland should be declared in Poland.
No tax in Belgium , because you already paid in Poland (Double Tr.)

Good luck.
Justme

First of all thank you for your reply!

Appreciate if you could advise on the following:
1. Do you register company in Belgium or Germany? Can it also be another country?
2. I am also able to pay taxes in Germany if it is a contract? not a pernament job
3. I am most of the time planning to work in Germany, but will have smaller contract in Sweden. Do I need to pay also taxes in Sweden? Does somwhere rule >183 apply?

Thanks and regards

[gregbenelux]

After few additional consultations...

Dear all,

I had discussed this issue with different tax advisors, and again some contradicting statements...

Tax advisor in Belgium advised me that I could pay indeed taxes in Poland, as I would stay less than 183 days in Belgium, and effectively less than 183 days in Germany. Some time in Poland. Due to a fact that I have few properties in Poland my economical intreset could be recognized in Poland.

I would pay only taxes in Poland, sumbit tax declaration in Belgium as well but without paying anything as there is double taxation avoidance agreement.

Is this really correct?

Does anyone know any good tax advisor which would have lots of experience and could give a definitive answer on my situation?
I started contacting big international Tax Advisors (for the moment Deloitte), but they put me in the waiting queue and I guess it will take ages before I get any answer....probably bloody expensive as well.

[SueEllen]

First of all thank you for your reply!

Appreciate if you could advise on the following:
1. Do you register company in Belgium or Germany? Can it also be another country?

If you are working in Germany use the search facility of this website to look for posts on working in Germany particularly those posted by a poster called "Chef".

I don't think you will need a limited company at all but you will find this out when you read the posts.

2. I am also able to pay taxes in Germany if it is a contract? not a pernament job

See answer above.

3. I am most of the time planning to work in Germany, but will have smaller contract in Sweden. Do I need to pay also taxes in Sweden? Does somwhere rule >183 apply?

It depends how many days you are in Sweden for over a prolonged period of say 5 years.

You need to work out what country will tax you less.

Use google and see if there is a special tax rate for people who spend a limited time in Sweden.

I know that some of the Nordic countries have it and they all have an English translation of their tax pages. Their tax rules are also simple and as they don't mind you asking questions in person - as long as you know what to ask - you can probably phone them up and ask them.