Taxes and social security

Scholarships

Under Belgian law, scholarships are tax-exempt if they are awarded by authorized institutions and if the following conditions are met:

• The fellowship facilitates extraordinary contributions to scientific research;
• The fellowship is awarded in circumstances that enable the fellow to take personal initiative in pursuing his or her studies or conducting research;
• The fellowship is granted free of charge, i.e. any dependence on the donor is excluded;
• The fellowship is financed directly or indirectly by industrial, commercial or agricultural enterprises, Belgian or foreign, which may benefit in one way or another from the subsidized research activities.

Employment contract holders

Income tax is calculated once a year. Employers withhold a percentage of your monthly income to offset the tax bill at the end of the year. This means that the amount of income tax due is normally paid before the end of the tax year. You will need to complete an annual tax return showing income received during the previous calendar year, and return it usually during the last week of June of the following year. A few months after submitting the tax return, the tax authorities issue a tax statement. This shows the amount to be paid or the refund to be received. If you have to leave Belgium but are still entitled to a tax refund, you should contact the tax office and ask for a form that will enable you to declare your income in advance.

In order to avoid double taxation, treaties stipulate which of the countries concerned may subject a certain person's income to its national taxes. In this way, income earned in one of the countries is tax-exempt. As a general rule, you will be subject to income tax in the country where you reside, i.e. Belgium.

If your employer in your home country sends you to work in Belgium (as a "seconded" worker), you will only be considered a "Belgian tax resident" if you spend a total of 183 days or more in Belgium during a given tax year. This is known as the "183-day rule". This rule only applies if your employer is not a Belgian resident or is not established in Belgium.

Taxes not included in the rent.
These taxes represent a contribution to public goods (waste collection, water treatment...). All residents legally registered in the city must pay them once a year. The municipal administration can take legal action if you fail to pay (which entails additional costs).

Exemption from payment

Under certain conditions, you can be exempted from paying this tax.

As a doctoral student, you are exempt if:

• you are under 25. In this case, you must present the attestation of registration as a doctoral student.
• you are over 25 and your total annual gross income is less than €16,582.80 (single person) or €20,460.96 (with family). You can apply for an exemption by filling in the form available here and providing your latest Avertissement extrait de rôle (financial year 2023 - income 2022) or simplified tax return (financial year 2023 - income 2022).

You can also go in and explain your situation to the steward. You will then be asked to sign a document and, depending on your situation, you will receive free garbage can bags.

Any request for exemption must be submitted annually. The full regulations on communal taxes in Namur are available here

As an employee or scholarship holder subject to the Belgian system, you are automatically affiliated to Belgian social security. This means you enjoy all the benefits of Belgian citizens. Find out more

As you are registered and have a national number, you will receive this document by post in April or May each year. The envelope contains two forms, a guide and another envelope for returning the tax return and any appendices.

How to complete it?

Each year, the University or organization that pays you your scholarship sends you (to your home address) a document showing all your income (form 281.10). This is the most important document for completing your tax return.

In cases where you have paid membership fees to organizations recognized as NGOs based in Belgium, you should receive an official tax reduction document. You can declare the amount you paid in the year corresponding to the tax return.

Parents can deduct childcare costs (crèches, vacation camps, training stays...). The childcare organization will provide you with a certificate. You may have to ask the janitors for it, as they don't provide it automatically.

If you've bought a house and are paying a mortgage, you can deduct part of it.

Instructions

• Step 1: Fill in the application form. Don't overlook the first box, it concerns your bank account and is very useful when you are the recipient of an overpayment. The left-hand column is reserved for your data, the right-hand column for your spouse's.
• Step 2: Transfer all the data on the draft form to the tax return (see the examples in the top right-hand corner of the second page of the form). Use only a blue or black ballpoint pen (the use of other colors, pencils or felt-tips is not accepted). Always write inside the boxes (never go beyond the edges of boxes and spaces) in capital letters, and write legibly. The tax return is scanned electronically. Do not fill in boxes or unused fields with inscriptions such as "null", cross-outs, unnecessary marks, unnecessary zeros... If you wish to correct a code or data (amount, date or other), use only a fluid corrector and enter the corrections on another line.
• Step 3: When the document is correctly completed and signed, put it in the second envelope, stamp it and send it to the tax authorities.

Tax-on-web

Alternative to paperwork, the online tax declaration method (or Tax on web). This form can also be completed via the tax authorities' website. The advantage is that it can be completed in advance (except for membership or childcare fees). There are two ways to connect: via your ID card and its reader, or by requesting personal codes from the tax authorities. Find out more

Simplified tax return

Sometimes in the second year of your stay, and if you have regular income (salary or scholarship), you can receive a simplified tax return from the tax authorities. All you have to do is check the pre-encoded data. If it's correct, you don't need to do anything. If you find an error or wish to correct any data, use the attached form and send it to the tax authorities.

Follow-up

In the following months, you will receive a document called "Avertissement-extrait de rôle". It informs you of the result of the tax calculation. Either you have to pay more tax (and are informed on how to pay the amount you owe), or the tax authorities have to refund you an overpayment (they then reimburse you by a payment into your bank account).

Contact

https://finance.belgium.be/en/contact

02 572 57 57

To make sure you're in good standing with the tax authorities before you leave, you'll find useful information on the Service des finances publiques website

If you've already left Belgium and/or no longer have a residence permit.

To solve the identification problem, the tax authorities have introduced two solutions:

1) Telephone appointment: agents telephone taxpayers who have made an appointment to fill in their tax form.
2) Tax-on-Web without authentication: via this link. You can submit your tax form online without going through MyMinfin.

For appointments, you can visit the site at the end of September 2024 to book an appointment online or call +32 257 556 67.

For refunds, the amount can be paid into a foreign account. Please provide the following information:

• IBAN
• BIC
• Holder account number
• Name of bank
• For certain countries (such as the USA), your bank's routing code.

Send this data via the contact form. For "What is the subject of the question?", choose "All questions relating to taxes, payments and refunds". For "It's about?", select "Payment or refund" from the drop-down menu.

Keep in mind that the update may take several weeks.