In the summer of 2022, Minister Van Peteghem proposed a major tax reform. Because of the political landscape, this did not receive sufficient support and the presumption is that it will have to be pushed further by the next government. Nevertheless, in the last week of December, as is tradition, a number of new laws were voted on in the fiscal and social spheres. The following is a brief summary of the most important changes. In the coming weeks, some of these changes will be discussed in more detail through separate articles.
Declaration deadlines
The return deadlines for the most important tax returns are established by law.
For personal income tax:
- 30/06 for paper returns
- 15/07 for non-complex declarations through TOW
- 16/10 for complex returns via TOW
The definition of complex declarations has been kept the same as last year's rules. Are considered a complex declaration, declaration related to:
- Foreign professional income
- Gains or benefits
- Salaries of assisting spouses
- Executive salaries
In addition, the special declaration in the event of death has been abolished. For taxpayers who thus die during a taxable period, the normal declaration deadlines apply as described above.
Flat-rate taxpayers must file their returns by January 15 of the year following the assessment year (i.e., income 2023 to file returns by January 15, 2025).
For corporate and legal entity taxes, the rule is:
- September 30 of the fiscal year for fiscal years ending in the period from 31/12 of the year preceding the fiscal year in question through the last day of February
- For all other closing dates to 7 months following the end of the fiscal year
Mandatory declaration of rent and rental charges
For all declarations that will be made regarding AJ2024, a compulsory declaration will have to be made regarding rents paid as part of the rental of real estate. With this change, the tax authorities want to ensure that the rents paid are correctly assessed for personal income tax purposes.
Consequently, the tenant will thus have to provide a detail of the property being rented (landlord details, address, amount of rent...) in his tax return. If this information is not provided, the rent is not deductible on the part of the tenant. However, if an invoice is issued for the rent, then this declaration requirement does not apply.
Patrimony tax
The annual wealth tax rate for NPOs, private foundations... subject to the wealth tax rises from 0.17% to a progressive rate.
| Lower limit | Upper limit | Rate |
| 0 | 50.000 | 0% |
| 50.000,01 | 250.000 | 0.15% |
| 250.000,01 | 500.000 | 0.30% |
| 500.000,01 | ... | 0.45% |
However, an additional exemption scheme is provided for a number of sectors so that the impact of this increase is neutralized. Thus, the hospital sector and other care and welfare sectors (residential care centers, mutual insurance companies, child care centers...) can benefit from this, as well as the sports and cultural sector and the education sector.
Bicycle allowance
Those who ride a bicycle to work can receive an exempt bicycle allowance for this purpose. This bicycle allowance will increase from 0.27 EUR/km to 0.35 EUR/km as of AJ2025. In addition, a statutory maximum of 2,500 EUR/year is set (for AJ2025).
In addition, the bicycle allowance has also become mandatory through Collective Bargaining Agreement No. 164, where to date it has been optional for many sectors. To offset this financial impact, a tax credit has been created whereby a credit is already possible for allowances granted as of May 2023. However, this is a very complex calculation and requires a lot of conditions to qualify.
Increase in RR inheritance and building rights
Anyone who establishes an inheritance or building right will pay 5% registration fee on all fees that will be paid during the course of the inheritance or building right starting January 1, 2024. Previously, this was only 2%.
Dependents
For AJ2024 and AJ2025, the amount of net means of subsistence is temporarily increased to the maximum regardless of the form of cohabitation of the parent(s). Thus, for AJ2024, this means that in order to be a dependent, a person may have a maximum net means of subsistence of EUR 7,010.
Flexi-job expansion
The material scope of flexi-jobs has been expanded to include 12 new sectors, the main ones being gardening and agriculture, garage...
A maximum exemption per year of EUR 12,000 is provided (except for retired flexi-jobbers). The employer's patronage contribution does increase from 25% to 28%. In addition, a waiting period of three quarters applies for those switching from full-time employment to 4/5e before the system of flexi-job can be applied.
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