Complicated status - all help gratefully received !

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Member since 31 July 2017

lordporkchopNew member31 July 2017 13:48:12

Hi Forum Members,

Can anyone point us in the right direction?

I am a UK citizen and my wife is American, we married in 2004 when we lived in Paris, which is also where our daughter was born. She is currently having a good time going to the local Belgian primary school, as we moved to Brussels in 2009.

We are both self-employed, with our own businesses. My business is a UK Company which is where I file both business and personal tax. I guess I am still domiciled in the UK (though I haven't lived there since 2003.)

My wife started a Belgian business a year ago and happily it's worked out so she'll need to figure out how to deal with Belgian taxes soon enough. She has a residency card (I did too but it expired as I only got it so she could get hers in the first place.)

We are also house owners here in Brussels so we are pretty much set to stay here for the foreseeable...

So we need to find someone / something that will help us sort out our residencies / where we are domiciled / tax for the Belgian business etc etc. etc.

We want to get everything straightened out as we've spent the last 8 years working, renovating a house and all that so it's time to get the paperwork sorted out.

Does anyone have any suggestions for any of this stuff because we really don't know where to start, I've had a look around and just not sure who to contact !

Thanks All !

schoolmum Serial expat

Member since 24 May 2011

schoolmumSerial expat31 July 2017 22:40:30

726

Your maison communale. Expect some tax bills.

lordporkchop New member

Member since 31 July 2017

lordporkchopNew member01 August 2017 12:49:26

Thanks for nothing !

Cynic UK / Netherlands Expert

Member since 15 September 2015

CynicUK / Netherlands Expert01 August 2017 14:39:29

7677

Your domicile as far as tax is concerned is generally decided by where you live, not where you trade. So, if you live in Belgium, that's where you will be assessed for tax. For income earned in the UK, there is a double-taxation agreement in place; you can access it from this link.

What this agreement means is that you will not be taxed in Belgium on certain specific taxes on income you have already paid tax in the UK; these taxes are:

Income tax
Corporation tax
Capital gains tax
Petroleum revenue tax

Of course, if you have not paid any UK tax on the above, you can expect to be assessed for them in Belgium. Where you may come unstuck is if there are any additional taxes applicable in Belgium that do not exist in the UK, these are normally social taxes (state pensions etc fall into this category) and you may be assessed for taxes on these.

My advice is to speak to a tax specialist.

Hope this helps.

lordporkchop New member

Member since 31 July 2017

lordporkchopNew member01 August 2017 14:42:20

Thank you very much Cynic for your help!

schoolmum Serial expat

Member since 24 May 2011

schoolmumSerial expat01 August 2017 21:03:17

726

How very rude.
Many of your questions will be answered at your maison communale.

Specific tax questions can be answered for free by SPF finances.

Felicia76 Member

Member since 12 August 2017

Felicia76Member13 August 2017 05:12:57

Hi, for the business side (tax on your wifes business) I would highly recommend taking a good bookkeeper. It is a very good investment to have a good bookkeeper here when you are self employed.

Concerning residence documents you will have to go the "districtshuis", as the others have said. If you have issues there (that your papers are not coming right) you can get legal aid. A lot of stuff here you can also best research online at the individual government sites as in my experience the government officials working at the various government instances dont really know what they are talking about. You get a lot of wrong information, which you believe and after the fact pay the price for. Especially if case is a little "out of the norm, or complicated". Most of the concrete requirements for all kinds of legal formalitites can be found online on the relevant government site. Research for yourself before believing given advice. Be careful with your house. Especially if you made renovations for which you needed a permit and did the renovations without the permit. They can require you to break it down again or fine you for it.

Greetings Felicia

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