Questioner: JosNT
I am Belgian, deregistered in Belgium and have been living permanently in Thailand for 7 years (retirement visa). Yesterday I received a letter from my Belgian bank (bpost bank NV) asking me to complete a document and declare my country of residence for tax purposes. In that letter, the bank already assumes that this is THAILAND because:
• I have a permanent residential address here;
• no longer have a Belgian telephone number, but do have a Thai one;
• have a standing transfer order where I transfer a fixed amount monthly to my Thai bank account.
I can agree with this, but I am now starting to doubt whether this is not Belgium, for the following reasons:
• As a former civil servant, I enjoy a government pension that is fully taxed in Belgium and is my only source of income. I transfer a fixed amount of this monthly that is sufficient to justify my income for immigration in Thailand (annual extension);
• I have no income in Thailand and therefore no TIN number;
• Belgium concluded a treaty with Thailand years ago to avoid double taxation, which stipulated that taxes are only deducted in the source state (in this case Belgium).
Can any of the readers inform me what my tax residence is: Thailand or Belgium? The declaration to be completed is also very confusing because it also states: “Please include ALL countries on the lists, including Belgium where applicable, in which you are considered a tax resident”.
With thanks,
P.S. Bpost bank NV will be taken over by BNP Paribas Fortis this month, but that is not relevant here.
Reaction Lung Addie
Since the banks are now obliged to provide certain information to the Belgian Tax Authorities, they have sent you this letter.
Even if you are deregistered in Belgium and live permanently in Thailand,
Your tax country is and remains Belgium.
So you answer this letter with: BELGIUM.
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