Tax return in Belgium of “non-resident” income 2020
Dear readers,
Tax return in Belgium of “non-resident”, income 2020 + unlimited additional income after retirement. My domicile has been in Thailand for +15 years and have not received a tax letter since then. In January 2020 I turned 65 years old, and in February 2020 I received my first (minimum) pension of EUR 1,300 (which is tax-free). I have only officially worked in BE for 23 years.
I have not yet received a tax letter, although the tax authorities know my address in TH. Apparently I now have to fill in a tax return because this pension is regarded as income from BE. It is a minimum pension and tax free. Why do I still have to fill in a tax form? Does anyone of my (dear) country know why, and do I have to?
Second question regarding unlimited additional income: According to the pension documents, I can now earn unlimited additional income… is that the case, or are there any conditions? Do I also have to enter this income on my tax letter If I were to file a tax return…), and what would be the consequences if those amounts were the multiple of my state pension?
Best thanks in advance for your replies.
Regards,
Frank
Editors: Do you have a question for the readers of Thailandblog? Use it contact form..
Dear, according to the information from the pension service, you are allowed to earn up to 500 € per month, tax-free, what you earn more will be added to the 1.300 € monthly pension and then you will be taxed on that amount, if you exceed the tax-free limit comes out.
Hello Frank,
I think it's best to contact the IRS yourself
Email: [email protected]
Georgio
Unlimited extra income is allowed, but…
With a tax of 52 percent at the end of the year!! So !!!!!!
As far as your pension income (or rental income in Belgium) is concerned (year 2020), you must file a Belgian tax return before December 2, 2021. If you, as a resident of Thailand, have other income here, you must declare this here with the Thai taxes. You will then receive proof from the Thai taxes that you have paid taxes in Thailand for your other income here.
I don't think you will be entitled to minimum pension, but much much less
For your minimum pension you must have worked for 45 years, for example, you have worked for 40 years, you will receive 40/45 and you must have worked for a minimum of 30 years
And since you have worked for 26 years, it will be even less than 30/45
Note to Marc :
Frank says that he has received a minimum pension of 8 Euros for 1300 months, in other words he does not make a prediction, but he does state an existing fact ???
Ask :
Is a minimum pension of EUR 1300 just paid out if you live outside the EU?
Dear Ferdinand:
the answer is YES, it is paid outside the EU but you have to apply for it from 1 year before the retirement age and you have 6 months to do so.
As a Belgian you must always fill in a tax form online in Thailand, if you are not a resident. They will not send it to you.
MVG
Dear Bert,
your information is incorrect. You 'MUST' not do this online but 'CAN' do it online. The tax authorities do send a paper assessment form abroad, at least if they have a correct address.
Please correct information.
Dear Bert,
Yes, we have to make a declaration and that is not without problems here in Thailand.
I have never received a declaration form in the seven years that I have lived here!
Tax-on-web then, it doesn't work properly here either, I keep getting dozens of error messages, so I filled it in with the error messages and when I click on visualization I have an original completed draft letter from my tax return which I copy and send to I sent the tax authorities with an explanation as to why I do it this way, they always gave a positive answer and they filed the tax return for me with the tax authorities themselves.
I must add that people are always very friendly and polite in their answers .
My Thai girlfriend, now living in Thailand, receives a survivor's pension from 2015 (she is now 59 years old) from Belgium (was previously married to a Belgian, who died in 2014).
The Federal Pension Service already deducts personal income tax withholding tax from her gross pension.
At the end of 2020, she received a declaration form from the Belgian tax authorities for the income year 2019. This was the first time (so not for previous years).
The declaration was completed and sent and the assessment came on April 21, 2021. The assessment concerned 7% municipal tax on the personal income tax due.
Each municipality determines its own percentage. If you live abroad, a fixed percentage of 2019% applies (at least for 7).
Dear Werner,
the surcharges are determined by the region and the municipality where someone last lived. Can be different and is not 7% everywhere and is therefore not a flat rate when you live abroad. My last address was in the Brussels region and I pay 8% surcharge.
Hi lung Addie,
Thank you for your response and improvements
Dear Frank,
Before replying to your post, I first contacted my tax-legal advisor in Belgium. Because of the complexity of this case, I first slept peacefully on it. I have completed her two pension files for Thai widows, of Belgian men, and 1 tax file, with good results. Be well versed and up to date on this subject. That Belgian claimed that, and was also WITH HEM', that his gross pension was his net pension since he was deregistered in Belgium… .. he did receive the bill afterwards…. can be corrected with great difficulty.
I also have a few questions first:
– When you deregistered 15 years ago, did you YOURSELF inform the tax authorities of your new address? The municipality, where you deregistered, did not do this because they do not even ask for your new address when you deregister. In my file, published here on TB, I advise you to DO that YOURSELF, otherwise there is a good chance that the tax authorities do not have this and cannot and will not send you anything.
– In which month were you deregistered and did you still receive and file a tax return for the year BEFORE the deregistration? The tax return is about the income of the previous year. If you were deregistered before the tax authorities sent the declarations, chances are that you did not receive them either.
– did you really have NO income left? After all, you had to live off something.
There is no problem for the pension service:
By the way, you HAD to apply for your pension YOURSELF. This was possible from 1 year before retirement age and you had 6 months to do so. You must in any case provide your details with that application:
– bank account into which your pension should be paid
– postal address in Thailand where they should send the ANNUAL LIFE PROOF. If they do not have it, you will not receive a life certificate and your pension benefits will be stopped.
The details of the benefit do go to the tax authorities, where the pension service annually sends the payment dates, with the National Social Security Office and withholding tax to the tax authorities. This only based on your pension number and national register number, not with other data such as bank and postal address.
You DO pay tax and social security on a pension, even if it is a minimum pension. Your minimum pension of +/- 1300Eu comes from a gross pension, as a single person, of 1591Eu and as a family of 1988Eu. It will be about a single pension for you. After the declaration, an additional amount of the OPCENTIEMEN will be added, which depends on the region where you last lived and which you will usually have to pay separately with the settlement.
There are several reasons why you have not received anything from the tax authorities since you were deregistered: an unknown address and no income statements.
As long as you are employed or self-employed, the employer (or the agency that calculates the wages of their employees) sends a tax form to the tax authorities every year. As a self-employed person, you have to do that yourself. By the way, you will receive a copy of this every year, which you can use for the declaration.
Since you no longer had an employer or were no longer active as a self-employed person, that did NOT happen. Your tax file was therefore no longer complete and they could no longer draw up an assessment form.
What went wrong now?
In the first place: if you do not receive an assessment form, you are MANDATORY to request one YOURSELF, something you most likely DID NOT do. (that's the law)
You must inform the tax authorities YOURSELF that you no longer have any income. Whether he will accept this is doubtful because, even if you live in Thailand, you need income to live. These can come from various sources: equity capital, income from dividends or interest. Income from renting out real estate or income from working abroad. Taxes are due on all this income. Even a renter has to pay taxes.
Your question about 'unlimited additional income as a pensioner' already arouses a 'suspect' and I am not saying that it was the case, that you already earned in the period when you had no income and of course never stated this. Unlimited additional income is now possible, but keep in mind that this can be taxed up to 52% in Belgium, unless you provide proof that you have already paid taxes on this income in Thailand, depending on where the income comes from.
You also did not make a social security contribution for 15 years and were therefore no longer insured at all in Belgium. Before they want to re-insure you, it 'may' be best that they claim years of social security, just like the tax authorities, based on an average wage.
Now, because of your pension income, your file will be reopened and it is difficult or impossible for me to predict what will happen. There may be big bells ringing at the tax authorities. What I do know is that I prefer to walk in my shoes than in yours because it could be a difficult birth.
regards, lg addie.
Dear Lung Addie,
Your information is completely correct.
Because I've also experienced it with my wife's tax return.
As a Belgian you are obliged to contact the tax authorities YOURSELF,
if you have not received a tax return, before investigating what needs to be adjusted to your status.
You are already aware of my condition through previous contact.
Since we no longer live at the same address, my wife and our 2 children in Thailand and I have returned to Belgium since May 2015,
did my wife only become a taxable person as a “non-resident”
I am again taxable as a resident.
Upon my return to Belgium in 2015, I contacted the tax authorities to adjust my status.
In 2016 I wanted to complete my return via “Tax on Web” and then I noticed that my wife was still listed on my tax return, so I could not complete my return via the website and had to request a paper return.
However, everything was at the Civil Registry, adjusted as single since May 2015.
Because we no longer lived together, my wife received 50% of my family pension,
it was also already arranged so that this monthly amount was transferred to her Thai bank account.
It wasn't until 2017 that my tax return was finally in order, so that I could fill in my return again via “Tax on Web”!
In 2016 and 2017, my wife still had not received a tax return and I contacted the tax authorities again for “non-residents”
because she now had an income, “the 50% of my family pension”
All data forwarded via email and it would be sorted out.!
In 2018 she again did not receive a tax return.!
Contacted the tax authorities again and again heard nothing, that was for the 3rd time.!
In 2019 I then asked to send a declaration via email, filled in everything and then sent it back via the postal service and in an attachment via email.!
In 2020 nothing was heard from again and again no declaration was received.!
Problems for the declaration form to be sent by Corona.!?
Contacted again by email in June 2021 and I got a reply,
for non-residents you will only receive the declaration forms in September.!
Still not received in October
contacted again via email but now,
"via my wife's email address." then at the end of October I received an answer that they had the necessary information and that my wife would receive a completed declaration within a few weeks so that she could sign the declaration and send it back to the tax authorities.
It's almost the end of November now!
Still nothing received!
On November 28 I can finally go back to Thailand without quarantine.
I will then arrange everything and inform my wife or better my daughter how she can complete the declaration via
“Tax on Web”.
I hope it will finally be okay.
Greetings Winlouis.
Bye Frank
Sorry I'm going to repeat it again the best thing is that you contact the IRS, have already written this in a previous answer, because you will get several conflicting answers, but they know what's going on and can give you the right answer to give
Groet