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A guide on foreign brokerage accounts : declaring - taxes - tax return

Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side. Foreign brokers might have an advantage over domestic (Belgian) brokers. They might be cheaper, they might have a better platform. And in this digital age, opening a brokerage account in another country is as easy as opening one in Belgium. There are three things you need to do when owning a foreign brokerage account:


  1. Foreign accounts need to be declared with the Belgian National Bank.

  2. Foreign accounts need to mentioned each year in your tax declaration.

  3. You have to make sure the stock transaction tax is paid (by your broker or you).

  4. You have to make sure the Dividend witholding tax is paid (by your broker or you).



Foreign accounts needs to be declared

The Belgian government requires you to declare foreign income and accounts holding your money or securities. These accounts can be held at a bank, a credit, savings or exchange institution. So not only bank accounts. Even if you only have money in a monetary fund and no securities, you still need to declare your account.

You need to declare the foreign accounts before the tax return following the year that you made the account. So if you made an account with DeGiro in 2019, you need to declare the account before you submit your tax return of 2020 (which is covering the fiscal year of 2019).

How to declare them ?

You have to declare them with the Belgian National Bank. Below is the procedure for using an E-ID and Google Chrome (Internet explorer might also work):

  1. Take your E-card reader and Belgium ID.

  2. Insert you ID in the E-card reader.

  3. Optional: install and open the eID viewer app from the Belgium government. I do this this to confirm that the card reader is working. It should display your picture and details.

  4. Go to the website of the Belgian National Bank: https://cappcc.nbb.be/my.policy

  5. Click on your name on the pop up window to select the certificate

  6. Enter your ID pin code

  7. Click on the before last link ("Belastingplichtige : klik hier") to declare an account for yourself or click on the last link to declare an account for somebody else ("Lasthebber voor deze opdracht (boekhouder, fiduciaire, ... : klik hier")

  8. Click the blue arrow ("volgende" = "next)

  9. Click the blue button with black text "een rekening toevoegen"

  10. Fill in the details of your account

  11. 3a = account number or user ID / username

  12. 3b = name of broker or bank

  13. 3d = country where the account has been opened

  14. 3e = oldest year when you opened the account

  15. 3f = date when you closed the account (if you already closed the account in the meanwhile)

  16. 3g = oldest year when the earning of your kids where added to the parents earnings

  17. 3c = BIC code

  18. 3c (last lines) = adress

  19. Street and number

  20. Postal code and place

  21. Province/State/region

  22. Country

  23. Hit blue "OK" button

  24. Last step is to select the language you want to use (if they contact you?) + confirm everything


TIP: Save the confirmation page. Or make a screenshot. Or print to PDF. Because you do not get a confirmation mail nor can you review which accounts you have submitted. You can only request an overview by mail (possibly also e-mail, to be confirmed).

When do you need to declare them



Degiro Example (Be aware that you need to separately declare your Flatex cash account)

  • 3a = account number or user ID / username

  • 3b = DEGIRO B.V.

  • 3d = Nederland

  • 3e = oldest year when you opened the account

  • 3f = date when you closed the account (if you already closed the account in the meanwhile)

  • 3g = oldest year when the earning of your kids where added to the parents earnings

  • 3c = Not applicable

  • 3c (last lines) = adress

  1. Amstelplein 1, Rembrandt Tower - 9th Floor

  2. 1096 HA Amsterdam

  3. Noord-Holland

  4. Nederland

Flatex Example

  • 3a = DE bank account number

  • 3b = Flatex Bank AG

  • 3d = Duitsland

  • 3e = oldest year when you opened the account

  • 3f = date when you closed the account (if you already closed the account in the meanwhile)

  • 3g = oldest year when the earning of your kids where added to the parents earnings

  • 3c = BIWBDE33XXX

  • 3c (last lines) = adress

  1. Rotfeder-Ring 7

  2. 60327 Frankfurt am Main

  3. Hessen

  4. Duitsland


Lynx Example


BUX Zero Example

  • 3a = our account number (can be found in the monthly emails BUX sends you for transaction tax, open the attached pdf file and at the top left you will find your name and account number).

  • 3b = BUX B.V.

  • 3d = NL - Nederland

  • 3e = oldest year when you opened the account

  • 3f = date when you closed the account (if you already closed the account in the meanwhile)

  • 3g = oldest year when the earning of your kids where added to the parents earnings

  • 3c = Not applicable

  • 3c (last lines) = adress

  1. Spuistraat 114B

  2. 1012 VA Amsterdam

  3. Noord-Holland

  4. Nederland


You also need to mention your foreign account in your tax return each year

Although the Belgian government already knows that you have a foreign account. You need to remind them every year! In field XIII (13) of your tax return, you have to mention if you or anybody in your family has a foreign account (spouse, kids, or the partner with which you have declared living together with). Or if you are the manager of an account from a non profit association (investment clubs for example).

You have to check mark field 1075. You have to mention the name of the account owner, the country of the financial institution and if you have registered it with the national bank (which you should have done already, as mentioned above). It's quite simple and straightforward.

Did your broker pay the tax on stock transactions?

Please check if your broker pays the Belgian tax on stock transactions. Most (Belgian) brokers automatically do this. Lynx and DeGiro also do this (remark: you can opt out on DeGiro but I would not recommend this).

Check your transaction history in your account and look for "Transaction tax" / "Transactiebelasting". If they do not withhold this tax, you have to pay it yourself to the government within 1 month's time or you can get a hefty fine. Take a look at this post for more details.


Did your broker pay the Belgian withholding tax (dividend tax)?

In most countries, you have to pay withholding taxes. These are the taxes paid on dividends.

For shares of a company from Belgium

The company issuing the dividends should pay the dividend taxes. These are called source withholding taxes. For most companies in Belgium, the rate of dividend tax is 30%. There is a reduced rate of 15% for Belgian REIT company's who specialize in care property's. Currently, there are only two: Care Property Invest & Aedifica.

For example, if Delhaize would pay a gross dividend of 1 euro, they will pay 0,3 euro taxes to the Belgium Government. You do not have to declare these dividends anymore because the taxes are already paid. However, first 800 euro's in dividends are tax free. So you ask back the taxes you paid. More about this can be found below.

For shares of of a company from outside of Belgium

Yet again, the company issuing the dividends should pay the dividend taxes. These are called source withholding taxes. HOWEVER, these are the source withholding taxes for that particular country that the company is located. These are not the taxes you have to pay to Belgium government. For example, if Apple would pay a gross dividend of 1 euro, they will pay 0,3 euro taxes to the US Government. You will get 0,7 euro. On this 0,7 euro, you still have to pay Belgium withholding taxes of 30%. You have to declare this in your personal taxes. You have to fill in the 0,7 euro in tax box 1444 / 2444.

The first 800 euro of dividends are tax exempt! (with one big remark)

  • For the dividends from foreign companies: you just don't have to declare them.

  • For the dividends from Belgium companies: you already paid 30% (or 15%) taxes on them. But you can ask them back from the government. You fill in the amount of taxes in tax box 1437/2437 in your personal taxes. In the above examples of 1 euro, you can fill in the 0,3 euro to get it back. The max amount you are allowed to fill in is currently 800x30%=240euro.

One big remark - Only for shares of individual companies

You can ONLY recuperate that amount from tax paid on dividends you receive from shares of individual companies and NOT from funds, ETF's, bonds....


DIVIDEND EXAMPLE 1

Let's take an example where we get 100€ of five different companies. Two are located in the US and three are located in Belgium.


First, the company issuing the dividends pay source witholding tax to the country in which they are located. If Apple and Coca Cola pay out 100€ in dividends, 30€ will go the US government. The remainder will be paid out to you via your broker. On his remainder, you still need to pay the Belgian witholding tax.


In this example we received 140€in foreign dividends (2 x 70€ after US tax) and 210€ in Belgian dividends. Luckily, this is below the 240€ (800€ x 30€) limit of tax free dividends. This means we do not declare the foreign taxes that we normally should pay (2 x 21€). And we ask back the 90€of Belgium taxes we paid by filling it in box 1437/2437 in our

personal tax declaration.


DIVIDEND EXAMPLE 2



In this example we received 1200€ of Belgium dividends and paid 360€ of taxes. We can claim back up to maximum 240€of taxes (800€x30%) by filling it in box 1437/2437 in our personal tax declaration.


DIVIDEND EXAMPLE 3



In this example we received 10000€ in foreign dividends. The 3000€of taxes are already paid by the issuer to the US government (domicile of Coca Cola). We receive 7000€ on which we should pay another 30% of Belgium taxes (7000€ x 30% = 2100).

We have not paid these taxes yet so we have to declare them in tax box 1444 / 2444.We can subtract the tax free amount: 7000-800 = 6200€ to be filled in.




 
 
 

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