The government is making the adjustment following a conviction for discrimination by the European Court of Justice.
Anyone who owns a property abroad can spontaneously declare this until December 31, 2021 to the Administration of Measurements and Valuations, which will determine the cadastral income on the basis of the information provided. The new scheme will take effect from the 2022 assessment year (2021 income).
There are about 155,000 fellow countrymen who have declared income from real estate abroad. The fact that they will now be taxed on a cadastral income to be calculated instead of on the actual rental income, means a tax windfall for many of them.
In the European Union, Belgium is the only country that does not tax real rental income from private individuals. With professional letting – by companies, for example – rental income is already taxed on the basis of the real rental income. This is also the case if a private individual rents out to someone who uses the property for his or her profession.
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