Belgian tax treatment of foreign real estate – the EC is getting impatient.

Last November, the EC took the next step in the infringement procedure against Belgium in respect to its current tax regime for real estate located abroad (see our news item of April 27, 2018).

Belgium has already been convicted by the EU Court of Justice because it taxes the actual rental income or value of foreign real estate, while for ‘domestic’ property the concept of ‘cadastral income’ is used for tax purposes (C-110/17 of 12 April 2018).

The EC has sent a letter of formal notice to Belgium (Article 260 TFEU), with the instruction to apply the above judgment of the EU Court.
Belgium now has two months’ time to take the appropriate measures, otherwise the EC will again challenge our country before the EU Court of Justice, with further penalties due in case of non-compliance.

However, since last spring it has been rather silent on the Belgian authorities’ part, and given the current political situation that we are in, there is very little chance that a solution is to be expected within the next few months.

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