Tax guides for Belgian investors
Answers to the questions Belgian investors actually ask about capital gains tax, TOB and dividends.
Latest guides
- Brokers
Interactive Brokers and Belgian taxes: which export to import, and what follows
Interactive Brokers withholds no tax for a Belgian resident — stock-exchange tax, dividend withholding and capital-gains tax all land with you. Which export you need, why naming your broker matters, and what the import produces.
Written by Belfolio4 min read - Capital gains
The Reynders tax was not abolished: how it stacks with the capital gains tax
The Reynders tax — 30% on the interest component of funds holding more than 10% debt claims — was widely declared dead in 2025, but the law of 6 April 2026 kept it. How the two taxes combine, with a worked example following the circular.
Written by Belfolio4 min read - Crypto
Calculating Belgian capital gains tax on crypto: step-up, swaps and the exemption
How to work out the 10% Belgian capital gains tax on crypto step by step: the 31 December 2025 step-up value, every taxable event — swaps included — and the annual exemption, with a worked example.
Written by Belfolio4 min read
Capital gains
The 10% tax on realized gains: the 31 December 2025 step-up, the annual exemption, and the ten-year rule.
- Capital gains
The Reynders tax was not abolished: how it stacks with the capital gains tax
The Reynders tax — 30% on the interest component of funds holding more than 10% debt claims — was widely declared dead in 2025, but the law of 6 April 2026 kept it. How the two taxes combine, with a worked example following the circular.
Written by Belfolio4 min read - Capital gains
A worked example: a DEGIRO investor with €50,000 in a world ETF, 2024–2026
One fictional investor, one accumulating world ETF, followed from purchase through the 31 December 2025 step-up to a partial sale in 2026 — with the TOB, the step-up value and the 10% capital-gains tax shown line by line.
Written by Belfolio4 min read - Capital gains
You are on the opt-out side of the capital-gains tax: what lands on you
Under opt-out nobody withholds the 10% for you. Three jobs move from your broker to you — and one of them cannot be finished yet, because the declaration codes have not been published.
Written by Belfolio5 min read
Stock exchange tax
The tax on stock exchange transactions: which rate applies, what it is capped at, and how to file it yourself.
- Stock exchange tax
Accumulating or distributing S&P 500: the same index, two different tax bills
iShares Core S&P 500 comes as an accumulating class (CSPX) and a distributing one (IUSA). Same index, same cost — but one pays 1.32% TOB and no dividend tax, the other 0.12% TOB and 30% on its dividends. The arithmetic decides which is cheaper.
Written by Belfolio4 min read - Stock exchange tax
Why a very large order pays a lower effective TOB rate
The Belgian stock exchange tax is capped per transaction — €1,300, €1,600 or €4,000. Above the value where the cap bites, the effective rate falls, and splitting one large order into several can cost more, not less.
Written by Belfolio3 min read - Stock exchange tax
Why Bolero and DEGIRO tax the same ETF differently
The same accumulating ETF is charged 1.32% TOB at one Belgian broker and 0.12% at another. The divergence is not a bug — it comes from how each broker reads FSMA registration on an umbrella fund.
Written by Belfolio4 min read
Dividends
Withholding tax on Belgian and foreign dividends, and what part of it comes back through the tax return.
- Dividends
Foreign dividends: the US 30%, the W-8BEN, and the Belgian 30% on top
A US or French dividend is taxed twice: once at source abroad, then again at 30% in Belgium. A W-8BEN cuts the US rate from 30% to 15%, and a recent decision restored a credit on French dividends.
Written by Belfolio5 min read - Dividends
Dividend withholding tax at 30%, and the reclaimable first tranche
Belgian dividend withholding tax is 30%. Part of the first tranche of dividends can be reclaimed through the tax return — and some brokers withhold nothing at all.
Written by Belfolio4 min read
Interest & lending
How interest and lending income is taxed as movable income at 30% — P2P and crowdlending platforms, and the fee from lending your shares.
Real estate
How foreign property income is taxed for a Belgian resident — the treaty, exemption with progression, and where French SCPI income actually lands.
Crypto
How crypto falls under the 10% capital-gains tax from 2026: no broker withholds it, what counts as a taxable event, and where the line sits between investor, speculator and professional.
- Crypto
Calculating Belgian capital gains tax on crypto: step-up, swaps and the exemption
How to work out the 10% Belgian capital gains tax on crypto step by step: the 31 December 2025 step-up value, every taxable event — swaps included — and the annual exemption, with a worked example.
Written by Belfolio4 min read - Crypto
Exporting your crypto history for the Belgian tax return: Bitvavo, Kraken, Coinbase, Binance and Bitpanda
No crypto exchange withholds the Belgian capital gains tax: your own transaction history is the basis of the return. What the export file of five major exchanges does — and does not — contain.
Written by Belfolio3 min read - Crypto
Is a crypto swap taxable in Belgium? What is settled and what is not
According to most sources, swapping one coin for another counts as a realisation — and therefore a taxable event for the capital gains tax. What that implies, what the FPS Finance has not confirmed, and what to record starting today.
Written by Belfolio3 min read
Brokers
What Belgian brokers, DEGIRO, Interactive Brokers and Trade Republic each handle at source — and what they leave to you.
- Brokers
Interactive Brokers and Belgian taxes: which export to import, and what follows
Interactive Brokers withholds no tax for a Belgian resident — stock-exchange tax, dividend withholding and capital-gains tax all land with you. Which export you need, why naming your broker matters, and what the import produces.
Written by Belfolio4 min read - Brokers
Which Belgian taxes each broker handles for you — a side-by-side comparison
The three Belgian taxes come apart broker by broker — Lynx withholds the TOB but not the 10% on capital gains. What self-declaring really costs, and where the maintained per-cell comparison lives.
Written by Belfolio4 min read - Brokers
Which brokers withhold which taxes, and what is left to you
Belgian brokers, DEGIRO, IBKR and Trade Republic treat TOB, dividend withholding and the capital gains tax very differently. Here is what each combination leaves you to do yourself.
Written by Belfolio4 min read
Filing
What the annual return and the monthly TOB declaration actually need from you, and the records that produce them.
- Filing
Self-declaring as a DEGIRO or Interactive Brokers investor: a walkthrough
A foreign broker leaves TOB, foreign dividends and realised gains for you to report yourself. This walkthrough follows the three returns those obligations land in, and which document feeds each one.
Written by Belfolio4 min read - Filing
Where dividends and stock-lending income go on the Belgian return: the boxes and codes
Foreign dividends with no Belgian withholding tax go in box VII, code 1444/2444, for the amount actually received — while the reclaim of the exempt €833 tranche sits under 1437/2437. Securities lending does not follow the same code: the compensation payment is miscellaneous income, in box XV.
Written by Belfolio7 min read - Filing
Declaring a foreign broker account: the NBB register and box XIII
Holding a DEGIRO, Interactive Brokers or Trade Republic account puts two separate obligations on a Belgian resident — a one-off registration with the National Bank, and a line on the return every year the account exists.
Written by Belfolio12 min read
Glossary
Plain-language definitions of the Belgian tax terms you meet as an investor: TOB, withholding tax, step-up, FBB/QFIE, FIFO and more.
Investing in practice
The practical questions that come before the tax return: how an ETF is bought from Belgium, what an accumulating or distributing class changes here, and what each broker leaves you to declare.
- Investing in practice
Investing in ETFs as an expat in Belgium: what applies to you and what to check
Yes, an expat living in Belgium can invest in ETFs — and Belgian tax rules then apply just as they do to any resident. Which taxes you meet, what changes when your broker or your account is foreign, and the extra checks that come with a second passport or a plan to move on.
Written by Belfolio4 min read - Investing in practice
Investing for your child in Belgium: legal usufruct, gifting, and the step-up that does not exist
Most guidance you will find describes a Junior ISA or a custodial account. In Belgium a minor's income lands on the parents' return, and a gifted portfolio carries the donor's acquisition value with it.
Written by Belfolio6 min read - Investing in practice
Before you buy the 2026 theme ETF: five things that differ on a niche fund
Memory chips, rare earths, space, defence, uranium. On a narrow thematic fund the thing that costs you most is exactly the thing that is least predictable: the TOB rate, the legal form, and the odds the fund closes.
Written by Belfolio6 min read