Three rates, three caps
The Belgian TOB (taxe sur les opérations de bourse / beurstaks) is charged on the transaction value, at one of three rates, each with its own cap per transaction:
| Rate | Cap per transaction | Transaction value at which the cap bites |
|---|---|---|
| 0.12% | €1,300 | €1,083,333.33 |
| 0.35% | €1,600 | €457,142.85 |
| 1.32% | €4,000 | €303,030.30 |
The cap applies per transaction, not per day and not per month. Two separate orders are two separate transactions, each with its own ceiling.
The rates and caps above are published by the FPS Finance on its stock exchange tax page.
What decides the rate for a fund
For a fund or ETF, the rate turns on two conditions, and both matter:
- is the fund registered in Belgium (with the FSMA)?
- is the share class being traded accumulating or distributing?
| Registration | Share class | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium | accumulating | 1.32% |
| Belgium | distributing | 0.12% |
| EEA, not Belgium | either | 0.12% |
| Outside the EEA | either | 0.35% |
Neither condition on its own produces 1.32%. A Belgian-registered distributing class is at 0.12%. A non-Belgian EEA accumulating class is at 0.12%. Only the combination of Belgian registration and an accumulating class reaches 1.32% — which is, awkwardly, exactly the combination that many Belgian investors hold.
The gap between the outer rates is elevenfold. On a €10,000 order, 0.12% is €12 and 1.32% is €132.
Registration is not domicile
This is the single most misread part of the rule.
Registration and domicile are different facts. Domicile is where the fund is
established, and it is legible from the ISIN prefix: IE for Ireland, LU for
Luxembourg, FR for France. Registration is an FSMA matter — whether the fund
has been registered for public distribution in Belgium — and it is not
derivable from the ISIN at all.
An Irish-domiciled ETF with an IE ISIN is commonly registered in Belgium,
and an accumulating class of it is then taxed at 1.32%, despite the fund
being in no sense Belgian. Reading the country code and concluding "not Belgian,
therefore 0.12%" produces the wrong rate on a very large part of the market.
Registration status is published by the FSMA and stated in the fund's KID (key information document). It has to be looked up per instrument, in the same way as distribution policy.
The compartment quirk
Funds are frequently structured as umbrellas with several compartments. As soon as one compartment is registered in Belgium, the administration treats all compartments of that fund as registered.
The consequence is that an accumulating class can inherit Belgian registration — and with it the 1.32% rate — from a sibling distributing class registered here, without anything about the accumulating class itself changing.
Why two brokers charge different rates on the same ETF
Belgian investors regularly see the same ISIN taxed at 1.32% at one broker and 0.12% at another. It is a real and documented divergence, not a rounding artefact.
The brokers are not disagreeing about where the fund is domiciled — that is printed on the ISIN and not in dispute. They are disagreeing about whether it is registered in Belgium, and, where umbrella structures are involved, about whether a sibling compartment's registration carries across.
That this classification varies in practice is our own observation, drawn from comparing what different brokers actually charge on the same fund — not a position the FPS Finance has stated. The practical effects for an investor holding the same fund at two brokers:
- the amounts withheld differ, for identical trades;
- where TOB is self-declared rather than withheld, the rate has to be determined from the fund's own documentation rather than copied from whatever another broker charged;
- a discrepancy between two brokers on one ISIN is a signal that the registration status is worth checking in the KID or the FSMA register.
Belfolio reports a rate as unknown for an instrument whose registration status it has not curated, rather than guessing from the ISIN. Between 0.12% and 1.32% there is no sensible default: the two candidate answers differ by a factor of eleven, and a confident wrong number is worse than an acknowledged gap.
A concrete order can be priced with the stock exchange tax simulator.
Always verify your figures
Belfolio computes and presents these amounts for information only. This is not tax advice. Verify them with the FPS Finance or your accountant before filing.
Published 18 Jun 2026