2026 capital-gains tax
Since 1 January 2026, realized gains on financial assets are taxed at 10%. What was gained before 2026 is not caught: the value at 31 December 2025 is the starting point.
Result
Where the money goes
- Exemption used100%€4,000.00
This sale
- Sale price
- €22,000.00
- Purchase price
- €10,000.00
- Value on 31/12/2025
- €18,000.00
- Acquisition value used
- €18,000.00
- Gain
- €4,000.00
- Holding period
- 2,557 days
Value on 31/12/2025 (step-up rule)
The 2026 tax year
- Realized gains
- €4,000.00
- Exemption available
- €10,000.00
- Exemption used
- €4,000.00
- Exemption remaining
- €6,000.00
- Taxable base
- €0.00
- Tax due @ 10%
- €0.00
Either way, the annual exemption is only recoverable through the tax return.
The link carries your figures: opened anywhere else, it shows exactly the same result.
How this number is reached
For a position bought before 2026, the acquisition value is its value on 31 December 2025 — unless the price actually paid was higher and can be evidenced, an option that stays open until 31 December 2030. The gain is the sale price less that value, with no deduction of fees or transaction taxes. A position held continuously for ten years is exempt. The €10,000 annual exemption is then applied to the year as a whole, and what remains is taxed at 10%.
Frequently asked questions
Who is caught by this tax?
Private individuals realizing a gain on a financial asset — shares, ETFs, bonds, funds, derivatives, crypto — from 1 January 2026. The rate is 10%.
What happens to the gain built up before 2026?
It is not taxed. For listed assets the acquisition value is reset to the last closing price of 2025, so only the rise after that date enters the taxable base.
How does the €10,000 exemption work?
It is annual and per taxpayer. It does not apply automatically when a broker withholds at source: it is only recoverable through the annual tax return.
Does the ten-year exemption really exist?
Yes. A gain on an asset held continuously for at least ten years is exempt under the general regime, which is why acquisition dates have to be tracked parcel by parcel.
Does my broker withhold the tax?
Belgian intermediaries withhold it by default from June 2026. DEGIRO, Interactive Brokers, Trade Republic and LYNX do not — LYNX runs the opt-out system — and their clients declare it themselves.
Read more
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Have your broker export to hand?
The calculator reads a full export and prices the whole year, position by position.
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