The latest tax letter has been presented. What are the most important novelties this year?
“The novelties are actually quite limited. That would of course have been a different story if the fiscal reform of Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V) had been implemented. There are about ten fewer codes on the declaration letter, this is due to the one-off corona measures that no longer apply.
“As far as effective changes are concerned, the measure regarding rents is particularly striking. If you, as a tenant, want to include your rent as a professional expense, the FPS will from now on request more information. Based on this information, they check whether the landlord is being taxed correctly. The tax is lower when a home is rented out exclusively for housing than when a home is rented out professionally.
“Owners will now more often include clauses that exclude professional use. So be careful as a tenant. For example, working from home for a day does not entitle you to claim your rent as professional expenses. If abuse is nevertheless made, the lost taxes will be collected from the tenant.”
What about the stricter copyright rules?
“Well, the copyright system has indeed been adjusted. The category of people who qualify for this has become smaller. Only artists and authors can still rely on this. But no longer people setting up a summer bar, people used copyrights so creatively. People have really gone back to what was initially meant by ‘authors’.”
About half of taxpayers will receive pre-completed tax returns, but errors can creep in. What should citizens pay attention to?
“The simplified declaration is a service from the FPS to make it easier for people. Experience shows us that there is a margin of error here, so people should always check everything carefully. Classic mistakes are when people have sold real estate, then you have to pay close attention to whether this is already included in the tax letter. You should also check ‘dependent children’ carefully. When children have a student job, they may no longer be included as a ‘dependent child’. This is an error.
“Since this year, childcare costs have been automatically included in the tax bill, but double-checking remains the message.”
Many Belgians complain about the complexity of the tax return. Why isn’t it made easier?
“That is a good question. I think there are real missed opportunities when it comes to education. Ideally, our secondary school students will gain some basic knowledge about taxation, because they will be confronted with it in the future. My own children have now gradually outgrown secondary school, they know everything about parallelograms, so to speak, but they don’t know what a cadastral income is. Moreover, reform is desirable, but politicians must come to a compromise for this.”
Finally, when must the tax return be submitted?
“For paper declarations, this is June 30. Digital declarations via Tax-on-web must be submitted before July 15. The complex declarations will be given more time, until October 16. Complex declarations apply to people who, for example, have foreign income.”
