With which type of savings account do you pay the least taxes? | MyGuide

A regulated savings account must comply with a number of legal rules. For example, the total interest on the account must consist of two parts: a base interest and a fidelity premium. You receive the basic interest per day that your money is in the account, from the first day. You receive the fidelity premium for every amount that remains in the savings account for at least twelve months. The payment of the acquired fidelity premium is mandatory every quarter. The basic interest rate must be at least 0.01 percent, the fidelity premium at least 0.10 percent. Until recently, that sum of 0.11 percent was effectively what your savings account yielded. That time is now (fortunately) over.

Most savings accounts in our country are regulated, but there are also non-regulated versions. You can recognize them by the fact that you receive only one interest rate, without a fidelity premium, from the first day that money is deposited, just like the basic interest rate on regulated savings accounts. Banks are also not required to pay a statutory minimum interest on it, and are not obliged to pay you interest every quarter.

Which savings account yields the most money? Compare all regulated and non-regulated options here.

The difference between regulated and unregulated savings accounts may seem like a bit of a formality until now. But a regulated savings account has an important advantage that the non-regulated one does not offer.

With regulated savings accounts you do not pay any tax or withholding tax on the interest earned, at least not on the first 1,020 euros of interest per person. This maximum applies to all interest you receive on all savings accounts in your name combined. Including the interest on savings accounts in the name of your minor children. Each parent adds half of that interest to his or her own interest amount obtained. For savings accounts in two names, the exemption doubles to 2,040 euros.

You pay 15 percent withholding tax on the amount above the exempt interest. That is still less than with a non-regulated savings account. You also pay 30 percent withholding tax on all interest earned. The bank itself passes on the withholding tax to the tax authorities. After that, you no longer owe tax on the interest. The withholding tax has a supposedly ‘liberating’ effect.

Reading tip: You don’t always have to change banks to get more savings interest.

Suppose you save in a Belgian, non-regulated savings account. Will you then remain protected by the Belgian deposit guarantee scheme? The answer is simple: yes. You are also guaranteed to get back any savings in a non-regulated savings account if the bank goes bankrupt. The guarantee applies up to an amount of 100,000 euros per person and per bank.

But you pay more tax if you save on non-regulated savings accounts. And yet a few years ago they yielded more than regulated ones, even after deducting 30 percent withholding tax. Today that is not the case, but it is better to compare the full range.

Read more on Spaargids.be:

How much money can you have in your savings account before the tax authorities pass?

Barely 1 in 3 gives a six-year-old child pocket money: a financial education specialist tells you how to make the right choices

Pay less taxes after retirement? This way it can be done

This article was brought to you by our partner Spaargids.be.
Spaargids.be is an independent comparator of banking products and looks for competitive prices and better interest rates.

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