“Government leaves up to 200 million euros per year in taxes in construction”

The Belgian state wastes up to 200 million euros annually by not taxing seconded construction workers. Sector federation Bouwunie is suing this on Wednesday. The federation calls on the tax authorities to take action to guarantee fair competition in the construction sector.

In Belgium, it is estimated that around 70,000 posted workers and self-employed people work in the construction sector. These are foreigners who are working here temporarily. Normally, they have to pay tax on their income in Belgium from 183 days of work in our country, the so-called BNI (Non-Resident Tax). The employer must then withhold withholding tax and transfer it to the tax authorities.

The Limosa notification makes it possible to know exactly how many and for how long posted workers are present at Belgian yards, but according to Bouwunie, the tax authorities do not use this database, “as a result of which the Belgian state is missing out on all those hundreds of millions”.

The sector is pushing to take action on this. “So that our Belgian construction companies can compete with equal weapons. And Belgium has extra income that it can use to support our construction sector.”