Eight novelties in your tax return for 2024

Since Wednesday, April 24, taxpayers can complete their tax return for this year. They have until July 15 to do this if they submit their tax return online, or until June 30 for the paper version. For complex returns (for example with foreign income) the deadline is October 16.

The 2024 Flemish declaration has 833 codes, or 10 fewer than last year. In Wallonia there are 839 codes and in Brussels 826, respectively 10 and 4 codes less than last year. As in previous years, some codes have been removed and others added.

“Ten codes disappeared thanks to the dying federal housing bonus,” says Jef Wellens, tax expert at Wolters Kluwer. ‘The federal housing bonus consists of a basic amount that provides a tax reduction for the entire duration of the loan and an increase in that amount, which only applies to the first ten years of the loan. Because the federal housing bonus loan had to be concluded by 2013 at the latest, the ten-year period for which an increase is granted has definitively expired. The practical consequence is that the ten codes linked to it in box IX are deleted.’

What changes are there in the tax return for the 2023 income year? We list eight of them.

Employers who made a lot of profit during the 2022 energy crisis could provide a purchasing power premium in the form of consumption vouchers in 2023, comparable to meal vouchers. Employees who received the premium last year must declare it in their tax return in the wages box.

“The purchasing power premium could be awarded until the end of March 2024, if the decision and the right to it date from before 2024,” says Wellens. ‘In principle, employees can redeem the premium until the end of this year.’

Companies that achieved a ‘high profit’ in 2022 could award a premium of up to 500 euros. For an ‘exceptionally high profit’, the maximum was 750 euros. The premium is tax-free up to that amount. “If an employee has received purchasing power premiums of 750 euros per employer from different employers, only the part above 750 euros is taxed,” says Wellens.

Company directors who, in addition to being self-employed, are also employees of their company can also benefit from the exemption. They indicate the exempt premium in a new section 7 of box XVI.

Certain professions are allowed to collect copyright income that is taxed favorably. Last year, a reformed scheme came into effect, which excluded some professions – such as those in the IT sector. The reform added four codes to the tax return.

The new regulation imposed two additional ceilings, in addition to the maximum that you can collect tax-efficiently through copyright (70,220 euros for the 2023 income year). For example, copyrights may not exceed 50 percent of the total compensation. This will be tightened to 40 percent for the 2024 income year and to 30 percent from 2025.

In addition, copyrights are assessed against the average income from such rights over the past four years. That average annual gross income from previous copyrights may not exceed 70,220 euros. If that is the case, you will not be able to enjoy copyright under the favorable regime this year.

Anyone who no longer falls under the favorable regime can take advantage of a transitional measure. If you had income in 2022 that was taxed according to the old copyright scheme, you may use the benefit regime one more time to a limited extent.

In the transitional arrangement, the annual ceiling is halved to 35,110 euros. The flat-rate deduction for statutory copyright expenses will also be halved. “The maximum amount has been reduced to 7,020 euros, compared to 14,042.50 euros previously,” says Wellens. A separate section is included in the tax return for the income that falls under the transitional arrangement. That section will disappear for the 2025 tax return.

There has been a reporting obligation for legal constructions such as trusts and foundations for years. This allows the Cayman tax to be applied, which taxes income from legal constructions of wealthy Belgians abroad.

This reporting obligation is limited to a simple ‘yes’ in the declaration itself, but is now being significantly expanded in a new mandatory appendix (appendix 276 CJC).

“The extension of the reporting obligation is separate from the recent tightening of the Cayman tax, which will only apply from this year,” says Wellens. ‘The expansion follows criticism from the Court of Audit. This indicated, among other things, that it was impossible to calculate the proceeds of the Cayman tax, because there were no specific declaration codes for this. Therefore, additional information must now be provided in the appendix.’

The founder or beneficiary of the legal arrangement must include this new information in the appendix:

• The income from the legal construction that is included in the tax return. This concerns, for example, income from movable or immovable property indicated in boxes VII and III;
• The assets of the legal construction at the end of the tax period;
• The part of the capital that the founder has contributed;
• Dividends (whether or not fictitious) that have been paid out and included in the tax return and dividends that are exempt because they have already been subject to the Cayman tax in the past or that have not been declared because they were subject to withholding tax.

Anyone who uses their rental home (partly) for professional activities can deduct rent paid as professional expenses. From this year onwards, tenants who want to do this must tick a new code and add an appendix (appendix 270 MLH) with additional information to their tax return.

If the property in question is used professionally, the landlord is taxed on the basis of the actual rental income received, after deduction of a fixed cost. This tax burden is usually higher than if a tenant uses the property exclusively for private purposes. The landlord is then taxed on the basis of the indexed cadastral income, increased by 40 percent. The rental contract usually stipulates whether professional use is permitted.

If the attachment is not added to the tax return, the tax authorities will reject the rent deduction. Non-profit organizations run the risk of an administrative fine.

This information should be included in the appendix:

• Some identification details of the lessor: name, first name, address, national number or identification number of the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE) if the lessor is a natural person. For a company or non-profit organization, the name, address of the registered office and the KBO identification number must be specified;
• The address of the property;
• The amount of the rent paid or the (rental) compensation;
• The part of the rent or compensation that has been deducted as actual business expenses.

If you earn income from association work, it is not subject to withholding tax. So they do not include associations. That principle was introduced in April 2022, together with a new tax regime for association work.

At the beginning of 2022, there was still confusion about this and withholding tax may still have been withheld from wages for association work. That is why last year’s tax return contained a section where you could report this. Because no withholding tax will be withheld from income from association work in 2023, that section has disappeared from this year’s tax return.

“Since June last year, the Brussels Capital Region, following the Flemish Friends Share, has granted a tax credit for investments in shares of certain cooperative companies,” says Wellens.

Natural persons living in the Brussels Region who subscribe to ‘registered shares’ of recognized credit cooperatives with a social purpose receive an annual tax credit. This benefit, which they enjoy for a maximum of five years, amounts to 3.5 percent on a maximum investment of 100,000 euros. The investor indicates the amount in a new code of the Brussels box XI. The amount is also stated on the certificate issued by the cooperative.

The lender can lend a maximum of 50,000 euros per year, with an absolute maximum of 200,000 euros. The loan can run for a maximum of eight years. An annual tax credit is granted for the duration of the loan. This tax credit amounts to 4 percent of the average outstanding loan balance during the first three years. It will then be reduced to 2.5 percent.

The first proxi loans granted in 2020 now enjoy a tax credit of 2.5 percent. As a result, the section for the declaration of the proxied loan in the Brussels declaration has now been split: on the one hand, loans taken out from 2021 with a tax credit of 4 percent and, on the other hand, loans taken out in 2020 that fall back on a tax credit of 2.5 percent.

Since this year, there has been a new tax credit for employers who give their staff an increased mileage allowance for using the bicycle for commuting. This compensation was made mandatory under collective labor agreement 164.

Only a small group receives the tax credit in their personal tax return: only sole proprietorships with cycling employees and who fall under collective labor agreement 164. Most employers are legal entities and therefore file a corporate tax return.

The tax credit is determined at the amount of the increase in the mileage allowance, multiplied by the number of kilometers traveled for commuting for which the allowance has been granted, limited to 20 kilometers for a single journey. ‘The amount is reimbursed to employers as a tax credit, but they have to calculate it themselves and claim it in their tax return. They do this in the new section 5 of section XIX’, says Wellens.