Confessing to
the Tax Receiver
When writing this text, we are now late November. All tax experts know that it will be busy times. A "trick" of the Belgian government, after all, consists in a yearly tradition to publish the last day of the year, a Program Act with numerous changes which then are coming into force shortly afterwards.
When writing this text, we are now late November. All tax experts know that it will be busy times. A "trick" of the Belgian government, after all, consists in a yearly tradition to publish the last day of the year, a Program Act with numerous changes which then are coming into force shortly afterwards.
In this way, some new measures almost
unnoticed sneak in, in the new fiscal year.
After a year end fireworks, this is often the damper on the festivities. This
year it will probably be no different.
In Spain there are many reforms under way in 2015 and 2016 with the difference
that they are already announced (and approved). So we know for some time on beforehand
what awaits us in the coming year.
One of the measures that stands out for the Belgians, which is probably not insignificant, concerns the tax amnesty for Spanish residents who receive a pension from abroad.
Yes, the Belgian residing in Spain and
receiving his pension from Belgium.
Beginning 2014 the Spanish tax
authorities had indeed launched a major campaign to closer investigate this
category of taxpayers.
It quickly turned
out that this was an impossible task. Only for the month of May 2014, an
investigation was set out including 27 696 people that showed that a large
majority their not adhered to the tax obligation. And since the total number of
pensioners receiving a pension from abroad is estimated at 1.8 million, the
Spanish government soon realized that there is a large income perspective.
Therefore, the Spanish government decided to walk a different path and has resorted to the so-called Tax Amnesty. For us Belgians, this is nothing new under the sun since the Belgian government has already used this measure several times.
This tax amnesty means to provide for
specific regulations to offer taxpayers the opportunity to regularize their declarations
of the last four years without that this will be accompanied by fines or penalty
interests.
The so-called
regularization period commences on January 1, 2015, for a period of 6 months.
After that the Spanish tax authorities would apparently become very serious.
For compatriots who, according to the
tax treaty, are obliged to record their Belgian pension in their Spanish tax declaration
this measure thus provides a unique opportunity to rectify the crooked (fiscal)
situation.
Source VIW: 01-12-2014
