Lecture “The tax residency of the European Official” by Mr Gaëtan Van Elder,
Partner in the law firm Gaëtan Van Elder & Associates,
Lecturer at the Executive Master in Tax Management at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management.

Section 1: The Belgian tax resident

According to Article 3 of the Belgian Income Tax Code (hereinafter CIR), the inhabitants of the Kingdom are subject to personal income tax (IPP). Who is this inhabitant of the Kingdom subject to IPP? And, conversely, who is not, who is subject to INR/PP?

This is a national and international issue, but also a local issue. European civil servants who do not meet the conditions of Article 13 of the Protocol may be considered as Belgian residents.

1.1. The legal texts

Article 3 CIR specifies that “Inhabitants of the Kingdom are subject to personal income tax”. The inhabitant of the Kingdom is defined in Article 2 1° CIR:

a) natural persons who have established :
– their domicile in Belgium;
– where they have no domicile in Belgium, the seat of their fortune in Belgium;

b) Belgian diplomatic agents and Belgian career consular agents accredited abroad, as well as members of their family living at home;

(c) other members of Belgian diplomatic missions and consular posts abroad who carry out their activities abroad in a country of which they are not inhabitants or of which they are not permanent residents, as well as members of their families living in their households, with the exception of honorary consular officials;

d) other officials, agents and representatives or delegates of the Belgian State, Communities, Regions, provinces, agglomerations, federations of communes and municipalities, as well as of establishments under Belgian public law, who have Belgian nationality and who carry out their activities abroad in a country of which they are not permanent residents. The establishment in Belgium of domicile is assessed on the basis of the facts of the case. However, in the absence of proof to the contrary, natural persons who are registered in the National Register of Natural Persons are presumed to have established their domicile or the seat of their assets in Belgium.

Discover more about the lecture “Tax residency of the European Official” here :

Council – Conference 31 May 2018 – Tax residency of the European Civil Servant – Notice – EN

Council – Conference 31 May 2018 – Tax residency of the European Civil Servant – Contents – FR