Can a salary above €70,000 in 2026 unlock Belgium’s inbound taxpayer regime after starting work in 2021?

Can a salary above €70,000 unlock Belgium’s inbound taxpayer regime after a 2021 start? Usually no; filing deadlines and foreign property still matter.

Generally, no. A salary increase above €70,000 in 2026 does not restart the application period for Belgium’s special tax regime for inbound taxpayers and does not create a retroactive entitlement. The decisive factors are the original Belgian start date, whether the employer filed an application on time and whether all statutory conditions were met. The final answer nevertheless depends on the individual employment history and available documents.

The figures and circumstances below are illustrative. The salary question concerns income year 2026, assessment year 2027, while the foreign-property review may involve assessment years 2022 to 2026.

How the Belgian inbound taxpayer regime works

Belgium’s special tax regime for inbound taxpayers is not an automatic tax reduction for foreign employees.

It is a specific status that must be requested by the employer. When the status is approved, the employer may, subject to the legal conditions, reimburse certain costs linked to the Belgian assignment as non-taxable employer expenses.

For an ordinary application under the current regime:

  • the employee must qualify as an eligible inbound taxpayer;

  • the employment in Belgium must have started on or after 1 January 2022;

  • the employer must submit the application;

  • the application must normally be filed within three months after the Belgian employment begins;

  • the employee must satisfy the applicable remuneration and prior-residence conditions.

An employee cannot activate the regime simply by entering a deduction in the annual Belgian personal income tax return.

What happened to employees who started in Belgium before 2022?

Employees who had already started working in Belgium before 1 January 2022 could not normally submit a new application under the ordinary post-2022 rules.

A one-off transitional option was available in certain circumstances. The employer had to submit this transitional request no later than 30 September 2022, and all applicable legal conditions still had to be satisfied.

The transitional application required information concerning matters such as:

  • the original Belgian assignment;

  • direct recruitment from abroad;

  • the employee’s remuneration;

  • the employee’s previous residence and professional activity;

  • the employer and Belgian employment relationship.

Where no transitional request was filed by 30 September 2022, the later payment of a higher salary does not reopen that option.

The former administrative regime for foreign executives, which existed before the 2022 reform, was also not automatic. If an employer did not apply for or obtain that earlier status, it cannot normally be recreated retroactively several years later.

Does exceeding €70,000 create a new application opportunity?

No. The €70,000 remuneration threshold is an eligibility condition within the regime. It is not a trigger that creates a new filing period whenever an employee receives a promotion, bonus or salary increase.

A person who began working in Belgium in 2021 does not have a new Belgian “arrival” merely because their remuneration exceeds €70,000 for the first time in 2026.

The original start date remains the relevant reference point.

A salary increase therefore does not:

  • restart the ordinary three-month application period;

  • reopen the transitional deadline of 30 September 2022;

  • convert a previously ineligible employee into a new inbound taxpayer;

  • allow the employee to claim the regime retroactively through the tax return.

The position might only need to be reconsidered if documentary evidence shows that:

  • an application was actually filed on time;

  • the employer received an approval that was not communicated to the employee; or

  • the documented date on which the employee first actually worked in Belgium differs materially from the assumed 2021 start date.

What changed from 1 January 2025?

For remuneration paid from 1 January 2025, the applicable reform:

  • lowered the remuneration threshold from more than €75,000 to more than €70,000;

  • increased the maximum recurring employer-expense allowance from 30% to 35% of the relevant gross remuneration.

A limited late-filing opportunity was also introduced for a narrowly defined group of employees.

It concerned employees who:

  • first started working in Belgium between 1 January 2025 and 9 January 2026;

  • satisfied the other conditions of the regime;

  • had failed only because they did not meet the previous threshold of more than €75,000.

The exceptional request had to be filed by 9 April 2026.

This measure does not cover employees whose Belgian employment began before 2025. It therefore does not provide a new route for someone who had already started working in Belgium in 2021.

What remuneration counts towards the €70,000 threshold?

The relevant remuneration is not necessarily limited to the base salary stated in the employment contract.

Depending on the circumstances, the calculation may include:

  • ordinary gross salary;

  • holiday pay;

  • a year-end premium;

  • taxable benefits in kind;

  • the taxable benefit relating to a company car;

  • certain taxable performance bonuses.

Employer-expense reimbursements and exempt benefits are generally excluded from the threshold calculation.

For example, meal vouchers that comply with the applicable exemption conditions will not normally be treated in the same way as taxable salary.

The exact calculation should be verified using the payroll records, annual tax forms and the employer’s remuneration documentation.

However, even where the remuneration exceeds €70,000, that fact alone cannot correct a missed application deadline.

Is the 35% allowance a personal tax deduction?

No.

The regime is sometimes incorrectly described as allowing an employee to deduct 35% of their salary. That is not how it works.

Where the inbound taxpayer status has been validly approved, the employer may bear or reimburse qualifying recurring expenses connected with the Belgian assignment as non-taxable employer expenses, subject to a maximum of 35% of the relevant gross remuneration and the other statutory conditions.

The 35% ceiling is therefore not:

  • a 35% personal income tax credit;

  • a guaranteed 35% increase in net salary;

  • a deduction that the employee enters independently in the tax return;

  • a benefit that can be claimed retroactively without an approved status.

Without a timely application and valid approval, the realistic tax benefit under this specific regime is generally €0.

Can changing Belgian employers create a new entitlement?

Usually not.

A new applicant must satisfy a 60-month look-back test. This test considers, among other things, whether the person was previously:

  • a Belgian tax resident;

  • resident within the relevant distance from the Belgian border;

  • subject to Belgian non-resident tax on professional income.

Someone who has already lived and worked in Belgium for several years will ordinarily fail this prior-residence and prior-activity test.

A change of employer may, under the applicable conditions, allow an existing approved regime to continue. It does not generally create the status where no valid regime existed in the first place.

A separate issue: Belgian tax residence and foreign property

A person who establishes a durable home and normal daily life in Belgium will generally become a Belgian tax resident.

Relevant factors include:

  • where the person normally lives;

  • where the person works;

  • where their durable home is located;

  • where their personal and economic interests are centred;

  • registration in the Belgian population register.

Registration creates a rebuttable presumption of Belgian residence, but the analysis remains factual.

Owning an apartment in Poland or maintaining family connections there does not automatically prevent Belgian tax residence. Nationality is also not decisive.

Where both Belgium and Poland consider a person resident under their domestic legislation, the residence tie-breaker provisions of the Belgium–Poland double-tax treaty may have to be examined.

Belgian tax residence is important because a Belgian resident must generally declare worldwide income and foreign immovable property in Belgium.

Must a non-rented apartment in Poland be declared in Belgium?

Yes, in principle.

The absence of rental income does not remove the Belgian reporting obligation.

Belgium does not normally require a taxpayer to declare the market rental value of a privately used, non-rented foreign apartment. Instead, the property must be reported to the Belgian cadastral administration, which assigns a Belgian cadastral income.

This cadastral income is a notional amount used for Belgian tax purposes.

The taxpayer should verify in MyMinfin whether:

  • the Polish property appears under foreign immovable property;

  • a Belgian cadastral income has been assigned;

  • the ownership percentage is correct;

  • the nature and use of the property are correctly recorded.

Where the property is absent, the foreign-property declaration should be submitted.

The administration may request information including:

  • the address and type of property;

  • the acquisition date;

  • the acquisition price or other valuation information;

  • the taxpayer’s ownership percentage;

  • significant renovations;

  • the nature of the property right, such as full ownership or usufruct.

Which amount is entered in the Belgian tax return?

For a privately used, non-rented built property, the Belgian return generally requires the taxpayer’s share of the non-indexed cadastral income in Section III, A.

For a built property, the relevant entry commonly uses code 1106, although the exact code must be checked for each assessment year and according to the taxpayer’s personal situation.

The cadastral income should not be indexed manually. The return normally asks for the non-indexed amount shown on the official cadastral notice.

The amount should also generally be identified in Section III, B.1, together with the country concerned, so that the applicable treaty exemption can be claimed.

Under the Belgium–Poland double-tax treaty, Belgium will generally exempt qualifying Polish immovable income while retaining the right to apply exemption with progression.

This means that Belgium may not tax the foreign property income directly, but it may take that income into account when determining the tax rate applicable to the taxpayer’s other taxable income.

Entering €0 merely because no rent was received will therefore usually be incorrect.

The treatment may differ if:

  • the property is rented;

  • the tenant uses it professionally;

  • the taxpayer receives actual rental income;

  • the property is held through a particular ownership arrangement;

  • another person holds usufruct or another property right.

Which previous tax returns should be reviewed?

Where a Belgian resident has owned an undeclared foreign property since becoming resident, each relevant return should be reviewed separately.

The usual year mapping is:

  • income year 2021 — assessment year 2022;

  • income year 2022 — assessment year 2023;

  • income year 2023 — assessment year 2024;

  • income year 2024 — assessment year 2025;

  • income year 2025 — assessment year 2026.

For each year, the taxpayer should verify:

  • whether the property had already been registered;

  • whether the foreign cadastral income was declared in Section III, A;

  • whether the treaty exemption was requested in Section III, B.1;

  • whether the ownership percentage was correct;

  • whether the correct ownership period was used;

  • whether Belgian tax residence had already begun for the whole year or only part of it.

The safest approach is to obtain the official cadastral income before submitting corrections. Arbitrary or estimated figures should not be inserted where an official amount can be confirmed.

How can an earlier return be corrected?

The appropriate procedure depends on the year and the procedural stage.

A sensible sequence is:

  1. Confirm the official Belgian cadastral income.

  2. Reconstruct the correct return entries for each year.

  3. Calculate the possible Belgian tax effect.

  4. Review the assessment notice and its date.

  5. Use the correction, objection or voluntary-disclosure procedure available for that specific year.

  6. Attach a clear explanation and supporting documents.

For the assessment year 2026 return, the ordinary Tax-on-web filing and online self-correction deadline was 19 July 2026.

After that date, the taxpayer can no longer normally correct the return directly through MyMinfin and should contact the competent tax office or use the administrative contact route indicated by FPS Finance.

Where MyMinfin expressly grants the taxpayer the specific deadline of 16 October 2026 because the return contains one of the listed categories of specific income, that individual deadline should be followed.

For older years, the correct procedure depends on whether an assessment notice has already been issued and on the applicable procedural deadlines. One generic correction letter may therefore be insufficient.

Can an omission lead to penalties?

Potentially, yes.

An undeclared foreign property may result in:

  • supplementary Belgian tax through the progression mechanism;

  • late-payment interest;

  • an administrative fine;

  • a tax increase.

There is no reliable fixed penalty amount that applies to every case.

The consequences depend on factors such as:

  • the assessment year;

  • the additional tax due;

  • whether an assessment notice has already been issued;

  • whether the omission was deliberate;

  • whether the taxpayer corrects the situation voluntarily;

  • the administration’s assessment of good faith.

A prompt and transparent voluntary correction, the absence of actual rental income and a credible good-faith explanation may be mitigating factors. They do not guarantee that the administration will impose no sanction.

Do company benefits create another expatriate deduction?

No. Ordinary employment benefits do not create a substitute inbound-taxpayer regime.

Their general tax treatment should nevertheless be verified:

  • Company car: private use normally creates a taxable benefit in kind. The taxable value may count towards the remuneration threshold but does not reopen the application period.

  • Performance bonus: a cash bonus paid through payroll is generally taxable remuneration and may be included in the threshold calculation.

  • Meal vouchers: these are generally exempt where all legal conditions are satisfied. They are not an additional personal tax deduction.

  • Life or health insurance: the treatment depends on the policy, beneficiary and employer plan.

An employer may examine properly documented employer-expense reimbursements or prospective remuneration optimisation under the ordinary Belgian rules. This is separate from the special inbound-taxpayer regime and cannot be presented as its retroactive equivalent.

Do Polish bank accounts also have to be reported?

Belgian residents must generally report foreign bank accounts:

  • to the Central Contact Point of the National Bank of Belgium; and

  • in the annual Belgian personal income tax return.

The obligation may apply even where the foreign account produces no taxable interest.

Anyone reviewing the Belgian treatment of a Polish property should therefore also verify whether Polish bank accounts were correctly reported for every relevant year.

Practical documents to collect

A proper review will normally require:

  • the employment contract;

  • evidence of the first actual Belgian working date;

  • correspondence with HR or the payroll provider;

  • any inbound-taxpayer application or decision;

  • annual tax forms 281.10;

  • year-end payslips and bonus statements;

  • the taxable value of benefits in kind;

  • the Polish purchase, inheritance or ownership deed;

  • the official Belgian cadastral-income notice;

  • evidence of the ownership percentage;

  • Polish property-tax documentation;

  • copies of the Belgian tax returns;

  • Belgian assessment notices for each relevant year;

  • information concerning any Polish bank accounts.

Frequently asked questions

Can I claim the Belgian inbound taxpayer regime because my salary now exceeds €70,000?

Not by reason of the salary increase alone. The remuneration threshold is only one condition and does not restart the employer’s original filing deadline.

Can I claim the 35% allowance in my own Belgian tax return?

No. The allowance operates through an approved employer-based inbound-taxpayer regime. It is not a personal deduction that an employee can activate independently.

Does a company car count towards the €70,000 threshold?

The taxable benefit in kind may be included in the technical remuneration calculation. Its inclusion does not, however, correct a late or missing application.

Can I qualify by moving to another Belgian employer?

Usually not where the person has already lived and worked in Belgium during the preceding 60 months. A change of employer may preserve an existing approved status but generally does not create a new one.

Must I declare a Polish apartment in Belgium if it produces no rent?

Yes, in principle. A Belgian resident normally declares the Belgian cadastral income assigned to the foreign property rather than entering zero because no rent was received.

Is the Polish property taxed twice?

The Belgium–Poland treaty will generally allocate taxation of the property to Poland while Belgium applies exemption with progression. Belgium may therefore use the exempt amount to determine the rate applied to other Belgian-taxable income.

Sources

This article presents a general framework and does not constitute a personalised tax opinion. Tax rules, forms and filing deadlines may change from one year to another, and the correct treatment depends on the taxpayer’s exact residence, employment, property and filing circumstances.

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