Moving from Belgium to Hungary in 2026: when does Belgian tax residency end and what must still be declared?
Moving from Belgium to Hungary in 2026? Deregistration usually anchors the tax departure date, but special returns and foreign accounts still matter.
Belgian tax residency does not necessarily end on the day a person physically leaves Belgium. The move abroad must be genuine, and the formal deregistration date is often the clearest date on which to close the Belgian resident tax period. A special departure return, Belgian employment income and previously undeclared foreign accounts may still require action. The correct treatment depends on the individual facts.
The figures below are illustrative. The departure issues concern income year 2026, while the correction of the ordinary Belgian return concerns income year 2025, assessment year 2026.
Belgian registration creates a presumption of tax residency
A person registered in the Belgian National Register is presumed to be a Belgian tax resident.
That presumption can be rebutted. However, as long as the registration remains active, the taxpayer may have to demonstrate that their real home and centre of personal and economic interests have moved abroad.
This creates two potentially relevant dates:
the date on which the person actually moved abroad;
the date on which the person formally declared their departure to the Belgian municipality.
Where both dates are close and no foreign professional income was earned in the intervening period, the municipal deregistration date will often provide the clearest administrative reference point.
The date used must nevertheless correspond to reality. A taxpayer should not artificially postpone or advance a departure date solely to obtain a tax advantage.
Why the departure date affects the Belgian tax calculation
When a Belgian resident leaves the country during the year, the Belgian taxable period is shortened. It runs from 1 January 2026 until the recognised departure date.
Under Article 174/1 CIR 92, certain annual tax amounts, including the tax-free allowance, are prorated according to the number of months included in the shortened taxable period.
A departure later in the year may therefore preserve more months of the allowance than an earlier departure. This does not mean that a taxpayer is free to choose the most favourable date: the selected date must remain consistent with the actual move, municipal records and treaty-residence position.
A special departure return is normally required
A person who formally leaves Belgium must generally submit a special departure return for the period from 1 January until the departure date.
According to the framework applicable to departures from Belgium, this return is in principle due within three months of the departure. It is separate from the normal annual filing campaign.
The special return may have to include:
Belgian salary received before departure;
termination or notice compensation;
exit holiday pay;
other Belgian professional income;
worldwide income received while the person was still a Belgian resident;
foreign accounts held during the Belgian-resident portion of the year.
The special return should not be confused with a later non-resident income tax return, which may become relevant if Belgian-source income is received after Belgian residency has ended.
How Belgian salary and termination payments are taxed
Consider an illustrative employee who worked in Belgium during the first months of 2026 and then received:
ordinary salary;
a notice indemnity of roughly €17,000;
simple and double exit holiday pay;
possibly a small salary adjustment relating to a few disputed workdays.
The ordinary salary is generally taxed at the normal progressive Belgian rates.
A qualifying compensatory notice indemnity may be taxed separately at the average tax rate of the last previous year in which the taxpayer carried out normal professional activity, under Article 171, 5°, a CIR 92.
Qualifying exit holiday pay may receive comparable separate taxation under Article 171, 5°, b CIR 92.
Professional withholding tax already deducted by the employer is credited against the final tax assessment. Because payroll withholding on exceptional payments can exceed the final average-rate calculation, the special departure return may result in a partial refund. This is not automatic and depends on the complete tax calculation.
Does moving to Hungary transfer the termination payments to Hungary?
Not necessarily.
Under the Belgium–Hungary double tax convention of 19 July 1982, employment income relating to work physically carried out in Belgium can remain taxable in Belgium.
In an illustrative case where:
the employment was exercised in Belgium;
the termination payments relate to that Belgian employment;
the amounts were paid before Hungarian tax residency began;
Belgium would retain the relevant taxing rights.
The classification and treaty treatment should still be reviewed where a payment covers work performed in more than one country, is paid significantly after departure or has an unusual legal character.
What happens if salary arrears are paid after departure?
Suppose a former employer later pays approximately €600 relating to workdays performed before the move.
The payment remains connected to Belgian employment. The country with taxing rights does not normally change merely because the money is paid later.
The procedure can, however, change:
Payment before departure: the amount can generally be included in the special departure return.
Payment after departure: it becomes Belgian-source income received as a non-resident. The employer may issue a corrective fiche 281.10 and deduct Belgian professional withholding tax.
Later filing: the taxpayer may have to submit a Belgian non-resident return, or BNI/INR return, for the relevant income.
The corrective fiche and final payslip should therefore be retained even when the amount is relatively small.
When Hungarian self-employed income is no longer taxable in Belgium
After a genuine move and the end of Belgian tax residency, income from an activity carried out entirely from Hungary will generally fall outside Belgian resident taxation.
Under the treaty framework described in the analysis, independent professional income is taxable in the state of residence unless the self-employed person has a fixed base in Belgium.
A Belgian customer does not, by itself, create Belgian taxation when:
the work is physically performed from Hungary;
the individual is genuinely resident in Hungary;
there are no Belgian business premises or fixed base;
the activity is not operated through a Belgian establishment.
The location of the customer and the location where the services are performed are two different questions.
Useful supporting evidence can include:
a Hungarian tax-residency certificate for 2026;
a Hungarian lease and utility records;
travel and presence records;
contracts stating that the services are performed from Hungary;
invoices showing the foreign business address.
Income earned before Belgian residency has formally and factually ended can create additional reporting and treaty questions. Starting the foreign activity only after the departure position is clear generally makes the file easier to defend.
VAT is a separate issue. The income-tax result does not automatically determine the applicable Belgian, Hungarian or EU VAT treatment.
Foreign accounts create two separate Belgian obligations
Belgian residents with accounts abroad generally have two distinct obligations.
One-off registration with the Central Point of Contact
Foreign accounts must be registered with the Central Point of Contact, or CPC, of the National Bank of Belgium.
This is a one-off registration for each account. It normally includes information such as:
the financial institution;
the country;
the account identifier;
the opening date;
where applicable, the closing date.
Registration can be completed online. The analysis also identifies a paper procedure involving the standard signed form and a copy of the identity document.
A foreign bank does not normally complete this personal CPC declaration on behalf of the Belgian account holder.
Annual mention in the Belgian tax return
The accounts must also be mentioned each year in box XIII, section A of the Belgian personal income tax return.
The return does not normally ask for the account balance. It requires confirmation that foreign accounts existed and that the required CPC information has been or will be communicated.
These annual tax-return disclosures and the one-off CPC registration are separate obligations. Completing one does not automatically complete the other.
A simplified tax proposal is not sufficient when foreign accounts are missing
For income year 2025, assessment year 2026, a taxpayer who held foreign accounts cannot simply accept an incomplete proposed simplified return.
The proposal must be modified or replaced by a submitted return containing the required foreign-account information.
Following technical problems with MyMinfin, the deadline for online filing, modification and correction was extended to 19 July 2026 inclusive.
The principal 2026 deadlines referred to in the source analysis are:
30 June 2026: paper return or paper modification form;
19 July 2026: online filing, modification or correction through MyMinfin;
16 October 2026: certain online returns containing qualifying specific income, subject to the applicable conditions.
A problem with an eID, PIN code or itsme access is not automatically accepted by the tax administration as a reason for an additional deadline extension.
Where digital access cannot be restored, the competent tax office should be contacted without delay rather than allowing the omission to remain unreported.
How can foreign accounts omitted in earlier years be corrected?
Consider foreign accounts that existed during income years 2022 to 2024 but were used only to transfer already-taxed salary and generated no undeclared income.
The absence of taxable foreign income means that the situation is not necessarily the same as a tax regularisation involving hidden investment income.
However, the formal reporting omission still exists.
A proportionate approach may include:
registering all relevant accounts with the CPC;
informing the competent tax office of the omitted accounts and their opening dates;
explaining that the accounts generated no undeclared taxable income;
retaining evidence of the transfers and account activity.
Under Article 445 CIR 92, administrative fines ranging from €50 to €1,250 per infringement may in principle apply.
Whether a sanction is imposed depends on the circumstances. A spontaneous and transparent correction made before the administration raises the issue generally places the taxpayer in a better position than continued non-disclosure.
Belgium also receives certain information concerning foreign accounts through international automatic exchanges of financial information. Foreign accounts should therefore not be assumed to be invisible to the Belgian administration.
What changes for foreign accounts after departure?
The Belgian annual foreign-account disclosure applies to Belgian residents.
After Belgian residency has genuinely ended, the person will generally no longer have to report the accounts in future Belgian resident returns solely because the accounts remain open.
The special departure return must still cover the portion of 2026 during which the person was a Belgian resident. Foreign accounts held during that period may therefore still need to be mentioned.
Any later Belgian non-resident return should be reviewed separately because its reporting scope differs from that of a Belgian resident return.
Belgian accounts do not become foreign accounts after a move
Accounts held with Belgian institutions are not declared as foreign accounts in the Belgian personal income tax return.
Belgian financial institutions report relevant domestic accounts to the CPC themselves.
An account with a Belgian IBAN and a Belgian-regulated institution will generally remain a Belgian account for these reporting purposes, even after the account holder moves abroad.
Keeping a Belgian account open may also be practical until outstanding Belgian tax assessments and refunds have been processed, although the account holder should keep the financial institution informed of the new residence and tax-residency status.
Can someone remain registered in Belgium to preserve a nationality residence period?
Remaining registered at a Belgian address while actually living full-time abroad creates serious legal and tax risks.
A Belgian nationality declaration based on five years of residence requires more than a formal entry in the population register. It is linked to uninterrupted legal residence and an effective main residence in Belgium.
The framework cited in the source analysis indicates that temporary absences may be tolerated only within limits, including:
no more than six consecutive months for a temporary absence;
total absences not exceeding one fifth of the required residence period.
A person who has permanently transferred their home and daily life to Hungary cannot normally preserve the Belgian residence period merely by keeping a paper registration.
The municipality may carry out a residence check. If the person no longer lives at the registered address, an ex officio removal from the registers may follow, which can itself disrupt a later nationality application.
The same artificial registration also creates tax problems. Belgium may continue to presume that the person is a resident taxable on worldwide income, forcing the taxpayer to rely on the treaty tie-breaker and prove that treaty residence has moved to Hungary.
As a general rule, maintaining Belgian registration for nationality purposes while simultaneously arguing that Belgium may not tax worldwide income is an internally inconsistent position.
A practical order for a time-sensitive departure
Where a departure coincides with an imminent Belgian filing deadline, the following order may reduce administrative risk:
Restore access to the Belgian digital services through the municipality or another accepted authentication method.
Correct or submit the income-year-2025 return before 19 July 2026.
Register any foreign accounts with the CPC.
Download relevant fiches, tax assessments and MyMinfin documents.
Create any necessary mandate for an accountant or tax representative.
Formally declare the departure abroad.
Prepare the special departure return within the applicable three-month period.
Monitor later Belgian payments, corrective fiches and possible non-resident filing obligations.
This sequence is not universally appropriate. The best order depends on the actual relocation date, municipal status, digital access and the type of income received.
Frequently asked questions
Does Belgian tax residency end as soon as I physically move to Hungary?
Not automatically. The physical move is important, but Belgian registration, the location of the centre of life and the formal departure declaration must all be considered.
Is the municipal deregistration date always the tax departure date?
It is often the clearest administrative date, but it is not an absolute rule. A different date may be defensible where the facts clearly show that Belgian residence ended earlier or later.
Do I have to file a Belgian tax return after leaving Belgium?
Usually yes. A special departure return generally covers the period from 1 January until the departure date and is in principle due within three months.
Is a Belgian notice indemnity taxed in Hungary after I move?
A notice indemnity relating to employment exercised in Belgium can remain taxable in Belgium under the Belgium–Hungary treaty. The precise answer depends on the nature of the payment and the period of employment it covers.
Is freelance income taxed in Belgium when the customer is Belgian?
Not solely because the customer is Belgian. If the freelancer is genuinely resident in Hungary, performs the work there and has no Belgian fixed base, the income can fall outside Belgian taxation.
Do foreign accounts need both CPC registration and tax-return disclosure?
Yes. CPC registration is a one-off account registration, while the Belgian tax return contains an annual foreign-account disclosure. Completing one does not replace the other.
Sources
Belgium–Hungary double tax convention of 19 July 1982.
Article 174/1 CIR 92.
Article 171, 5°, a and b CIR 92.
Article 445 CIR 92.
Article 12bis of the Belgian Nationality Code.
SPF Finances — Tax return 2026: https://fin.belgium.be/en/private-individuals/tax-return/tax-submission/tax-return
SPF Finances — Proposed simplified return: https://fin.belgium.be/en/private-individuals/tax-return/tax-submission/proposed-simplified-return
SPF Finances — Accounts abroad: https://fin.belgium.be/en/private-individuals/international/foreign-income-accounts/accounts
National Bank of Belgium — Central Point of Contact: how to report: https://www.nbb.be/en/central-credit-registers/central-point-contact-accounts-and-financial-contracts-cpc-11
SPF Finances — Leaving Belgium: tax return: https://fin.belgium.be/en/private-individuals/international/leaving-belgium/tax-return
SPF Justice — Nationality declaration: https://justice.belgium.be/fr/themes_et_dossiers/personnes_et_familles/nationalite/devenir_belge/declaration_dacquisition/declaration_de_nationalite
SPF Finances — Foreign income: https://fin.belgium.be/en/private-individuals/international/foreign-income-accounts/income
This article describes a general framework and is not a personalised tax opinion. Tax rules, filing procedures and deadlines can change from year to year, and the correct treatment depends on the taxpayer’s exact residence, income and administrative situation.
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