Belgian homes hold 89,000 foreign bank accounts

Nearly 89,000 Belgian households declared having foreign bank accounts to the tax authorities in 2011, the Sudpresse newspapers report. The number of registered accounts is down since 2008, mainly because of the exchange of information between countries. Belgians reported 108,880 foreign accounts in 2009. According to data from 2010, the latest available, 51,364 Belgian taxpayers (33,095 main taxpayers and 18,269 spouses) reported owning property abroad, representing a total value of €265 million. The number of taxpayers owning property abroad has increased from 48,506 in 2009.