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Income Tax in Belgium on UK pensions
Simple question & I hope simple answer! I receive a private pension from the UK (I started receiving it in 2014). My reading of the double taxation agreement is that it is taxed in UK not Belgium. But the Belgian tax authorities quote the convention of 1987 - but that has now been updated by a protocol that came into force 24 Dec 2012. Any answers please?
Contact the experts, Price Waterhouse Coopers. Tel. 02 710 4211.
End of last year Belgian government tax authorities informed me that if the amount you receive from a private UK pension is less than €10,000euros per year then there is no double tax.
This website also has some information:
http://www.dvp-law.com/documents/news-items/20130121-protocol-to-belgium...
The protocol completely changes the rules for pensions, but then only for new pensioners who receive their pension for the first time after 1 January 2013 ; they will pay tax only in the country from where their pensions are paid. Belgium is one of the increasing number of countries that want to tax pensions when they have allowed tax relief on contributions from which the pensions are paid.
However, the protocol preserves the existing treatment for pensions already in payment in the year in which the protocol enters into force. Pensioners who retire in 2012 at the latest will, continue to pay tax in the country where they live.
Pensioners who retire in Belgium will pay British income tax on the pension they receive from the UK (including their UK state pension). British government pensions will continue to be taxable in the UK though.
Pensioners who go back to the UK to enjoy their pensions will not be able to benefit from the advantageous combination of the exemption in Belgium on their lump sum pension and extra statutory concession ESC A10 in Britain which meant that they did not pay tax on their pensions. Since 2013 they need some careful retirement planning.
I don't fully understand the above. I am in receipt of an Irish pension which began in 2017. I pay tax on my pension in Ireland and there is a double taxation agreement between Ireland and Belgium. I assume I do not have to pay any tax in Belgium on my pension.
There is a mistake in the dvl-law paper (which is quite old, there have been further revisions to the UK-Belgium treaty since). Pensions originating in the UK but paid to someone who is a registered resident in Belgium are subject to BELGIAN IPP not British income tax. The only exception to this is UK pensions in respect of government service which remain subject to UK income tax but are taxed in Belgium only in respect of the "additional centimes" local income tax (and thus still have to be included in the annual Belgian declaration). Note that if you have a private or employer pension originating in the UK you will have to tell HMRC that you are resident in Belgium (and provide a confirmatory signature from the Belgian fisc - HMRC will send you the relevant form) and they will change your UK tax code to NT - no tax. The UK state pension is paid without any tax deduction so if this is the only pension you receive from the UK you don't have to tell HMRC.
Double taxation agreements differ from country to country so the situation in respect of Ireland may be different.
