Taxes to be levied on multiple Vinted sales or Airbnb rentals

Anyone making many or lucrative sales on online platforms including Vinted (mainly for clothes) or earning substantial amounts from Airbnb property rental site will be taxed in future, Belgium’s finance ministry has announced.

Under European law, all platforms operating in Belgium – including BlaBlaCar for carpooling, Etsy, which focuses on handmade and vintage items and world online marketplace eBay - need to collect information on “the revenues of sellers providing commercial activities including the renting of property, provision of personal services, selling of goods and the rent of all types of transport via digital platforms”.

Specifically, the seventh EU Council Directive 2021/514 (DAC7) has introduced new reporting obligations for platform operators. These reporting obligations entered into force as of 1 January 2023 and the first reporting deadline is 31 January 2024.

In other words, by the end of this month, all online marketplaces must give the Belgian tax authorities the names of users who “have made 30 or more sales transactions or have earnt more than €2,000”. This was what Vinted already told its users in March.

This means that occasional users of these websites will not be affected by the DAC7 law.

“The finance ministry will use these details to analyse risks and to support tax controls and will have to in its turn exchange at an international level relevant information brought by platform operators in Belgium,” the ministry said.

It said that there were three scenarios for Belgian residents earning over €2,000 or making more than 30 transactions in 2023.

If you exceed the €2,000 limit or make more than 30 sales a year because of a resale of a property or goods due to an inheritance or a house move, you will not be taxed.

If you sell regularly on these platforms, but this is not your main employment, the money gained will be taxed at 33% in the “various and occasional revenue” category.

If the tax authority judges that you are making so many sales that this activity constitutes a job in its own right, you can be taxed up to 50%.