Hilarious stock trading tax in Belgium
Belgium isn’t the heart of Europe’s trading battleground. Even while it’s home to one of the biggest companies in the world (AB Inbev). The exchange in Brussels is part of Euronext.
The Dutch see the country as a little nephew. Next year, when European Championship kick off – everybody will support the Belgium team. Holland won’t qualify.
There’s one little thing wrong with Belgium. The current government. This weekend a new financial tax has been created, which is nothing short of amazing. It has got three problems. It makes no sense, it is not fair and it won’t work.
Speculatietaks
Introduced is the speculatietaks. Meaning “tax on speculation”. If you make an investment in a stock, and take a profit within a timeframe of six months, you’ll be called a speculator. Speculators get taxed with huge 33%. Holding on to your stock positions will avoid the tax.
Losses on investments are ignored. Only the winners are taxed. Say you have split your investment portfolio in two stocks. You make 20k profit on AB Inbev and lose 14k in Solvay. You would be paying a tax of € 6600.
mom and pop investors
It gets even better. The tax aims at local mom and pop investors. All companies, legal entities and foreigners are exempt. Belgian investors with a brokerage account abroad are exempt, too. Open an account in The Netherlands and you’ll be fine. This sheds another light on Binck, walking away from take-over talks with Belgian broker Keytrade. Whatever your opinion is on speculation, nobody would have thought the Belgian retail investors are behind the volatility.
Only stocks
That’s not all. It gets even more hilarious. Only stocks are taxed. More speculative instruments such as options, single stock futures, CFD’s, turbo’s and speeders aren’t taken into account with the speculatietaks.
If you happen to have bought shares in a company which gets taken over, you don’t have to pay the tax. That’s very kind. You have to be a real clown to be taxed. Alternatively, Belgian citizens with bad luck could be hit. Unexpectedly forced to liquidate recent bought stock portfolio (for example, a divorce). For the rest of the country, avoiding the tax isn’t even a challenge.
Revenue €28 million
The government expects a revenue of 28 million (sold!). That’s less than half the price of a Joint Strike Fighter. Maybe some people should refrain from drinking the wonderful Belgian beers while working for the government.
Having a government of a developed nation introducing this kind of ideas is a joke. And scary. After all, isn’t the European capital in Brussels? The tax starts on January 1st, 2016. Amai, this means Belgian investors buying stocks today pay tax when they take a profit in January.
speculaasjestax. tax on cookies. worth a try
also a hilarious tax
Een Nederlander, een Amerikaan en een Belg bedenken een belastingplan. Zegt de Nederlander: “Ik pretendeer dat men winst maakt, en dat ga ik belasten!”. Zegt de Amerikaan: “Wij Amerikanen pakken het groots aan, wij gaan de Wereldwijde Inkomsten belasten!”. Zegt de Belg…
Of was dit geen grap?
I predict DeGiro will handle at least 288 million transactions for Belgian customers next year and more than 475 million the year after.
We boffen maar dat Wiebes dat ‘administratief niet kan uitvoeren’, anders zou het zeker navolging krijgen in Nederland.
Scope possibly expanded to all instruments.
http://www.tijd.be/politiek_economie/belgie_federaal/Speculatietaks_ook_voor_afgeleide_producten.9686798-3136.art
Seems to be Options are part of the tax. That’s the end for B&Bt Trading!
Hilarious and unbelievable.. How are cfds and futures taxed in Belgium? No tax at all?? Please answer, thanks!
Some errors in your publication my friend. First of all, not just stocks but all deratives are included. Second of all, listings purchased in 2015 are exempt. Third, it is also accountable for foreign accounts. Not even so sure foreigners here are exempt, would need to check on that.
That being said, the tax is totally ridiculous.
The derivatives inclusion was added later, well after the post.
http://www.telegraaf.nl/dft/bedrijven/binck/25955858/Opbrengst_Belgische_speculatietaks_valt_tegen.html