How to be able to get past the ‘start’ screen of Tax-on-Web?
A simple story: you live with your family outside Belgium, and for some reason need to file a Belgian non-resident tax return in Belgium. How difficult can this be?
You looked
up all required documents and prepared all data to be put in the tax form. And
then an unexpected problem arises: you do not get a tax form from the Belgian
authorities.
Much publicity is made by the authorities for their superb electronic data platforms (Myminfin and Tax-on-Web). However, to be able to login to the sites, you need a Belgian electronic ID card and the PIN code, provided by a Belgian commune. You can also use the banking app ITSME to get access to the platforms. If you are married or legal co-habitant, each partner must be able to get access.
In case you have no address in Belgium, just like most other non-residents, the task at hand suddenly turns into a huge challenge. This is caused by the simple fact that you have no Belgian E-ID card and do not use the Belgian ITSME app. It then becomes an almost impossible task to gain access to these important tools.
You may consider to get in touch with a Belgian tax advisor or accountant to assist you with the tax filing. This may not help you much further. To be able to provide an electronic proxy to these professionals you again need….. the same E-ID or ITSME app.
The tax
authorities point out that there is an alternative method to get access to
their precious electronic tools: you can make an appointment with a Belgian
commune to visit the town hall, where they will kindly provide you with the
access tools. This is of course most friendly of them, but it will cost you all
the time and effort to come over to Belgium…. with your partner, because you
may need to file a joint tax return (to be signed by both).
After getting desperate, you can always try to get in touch with the foreign tax office. These people are dealing with a substantial workload, likely to be caused by a host of other taxpayers, all doing their very best to obtain a tax form with a fast approaching filing deadline. At last, a paper tax form will be sent to you by regular mail at your foreign home address. Do not get worried if it takes several weeks (!!!) before the form will actually arive in your mailbox at home. This form is only available in Dutch and French language, so this may be very hard to understand and complete. No English translation of the form is available.
Last but
not least, the tax authorities have determined an earlier deadline for filing
paper tax returns: 2 November 2021 instead of the longer deadline for
electronic forms: 2 December 2021.
And so it
becomes apparent that filing a tax form for a nonresident taxpayer is one of
the most difficult and frustrating tasks in this world to be dealt with.
This problem is dragging on for a number of years. To solve it, a simple system should be created to enable non-residents to get identified and to register with the Belgian tax authorities so that they can request and file tax returns. This does not seem to be difficult at first look, but for many years this appears to be an impossible challenge for the government ICT specialists.
Fiscaal kluwen van de gemeubelde verhuur
+32 (0)476 49 09 01
Rijsenbergstraat 150
9000 Gent
Belgium
An impossible task: get a non-resident tax form in Belgium
An impossible task: get a non-resident tax form in Belgium
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