BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Alain Van Geel and Emilie Van Goidsenhoven, Tiberghien
Regarding inheritance tax, Belgium also has the fol- lowing exemptions/reductions. • Flemish region: (a) exemption for the first EUR50,000 or EUR75,000 (movable property); (b) partners (excluding “partners” who are de- scendants in the direct line) benefit from an exemption for the first band, corresponding to EUR50,000 of the net acquisition of movable property; (c) in the direct line of descent, and insofar as the other parent of the child concerned has already died, an entitled child under the age of 21 ben- efits from an exemption from inheritance tax on the first EUR75,000 of the net acquisition of movable property; (d) partners inheriting the family home benefit from an inheritance tax exemption; (e) exemption for the dwelling of the surviving parent – insofar as the other parent of the child concerned has already died, inheritance tax for immovable property in the direct line is not ap- plied to the net acquisition by an entitled child under the age of 21 on the dwelling that, at the time of the death of the surviving parent, was the dwelling where the testator was domiciled at the time of death; (f) for family businesses, a reduced inheritance tax rate of 3% (direct line and between partners) or 7% (between other persons) may be claimed (subject to conditions); and (g) other rebates and reductions, including (i) for heirs who are direct descendants or a partner, as long as the net value of the total movable and immovable property received does not exceed EUR50,000; (ii) for siblings/others, as long as the acquired net assets do not exceed EUR75,000; (iii) a rate of 0%, which applies to bequests made to, amongst others, the re- gions, communities, provinces and municipali- ties of the Flanders region, approved Flemish housing corporations, (international) non-profit organisations, foundations of public interest and analogous European legal entities; (iv) a rate of 8.5%, which applies to bequests made to professional associations and private foun- dations, and analogous European legal enti-
ties; (v) rebates for legatees with a disability; (vi) reduction for a legatee who is the child of the deceased and younger than 21; (vii) a 50% reduction in the event of another transfer due to a further death within one year of the original death; (viii) a reduction for “friends” (“inherit- ance between friends”); (ix) an exemption of 50%, 75% or 100% for unbuilt immovable properties for which a nature management plan has been approved; and (x) if the assets of a national resident’s estate contain foreign assets that give rise to the levying of inheritance tax abroad, the inheritance tax due, according to the taxable value of these assets, is reduced by the amount of tax levied abroad, converted into euros, on the date of payment of such tax. • Brussels-Capital Region: (a) exemption for the first EUR15,000 – applica- ble to the inheritance of an heir who is a direct descendant legally entitled to inherit (increased for surviving children who have not reached the age of 21 years) or a partner; (b) partners inheriting the family home benefit from an inheritance tax exemption; (c) for family businesses, a reduced inheritance tax rate of 3% (direct line and between part- ners) or 7% (between other persons) may be claimed (subject to conditions); and (d) other rebates and reductions, including (i) a rate of 0% (exemption) for bequests made to, amongst others, the regions, the communities, the Brussels urban agglomeration, a member state of the European Economic Area (EEA) or assimilated legal persons governed by public law and public institutions of the aforemen- tioned entities; (ii) a rate of 7% for bequests to the municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region and their publicly owned entities, the limited-liability co-operative society of the Brussels-Capital Region Housing Fund ( Fonds du Logement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capi- tale ), intermunicipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, foundations of public interest, non- profit organisations and other non-profit legal entities on receipt of federal approval (on the date of death or within the following year); (iii) 25% for bequests to, amongst others, (national unions of) health insurance funds, profes-
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