The new capital gains tax – What to expect ?
At the time of writing, the federal government is still negotiating the modalities of the new capital gains tax. Thus, although certain things may still change, the broad outlines seem to be known already.
The capital gains tax will have a very broad scope, with different rates, exemptions, etc. In what follows, however, we will limit ourselves to the impact of the new legislation on your securities portfolio at ABN AMRO MeesPierson.
1. Who is covered ?
The tax will only be payable by (1) individuals and (2) entities subject to the legal entities tax. Belgian companies are excluded from the scope, as are non-residents of Belgium. In the case of split ownership, the capacity of the bare owner is decisive. And because of its tax transparent nature, in the case of partnerships, the capacity of the underlying partners must be considered.
2. On what is the tax due?
Only capital gains realized as a result of a transfer for valuable consideration of financial assets will be taxable. All possible securities on your trading account will be concerned: shares, bonds, funds, ETFs, derivatives (options, futures, swaps, …), etc.
Transfers resulting from a gift or inheritance remain outside the scope of application.
3. How will the capital gain be calculated?
The taxable capital gain is equal to the positive difference between the sales price received and the (fiscal) acquisition value.
Especially with regard to the acquisition value, there are important points of attention:
- the planned effective date of the law is January 1, 2026. All (not yet realized) capital accumulation up to December 31, 2025 will not be taken into account. Consequently, the fiscal acquisition value will be the closing price of the securities as of December 31, 2025, unless it can be shown that the actual purchase price was higher.
- in case of multiple purchases of the same security, the average purchase price will apply.
- since gifts/inheritances do not constitute a taxable transfer, the gifted/deceased securities are transferred to the beneficiary with preservation of the (fiscal) acquisition price of the donor/deceased. There is no step-up. The deferred tax burden in such cases will therefore also pass to the donee/heir.
- on immigration from 2026 or on gift/inheritance from abroad from 2026, notwithstanding the foregoing, the (fiscal) acquisition value will be equal to the value of the securities at that time.
4. Rate, exemptions and reductions
The capital gains tax will be 10%. However, there is provision for an exemption (to be indexed annually) of EUR 10,000.00 per person, of which the unused balance will be transferable for one year. In addition, realized capital losses will be deductible but not transferable.
At present - but politically certainly not yet a done deal - an exemption is also provided for securities that have been held continuously for at least 10 years.
Belgian banks will presumably withhold 10% on each individual realized capital gain (à technically: liberating withholding tax). If a taxpayer wants to claim his/her exemption and/or wants to settle realized capital losses, this will have to be done through the personal income tax return. This will result in a loss of anonymity.
5. Abolition of Reynders-tax
Finally, there is also something positive to report in this context: the Reynders-tax, i.e. the already existing and extremely complex capital gains tax on some funds, will be abolished also on January 1, 2026. And this without any transitional arrangements.