Best Bitcoin Card for Belgium
The Belgian tax authorities don’t take a joke when it comes to paying taxes on crypto currency gains. According to reports in the Belgian newspapers, the country’s inspection has opened three cases concerning taxes on crypto currency gains.
33 percent taxes on crypto profits
Belgian law stipulates that anyone who invests in crypto currencies must pay 33 percent tax on profits from trading crypto currencies. These profits must, since a rule last year, be declared as other income. However, the tax authorities do not have it that easy to obtain detailed information in order to enforce the tax laws.
Belgium – tax authorities rely on cooperation
Most transactions made via crypto currencies take place on foreign stock exchanges. Deposits are usually also held on these. Nevertheless, the tax authorities are taking tough action against Belgians who do not pay their taxable crypto currency gains. So far, however, it has been necessary for foreign stock exchanges to cooperate with the inspection. In the cases mentioned above, the Belgian tax authorities had the support of foreign institutions. Foreign crypto currency exchanges are also being asked to pass on information concerning registered users from Belgium.
Coinbase shows how to do it
Belgium is not the only country so far that collects information about crypto currency investors. Only recently, Coinbase, the largest American crypto exchange, handed over around 10,000 pieces of information from investors to financial authorities. These documents contained the following information: Name, date of birth, address, tax number and the historical transaction records of certain customers in the period from 2013 to 2015. Initially, the tax authorities wanted information from virtually every user. Coinbase also issued an official statement on the incident:
In December 2016, the tax authorities had demanded to provide a wealth of information about 500,000 Coinbase customers. Coinbase fought against this decision in court to protect its customers and the industry as a whole from unauthorized requests by the government.
In the future, other institutions will follow and demand information from users of crypto currency exchanges. No one can judge whether this is legitimate in the respective cases.
About Belgium
Belgium is a federal parliamentary monarchy in Western Europe. It borders the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, France and the North Sea. In the multi-ethnic state of Belgium, French Walloons, Flemish Flemings from Lower Germany and West German Middle Franks live together. The rest of the resident population consists of immigrants from many parts of Europe (especially from Poland and Italy), Morocco and the former colonial areas.
The country was often fought over in history and occupied by Germany in both world wars. The introduction of a federal structure and the national consensus on the benefits of EU membership have somewhat defused the existing tensions between Flemings and Walloons.
Belgium is a founding member of the European Union (EU), whose main institutions are based in the capital Brussels. The Belgian state is also a member of the Benelux Economic Union alongside the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
The service sector dominates the Belgian economy with about 70%. Despite the country’s great industrial tradition, the manufacturing industry represents only about 15 percent of the gross domestic product. The most important economic sectors here are pharmaceuticals, chemicals and food. Belgium’s economy is strongly integrated into the world economy. Germany is one of Belgium’s most important economic partners, along with the Netherlands and France. Conversely, Belgium ranks 10th for Germany as a trading partner.