A new agreement will protect Belgian and Dutch cross-border workers who have been working in their country of residence due to the coronavirus pandemic from being taxed twice.
Belgium's finance minister, Alexander De Croo, announced the agreement on Twitter, saying it aimed to protect cross-border workers from the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Working from home by corona should not have negative tax consequences for frontier workers," De Croo said.
Related News
- Portugal limits occupancy rates on its planes
- Coronavirus: Brussels pilots contact tracing team
- EU masks delivered to Spain, Italy and Croatia
The agreement will allow the country of employment to continue being the competent tax authority for cross-border workers even if they have been working from their country of residence.
Under the agreement, days worked between 11 March to 31 May will be considered as having been worked in the country of employment even if they were worked from an employee's country of residence.
The agreement comes after the pandemic forced working-from-home routines on workers who normally commute to another country for work.
In Belgium, authorities started carrying out border checks and forcing those who came into the country for a non-essential reason to turn back.
Under normal cross-border work regulations between both countries, workers who live in one country but work in the other are protected from having their income tax levied by their country of residence, with no exception provided to the rule.
Belgium has already made similar arrangements regarding frontier workers coming into and from France and Luxembourg and the current agreement with the Netherlands can be extended beyond 31 May, if necessary.
The Brussels Times
