Government does not know number of securities accounts to be taxed

Government does not know number of securities accounts to be taxed
The 254 million euros, which the government hopes to generate in the 2018 budget, is not guaranteed. Johan Van Overtveldt does not know the number of citizens affected and conflicting studies have not helped.

L’Echo is reporting on Wednesday that nobody knows precisely the number of taxpayers who will be affected by the tax on securities accounts held in Belgium. This is because the estimates for the number of such accounts vary.

The National Bank of Belgium (known as “the BNB”) and Febelfin - the association of banks - produced an estimate of the number of securities accounts open in Belgium. The Minister of Finances, Johan Van Overtveldt (New Flemish Alliance) explains, “However the figures from both studies differ greatly.”

That having been said, this year’s ‘summer agreement’ anticipates a tax next year for citizens holding more than 500,000 euros in their securities accounts. The government is hoping to generate 254 million euros by the measure in the 2018 budget. Yet this figure rests upon nothing, as nobody knows precisely the number of citizens affected by the tax.

The government has requested information from both the BNB and Febelfin, who say they do not have precise statistics available upon this data but only estimates. The Febelfin estimates are far higher than those of the BNB.


The Brussels Times


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