Belgium Cross Border Resources

From Planipedia

Thanks to the Financial Planning Association for sharing their material to create this page.

Contents 1 Country Information - Belgium 2 Quality of life – local flavor and customs 3 Cash management 4 Tax Planning 5 Investment Planning 6 Risk management 7 Liability Insurance 8 Health Insurance 9 Property Insurance 10 Retirement Planning 11 Social Security agreements between countries 12 Transferability of Pensions 13 Marital exemptions 14 Local Regulation 15 Referrals to Local Planners

Country Information - Belgium

In an effort to provide information on financial planning issues in Belgium, FPA volunteers have gathered the following links together to point you towards a variety of different resources.

Each link has a descriptive tag explaining what type of site the link goes to. The tags are: • GOV for government or regulatory sites • ORG for non-profit or association sites • EDU for academic or educational sites • COM for commercial sites, such as product providers

Virtually all of the links lead off of FPA's Web site.

Quality of life – local flavor and customs

• http://www.opt.be (gov)
• http://iv.vlaanderen.be (gov)
• http://www.fine-arts-museum.be/site/EN/ (org)
• http://www.beerparadise.be/emc.asp?pageId=05.en (org)
• http://www.brugge.be/internet/en/index.htm (org)
• http://www.antwerpen.be/eCache/BEN/52.html (org)
• http://www.brussels.be/ (org)
• http://www.tintin.com (com)

Health

• http://www.expatica.com/be/main.html (com)
• http://www.health.fgov.be (gov)

Social Security coverage

• http://www.socialsecurity.be/foreign/en/employer_limosa/home.html (gov)
• http://www.socialezekerheid.fgov.be/ (gov)
• http://www.onss.fgov.be/en/home.html (gov)
• http://www.employment.belgium.be/home.aspx (gov)

Education standards

• http://www.belgium.be/en/education/index.jsp (gov)
• http://onderwijs.vlaanderen.be/English/ (gov)
• http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/Eurydice/EuryCountry (edu)
• http://www.euroeducation.net/prof/belcofr.htm (edu)
• http://www.uams.be (edu)

Ex-pats opinions on quality of life

• http://expatriates.start.be/ (com)
• http://www.awcb.org/awcb/ (org)
• http://www.visitbelgium.com/ (com)

Legal Residency

• http://www.diplomatie.be/en/policy/default.asp (gov)
• http://www.expatica.com/be/essentials_moving_to/relocation_list.html (com)
• http://www.relocationbelgium.com/ (com)

Visas and immigration requirements

• http://belgium.usembassy.gov/ (gov)
• http://www.investinflanders.com/en/immigration/default.aspx (com)

Exchange Control

• http://belgium.usembassy.gov/living_in_belgium.html (gov)

Cash management

Bank accounts

• http://www.justlanded.com/english/Belgium/Belgium-Guide/Money/Opening-an-Account (com)
• http://www.cbfa.be/eng/index.asp (gov)

Currency conversion

• http://www.travelex.com/nl/default.asp?content=&lang=ENG (com)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_euro_coins (org)

Education costs

• http://www.justlanded.com/english/Belgium/Education (com)

Cost of living analysis

• http://ec.europa.eu/eures/main.jsp?lang=en&acro=living&catId=8723&parentId=7802&countryId=BE&langChanged=true (com)

Housing issues

• http://www.belgium.be/en/housing/index.jsp (gov)
• http://belgium.angloinfo.com/countries/belgium/housebuy.asp (com)

Tax Planning

• http://minfin.fgov.be/portail2/en/index.htm (gov)
• http://ccff02.minfin.fgov.be/KMWeb/main.do?home=true (gov)

Determining liability for income and gains taxes

• http://ccff02.minfin.fgov.be/KMWeb/browseCategory.do?method=browse¶ms.selectedCategoryId=30 (gov)

Determining liability for estate taxes

• http://ccff02.minfin.fgov.be/KMWeb/browseCategory.do?method=browse¶ms.selectedCategoryId=4450 (gov)

Foreign Tax Credit arrangements

• http://www.irs.gov/businesses/international/article/0,,id=169500,00.html (gov)
• http://minfin.fgov.be/portail2/belinvest/en/publications/brochures.htm (gov)

Local taxation of non-local pensions and investments

• http://belgium.angloinfo.com/countries/belgium/pensions.asp (com)

Investment Planning

Asset Allocation viewed globally

• http://www.euronext.com/ (com)
• http://www.cbfa.be (org)
• http://www.beama.be/content/index.php (org)

Risk management

• http://www.fecif.org (org)
• http://www.cbfa.be/eng/index.asp (org)

Liability Insurance

• http://www.expatfocus.com/expatriate-belgium-insurance (com)

Health Insurance

• http://www.justlanded.com/english/Belgium/Belgium-Guide/Health/Health-Insurance (com)
• http://www.belgium.be/en/health/european_health_insurance_card/ (gov)
• http://www.efors.eu/belgium-insurance/ (com)
• http://www.cm.be/fr/100/que_faire_en_cas_de/arrival_in_belgium/index.jsp (org)

Property Insurance

• http://www.expatica.com/be/finance_business/pensions_insurance/insurance-in-belgium-1477_8292.html (com)

Retirement Planning

Local pension design and tax structure on encashment

• http://www.ose.be/ (org)
• http://www.pensionfunds.be/startEN.php (org)

Social Security agreements between countries

• http://www.socialsecurity.gov/international/ (gov)
• http://www.diplomatie.be/en/travel/visa/werkeninbelgie.asp (gov)

Transferability of Pensions

• http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p515.pdf (gov)

Estate Planning and Succession Taxes

Impact on Estate if there is no local Will

• http://www.notaris.be/algemeen/other-languages/english (com)

Marital exemptions

• http://belgium.usembassy.gov/marriage-in-belgium/ (gov)
• http://brussels.angloinfo.com/countries/belgium/marriage.asp (com)
• http://www.belgium.be/en/family/becoming_a_belgian_citizen_by_marriage/index.jsp (gov)

Local taxation of non-local trusts

• Not common practice in Belgium

Creating an international trust

• Not a common practice in Belgium

Local Regulation

• http://www.belgium.be/en/ (gov)
• http://www.flanders.be (gov)
• http://www.wallonie.be/en/index.html (gov)
• http://www.bruxelles.irisnet.be (gov)
• http://investinbelgium.fgov.be (gov)

Referrals to Local Planners

At the end of 2009, the first Belgian professionals will receive the CFP mark through registration with FPSB Netherlands. http://www.fpsb.nl (org Dutch)