Brussels residents to face 10% property tax rise

Homeowners in Brussels will have to pay at least 9.6% more property tax in 2023 than in 2022, because of increased costs, authorities have announced, as they begin their campaign to deliver 400,000 tax bills to Brussels residents by the end of September.

The Belgian capital’s tax administration said owners would pay more than last year due to the rise in the indexation coefficient. This is linked to the consumer price index and therefore to inflation.

In 2023, this indexation rose to 2.0915, compared to 1.9084 in 2022. This is “a historic record”; Liege-based tax lawyer Aurélien Bortolotti told De Tijd newspaper.

Meanwhile, in their annual budgets, some Brussels communes decided to raise their property tax even more than this minimum 9.6% increase.

The tax in Forest will go up by an additional 28%, Anderlecht will up its property tax by 18%, Ixelles and Molenbeek by around 16%, Saint-Gilles 13% and Watermael-Boitsfort and Schaerbeek by 10%.

However, the municipality of Forest has announced that the pill will be made easier to swallow with a €200 reduction due to a ‘Be Home’ bonus.

This benefit is in addition to the regional Be Home bonus of €153 given by Brussels Taxation to ease difficulties caused by the significantly higher property tax, the combination of the two tax breaks meaning that people living in the commune should not notice a real difference in their bills.

Brussels municipalities receive most of the property tax, with a smaller portion paid to the region.