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might move to Belgium from USA, question about taxes
I'm a US citizen and my wife is European and she got a job offer in Belgium. She wants to move back to Europe and one thing I wonder about is taxes.
For my job, I work remotely and I can work anywhere in the world, so I wouldn't have to get a job in Belgium, but I would continue my own work I do now in the USA.
For tax purposes, once I live in Belgium and I have the Belgian residence permit, what are the tax requirements to Belgium? Declare US income and pay taxes on it? US taxes aren't bad, but reading about Belgian taxes, I see that I would be on the 50% bracket and that would suck! :D
If live and work in (from) Belgium, you will be required to declare your ww income and pay taxes on said income. Yes, the taxes here are quite hefty, particularly when you consider what you get for your taxes, which ain't much. You will also be required to file a return in the US but the first 92k foreign earned income is exempt. If you are earning more than 92k per year, you may be paying an enormous price for the "privilege" of living in Belgium. Stay where you are--there isn't much to sell this place.
Well there are lots of things to consider in my experience. Your US income would be taxable in Belgium once you become a legal resident in Belgium. As a self-employed independent worker in Belgium, you would have the opportunity to offset your taxable income through expenses. You would probably need an accountant to help you with all of this, which is a pain and a cost (but also deductable) and therefore your real tax rate would probably be around 30 - 35% depending on how much income you are able to legitimately declare as expenses. You also pay 'social charges' which are a hefty part of that 35%. BUT for that you get real health care, unlike in the US.
Another thing to remember is that you still have to file IRS forms every year in the US. There is a threshold of about 96,000 USD income per year that is not taxed if you are genuinely living abroad. If you earn more than that you can offset taxes paid abroad and you are exempt from self-employment tax due to the tax treaty between the US and Belgium. So unless you have serious investment income somewhere it is unlikely you'll owe anything to the IRS on top of your Belgian taxes.
Bottom line: you'll most likely pay slightly more in tax in Belgium than you will in the US, but not disastrously so. And for that you'll get reasonably good health care. BUT it is kind of a hassle keeping all the receipts and managing the paperwork, more so than as a self-employed person in the US. Plus you still have to file in the US. So definitely more paperwork than before.
Unless the missus has a job in the EU or NATO the tax will be quite large as Sparkles says.
You can't want to move back to Europe that badly, surely?
It doesn't matter if your spouse is with the EU or NATO; your income from the private sector will still be taxed regularly in Belgium. Working for one of those institutions would only affect her income.
As long as you keep your business in the US and don't bring it into Belgium you don't have to declare it and are exempt as well. Chance are you will be on a special diplomat visa, you wont have to declare a thing. I don't but then again I don't have a foreign income.
You will still have to pay your US taxes though, that's the best option as far as I can see. Keep the business in the US if you can.
According to the job offer, a spouse can migrate to the EU and get their resident permit there. No special visa, just that it seems I would be able to get the Belgian residence card. But from what I'm reading, it seems that it is best to be unemployed in Belgium than it is to work! :D
Correct, your wife and yourself will have no issues in getting a residency card. Her HR department will take care of most of it for you and for taxation purposes you report only to the EC, you don't file a tax return in Belgium at all, just sign it and pass it back when you get the letter.
You will probably have to declare that income to the EC though and I don't know what would happen then but Belgium(France, Germany, etc) does not have the right to intefere with EU workers or their families.
According to the job offer, a spouse can migrate to the EU and get their resident permit there. No special visa, just that it seems I would be able to get the Belgian residence card. But from what I'm reading, it seems that it is best to be unemployed in Belgium than it is to work! :D
Correct, your wife and yourself will have no issues in getting a residency card. Her HR department will take care of most of it for you and for taxation purposes you report only to the EC, you don't file a tax return in Belgium at all, just sign it and pass it back when you get the letter.
You will probably have to declare that income to the EC though and I don't know what would happen then but Belgium(France, Germany, etc) does not have the right to intefere with EU workers or their families.
