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First income tax
Hello everyone,
I received by post the papers to fill my first income tax in Brussels, Belgium.
I chose the TaxOnWeb option and chose the autocomplete option.
I worked for 6 months in 2018, from July to December, as a normal employee. During this time I received around 20.000 euros (example).
My employer did all the payments to social security, taxes, etc.
During those 6 months (and even now) I didn't buy a house, opened a pension fund, or any other product that I could use to benefit for a refund of my taxes. I also don't have any product or saving at my country of origin.
When I do a simulation in TaxOnWeb, the system tells me I have about 3.000 euros of refund to receive.
Why? Is this because I just worked half a year and it is calculating as the company who employed me gave too much taxes?
Thank you in advance.
That sounds correct. I suspect your company paid tax on basis of annual salary. Because you only worked six months you will get a nice return sometime next year. Enjoy it!
I had the same experience many years ago when I started working in May or June. Yes, enjoy it!
"Is this because I just worked half a year"
Correct.
To demonstrate in VERY rough numbers: (excluding ONSS payments, holiday pay, 13th month, etc.)
Let's say you have an annual salary of €40,000 per year. Your monthly salary will be approximately €3,333, from which your employer would deduct approximately €700 in taxes.
Although your annual salary is €40,000, you only worked for 6 months, which means you actually earned €20,000 in 2018 or the equivalent to €1,666 per month and the taxes due on that amount are approximately €200 per month.
Therefore we can see that you are "overpaying" taxes of approximately €500 per month, for 6 months, which means your rebate will be €3,000.
You should not go out and spend it all at once, as you will soon discover that given that you only worked 6 months of last year, you are quite likely to only be entitled to 10 days paid holidays this year (half of the entitlement, as you only worked half the year last year). So keep the money and use it to cover your holidays.
It is a completely crazy system, and is a major disincentive for a young, mobile international workforce (which pretty much sums up Belgium's attitude to employment!)
For many people, you only really get into a "normal" salary / tax / holiday cycle once you have worked for one complete calendar year (which for you will be the year commencing January 2020).
