Belgian tax payers scared of bank accounts abroad
The holding of bank accounts and life insurances abroad follows a downward trend, reported La Libre Belgique on Saturday, based on figures from the federal tax administration.
According to tax returns, the decrease since 2015 is around 5 to 10% for accounts abroad, life insurance and offshore construction.
“It’s quite logical that the number of offshore constructions is decreasing. With the Cayman tax introduced by the Michel government, they are almost no longer used for anything, except to enrich the trustees,” says Jacques Malherbe, tax lawyer and university professor.
The Cayman tax with 15% of declared income was imposed on offshore legal constructions.
According to Sabrina Scarna, tax lawyer at Tetra Law, setting up an automatic exchange of crucial information on Belgian assets held abroad “scared people”.
“The tax transparency that we have been talking about for a long time has become reality and is reflected in the figures of 2015 and 2016”, she said.
