Tax Return : Box II – Your Family Situation

This is one box where people make a lot of mistakes.

Check box 1001 if you are single, divorced or living separated from your spouse. If you are living with your partner and you haven’t registered your partnership with teh commune, you are also single.

Spouses and partners

It is only if you are married or in a registered partnership that you file your tax return together but only for the following year. If you are currently married or registered partners, check box 1002 on your separate returns. You only file jointly if you married or registered your partnership before 2020. If you did so in 2020, you file separately this year and you check box 1003; next year you will file jointly..

If yo

It is only if you are married or in a registered partnership that you file your tax return together but only for the following year. If you are currently married or registered partners, check box 1002 on your separate returns. You only file jointly if you married or registered your partnership before 2021. If you did so in 2021, you file separately this year and you check box 1003, next year you will file jointly.

If you are a widow(er) you check code 1010. If you lost your partner or spouse in 2021, you need to check code 1011 and then opt for a joint or separate filing. If you need to report your deceased partner’s income, you use the codes 1022 to 1026.

Check other codes if you took up separate residences (1018). However, if that happened in 2021, you also need to tick the following box because you still file jointly for the year of the separation or divorce; you can ask to file separately, you can even do that online now.

Officials of international organisations

and their spouses or partners file separately unless the official’s income was €11,170 or less.

The official of one of the European Institutions or international organisations ticks 1062. By checking 1020, you confirm that your income as an official was over €11,170 so that you don’t inadvertently get the benefit of the “marital deduction” (see couples and children).

The spouse or registered partner of the official files a separate tax return and checks code 1021. They must mention that their spouse or partner is an international official so that the taxman doesn’t deduct the marital deduction from their income.

Dependents

Dependants are all the people who live with you and who are financially dependent. A spouse or a registered partner cannot be a dependent.

Your direct dependents are all the children you had on 1 January 2022 (code 1030). To be dependent they must live with you and not have any personal financial resources or get child support over of €3,410. For single parents, the threshold is €4,920 (see couples and children and child support).

A child born on 30 December 2021 is as much a dependent as a child born on 2 January 2021. And a child that left the nest on 31 January 2021 or on 31 October 2021 is not a dependent anymore.

For each child, the highest earner gets an additional allowance on top of his personal allowance of €8,990 against his/her taxable income. The allowance is €1,650 for one child, €4,240 for two children, €9,500 for three children, €15,360 for four children, and a further €5,860 for every additional child.

Older children

Children who are at university during the week are still considered to be living with you if they keep their registration with the commune. And if they were working to pay for some pocket money, they can earn €2,820 and that will be disregarded as personal financial resources (see couples and children).

The cut-off date is 1 January 2022. This means that your daughter who was financially dependent for most of 2021, will not be a dependent for tax purposes for 2021 if she started working in September 2021.

Co-parenting

If the children are under joint custody and living alternatively with each parent, the parent with whom the children are officially domiciled gets the tax allowance for the children. Nevertheless, the parents can agree to share the tax allowance by giving the tax man a copy of the court decision or agreement between parents. The parent with whom the children are domiciled fills out code 1034; the other 1036.

All dependents give you a higher tax allowance that is tax free. If you don’t claim a tax deduction for child care , you get an additional personal allowance of €610 if you fill out code 1038. That allowance can be shared as well.

Other dependents

Some other family members can be dependent too: your parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters if they are over 65 (code 1043). Your foster parents can also be dependent. Dependents cannot have more than €3,410 in income (other than €27,430 in pensions).

Arriving or leaving Belgium in 2021

If you arrived in Belgium in 2021, or left Belgium in 2021, you do not have a full tax year and only the part of your income that you received while resident in Belgium is taxable. This means that less income is taxed at the lower tax rates. For that reason, the allowances above are prorated according to the number of full months you were in Belgium; that is the months that you are here on the 15^th. You must put the number of full months in code 1199.

Your tax return: