Are you entitled to the tax allowance?

You have just made an offer to purchase a property, and it has been accepted? Congratulations!
You are now dealing with administrative formalities and may have many questions about your rights and obligations, particularly your entitlement to the tax allowance. Let us clarify the situation together.

First of all, please feel free to read our article about the various costs associated with purchasing a property, which may help you better understand the different expenses involved.

Now, let us take a closer look at the tax allowance.

The tax allowance: what is it??

According to notaire.be, “A tax allowance is a reduction in the taxable base granted by the tax authorities subject to certain conditions. Tax allowances are available in relation to inheritance tax, property tax and the registration duties payable when purchasing a property, among other things.”
What interests us today is the registration duty allowance in the Brussels-Capital Region, in other words, a reduction in the taxable base.
Registration duties in Brussels, namely the tax payable to the region, amount to 12.5%.

What is the amount of the tax allowance?

Since 2017, the tax allowance in the Brussels-Capital Region has been 175.000 €.

You therefore no longer pay registration duties on the first 175.000 € of your property purchase (representing a saving of 21.875 €). Please note! You must meet 10 conditions to qualify.

What are the conditions?

To benefit from this advantage, you must meet all the following conditions:

1. The property must be located in one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region.
2. The market value of the property must not exceed 500 000€
3. The purchaser must be a natural person
4. The property must be used or intended, in whole or in part, as a dwelling
5. The purchase must relate to the entire property
6. The tax allowance applies only to sales: other agreements (gifts, exchanges, divisions, …) are not covered by this scheme
7. None of the purchasers may own the entirety of another property intended for residential use (on the date of the sale agreement)
8. Within 2 years, the purchaser must establish their main residence in this new property
9. The purchaser must retain this new property as their main residence for an uninterrupted period of 5 years
10. The purchaser must not already benefit from another tax reduction during the year in which the deed of purchase is executed