When buying a house or land, you will have to pay 12.5 % registration duty in the Brussels-Capital Region.

The registration duty is calculated on the conventional value (agreed price and charges). The calculation basis should never be lower than the sale value of the immovable property.

If you find that the agreed price is lower than the minimum sale value, you can also state the estimated sale value in the sale agreement. The registration duty is then calculated on this sale value. In this way, a fine can be avoided.

Please note that the simultaneous sale by the same person, of a house or flat with the adjacent land, involves paying VAT on both the building and the adjacent land. See also the FAQ ‘Buying with VAT’.

When buying a house or land, you will not only have to pay registration duty on the agreed price. Additional charges related to the sale are also part of the calculation basis.

Examples of charges include:

• the costs incurred by the seller to get the property sold, and which are borne by the buyer (publicity, intermediaries, map and measurement costs ...);
• the obligation of the buyer to pay certain taxes relating to the immovable property for a period falling before the date of occupation of the property by the buyer.

The sale value (also called market value) is the minimum basis for calculating the registration duty. If the agreed price increased by charges is lower than the sale value, you will be taxed on that sale value.

Sale value refers to the price you are expected to be offered in a sale under normal circumstances. That is, with sufficient publicity, a sufficient number of interested parties and taking into account the objective factors that can affect the value of the property.

The administration will consider which property would best serve as a point of reference, taking into account in particular:

• the nature of the property to be valued,
• its legal condition,
• and the orientation of the property,
among other things.

The condition of the local property market plays a vital role as well.

Where the sale value is higher than the price agreed at the time of sale, you, as the buyer, must mention both the sale value and the agreed price in the deed.

If the administration considers that the mentioned price (or the declared value) is lower than the sale value, it will inform you of its estimate.

Do you want more explanation or do you disagree with the estimate?

Please let us know. If we cannot come to an agreement, we can demand an expert examination. The designation of one or three experts is done by mutual agreement (or by the justice of the peace if we cannot come to an agreement).

Are you found to be in the wrong by the experts upon the control estimate?

You will then pay the additional registration duty and a default interest of 7 per cent. If the underestimate (the difference between the sale value and the price stated or the value declared) is equal to or more than 1/8th of the price stated or the value declared, you will have to pay a fine and the costs of the proceedings will be charged to you.

You can only dispute the sale value determined by the expert by bringing a claim before court.

What if the price does not correspond to the price actually paid?

If part of the price was paid ‘under the table’, both the buyer and the seller will incur a fine which, in principle, is equal to the evaded duty. Moreover, criminal sanctions can also be pronounced.

A purchase deed must be submitted for registration within the prescribed period. We can register the deed only upon payment of the registration duty.

Purchase deed by civil-law notary

When the purchase deed is drawn up by the civil-law notary, it is the civil-law notary who must submit the deed for registration and transfer the registration duty.

The civil-law notary will ask the buyer and/or seller to advance the payable registration duty. In practice, unless otherwise agreed, it is usually the buyer who pays the registration duty.

The civil-law notaries have the deeds registered at the Legal Certainty office of their practice location.

Purchase by private deed

If the purchase is recorded by private deed (compromise), the obligation to register and pay duty rests on both the buyer and the seller.

You have a period of four months to register the deed at the Legal Certainty office competent for the place where the purchased immovable property is located.

It is important to respect that period. Failure to do so will result in a fine. The fine will be indivisibly payable by the parties. This means we can appeal to both the buyer and the seller for payment of the entire sum.

If the compromise (private purchase deed) is followed by an authentic deed, you do not need to have the private deed registered provided the authentic deed (usually a notarial deed) is drawn up within four months from the date the compromise was signed. If the deed is executed before a civil-law notary, the civil-law notary still has fifteen days to register it.

You are entitled, under certain conditions, to a tax-free allowance for the purchase in full ownership of a house that will serve as your main residence (= a reduction of the taxable base for registration duty).

The tax-free allowance amounts to EUR 175,000 (EUR 200,000 from 1 April 2023). That is a tax advantage of up to EUR 21,875 (EUR 25,000 from 1 April 2023).

The tax-free allowance applies to houses up to EUR 500,000 (EUR 600,000 from 1 April 2023).

The tax-free allowance is also applicable to purchases of off-plan houses or purchases of houses under construction.

Conditions for the tax-free allowance

The tax-free allowance for the purchase of a house has the following conditions:

• You must be a natural person. This means that companies, associations or other legal entities are not eligible.
• The house must be located in the Brussels-Capital Region.
• You must establish your main residence in that house (i.e. be registered there in the population register or the register of foreign nationals):
  • within two years (three years from 1 April 2023) if it is an existing house
  • within three years if it is an off-plan house or flat, or a house or flat under construction
• You must maintain your main residence in that house for a continuous period of at least five years from the time you established your main residence in that house.
• You must purchase the house in its entirety in full ownership (this may be done by several people together). Therefore, purchases of a part, the usufruct or the bare ownership of the property are excluded.
• On the date of the acquisition agreement, you may not be the full owner, in its entirety, of another immovable property intended, in whole or in part, for residential use. In case of acquisition by several persons together, this condition applies to each of them separately.
  There is an exception to this condition. If you do not meet this condition at the time of acquisition, you can apply for the tax-free allowance afterwards, through a refund. To this end, you must have disposed of all other immovable property within two years from the date of registration of the deed of acquisition of the second house.
• It must be a pure purchase. Exchange, for example, is excluded.
• The amount on which the registration duty is levied cannot exceed EUR 500,000 (EUR 600,000 from 1 April 2023).

You are entitled, under certain conditions, to a tax-free allowance for the purchase of a building lot (= a reduction of the taxable base for registration duty).

The tax-free allowance amounts to EUR 87,500 (EUR 100,000 from 1 April 2023). The tax-free allowance amounts to up to EUR 10,937.50 (EUR 12,500 from 1 April 2023).

The tax-free allowance applies to building lots up to EUR 250,000 (EUR 300,000 from 1 April 2023).

Conditions for the tax-free allowance

The tax-free allowance for the purchase of a building lot has the same conditions as the tax-free allowance for a house, with the following differences:

• The period in which you must establish your main residence at the address of the building lot is three years.
• The amount on which the registration duty is levied cannot exceed EUR 250,000 (EUR 300,000 from 1 April 2023).

From 1 April 2023, under certain conditions, you will be entitled to an additional tax-free allowance for energy-efficient refurbishment. The tax-free allowance will only be possible if the main tax-free allowance for the purchase of a house is applied. The additional tax-free allowance is an extra tax incentive to improve the energy performance of a house.

The tax-free allowance amounts to EUR 25,000 per ‘jump’ in energy class (EPIC), provided you improve the energy class of the house by at least two classes within a period of five years from the registration date of the purchase deed or from the latest date of submission for registration.

If, at the end of the five-year period, the EPIC class improvement is less than your commitment, the difference will be recovered between:

• the amount of the tax-free allowance granted at the time of registration of the deed, and
• the amount that should have been granted according to the actual EPIC class improvement

That amount is no more than EUR 6,250 if the two-class increase has not been achieved, and/or no more than EUR 3,125 for each additional EPIC class increase included in the commitment and not achieved.

In addition, except in cases of force majeure, a fine equal to 1/10th of this additional duty (EUR 625 or EUR 312.5) will be recovered.

Conditions for the tax-free allowance

The tax-free allowance for energy-efficient refurbishment is an additional tax-free allowance for the purchase of a house. This means that this additional tax-free allowance only applies if the main tax-free allowance is applied. You must therefore meet the conditions of the main tax-free allowance for this additional tax-free allowance, with one difference and one additional condition:

• An EPIC class improvement may take time (obtaining an environmental permit, cost estimates, carrying out the works). That is why the period in which you must be settled in the house has been extended from three years to five years.
• There is also an additional condition: you must improve the energy class of the house by at least two classes within a period of five years, counting from the date of the registration of the deed of sale or from the deadline for submitting the deed for registration.

There are some form requirements in order to qualify for the tax-free allowance. Your adviser can assist you in this regard (e.g. your civil-law notary).

You must declare in the deed (or in a signed document attached to the deed) that:

• you are not already the owner of a house which results in the exclusion of the tax-free allowance;
• you undertake to establish your main residence in the property purchased:
  • within two years (three years from 1 April 2023) if it is an existing house;
  • within three years if it is a building lot, an off-plan house or flat, or a house or flat under construction;
  • within five years if it is also the additional tax-free allowance for energy-efficient refurbishment;
• you undertake to maintain your main residence in the purchased immovable property for an continuous period of five years calculated as from the date of establishment of the main residence in the purchased immovable property.

The following also applies to the additional tax-free allowance in case of an energy-efficient refurbishment:

• You must provide details of the energy performance of the purchased property according to the most recent, valid EPIC certificate on the date of the acquisition agreement (the number of the EPIC certificate, the issue date and the energy class mentioned in the certificate). You must also attach the EPIC certificate to the deed.
• You must undertake to carry out the energy class improvement, specifying the intended improvement (minimum two classes).