Considering moving to Belgium, several questions.
May 5th 2012, 4:14 pm
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Considering moving to Belgium, several questions.
Hello!
I hope that this is an appropriate place for this post. If not, please move it to the correct forum.
I have several questions about a possible move to Belgium. I appreciate that many of my questions would be best be answered by a professional but as I'm still in the "potential" stage I'm hoping to at least gather some facts before I employ such services.
Basically, I would like to live in the Antwerp region where I already have a few friends. Even after moving, I would still be required to visit the UK for up to a week once per month or so, hence I would still keep my home in the UK. My income is derived through a small amount of freelance work with the majority coming from interest from savings and some investments. The freelance work that I do could still be done in either Belgium or the UK.
I understand the UK has an agreement with Belgium regarding tax liability so that tax need not be paid in both countries so I was wondering whether anyone could point me in the direction of any information that would be able to tell me where I would be required to pay my tax? I've seen conflicting information - some info has told me that tax is paid in the country where you would spend the majority of a year, which in this case would be Belgium, but another says it would be liable in the country where the income derived, which in this case is the UK.
I've also heard that buying property in Belgium is rather complex and can be quite difficult. I haven't had much luck so far searching for UK based property agents who deal with Belgium as most of them seem to deal with the areas such as Spain, Italy, France etc. Does anybody have any tips on how to proceed with that?
And finally, is there much of an expat community in the Antwerp region? Although I have some friends already in Belgium, it would be nice to expand my social horizons a little!
My apologies for the length of this post and sincere thanks to anybody who has read this and anybody who can offer me some advice.
I hope that this is an appropriate place for this post. If not, please move it to the correct forum.
I have several questions about a possible move to Belgium. I appreciate that many of my questions would be best be answered by a professional but as I'm still in the "potential" stage I'm hoping to at least gather some facts before I employ such services.
Basically, I would like to live in the Antwerp region where I already have a few friends. Even after moving, I would still be required to visit the UK for up to a week once per month or so, hence I would still keep my home in the UK. My income is derived through a small amount of freelance work with the majority coming from interest from savings and some investments. The freelance work that I do could still be done in either Belgium or the UK.
I understand the UK has an agreement with Belgium regarding tax liability so that tax need not be paid in both countries so I was wondering whether anyone could point me in the direction of any information that would be able to tell me where I would be required to pay my tax? I've seen conflicting information - some info has told me that tax is paid in the country where you would spend the majority of a year, which in this case would be Belgium, but another says it would be liable in the country where the income derived, which in this case is the UK.
I've also heard that buying property in Belgium is rather complex and can be quite difficult. I haven't had much luck so far searching for UK based property agents who deal with Belgium as most of them seem to deal with the areas such as Spain, Italy, France etc. Does anybody have any tips on how to proceed with that?
And finally, is there much of an expat community in the Antwerp region? Although I have some friends already in Belgium, it would be nice to expand my social horizons a little!
My apologies for the length of this post and sincere thanks to anybody who has read this and anybody who can offer me some advice.
