I was in Brussels last week, to meet up with a client who works for a UK company but who works all of the time in Belgium.
We discussed his position in light of the recent tax case of Gaines-Cooper v HMRC and decided that he was neither resident, nor ordinarily resident, for UK tax purposes.
Result, I thought. But when we looked at the income tax rates applicable to a Belgian resident, it quickly became clear that he would pay 50% tax on his modest income, in addition to the local taxes and their equivalent to National Insuance.
So, it may actually be beneficial for him to retain his UK tax status by returning to the UK for less than 90 midnights and pay tax at 20%.
With all this in our minds, we retired to the Moeder Lambic bar to sample some of Brussels’ finest beer….
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