XJune 12, 2026
For decades, Belgium taxed the capital gains of ordinary investors at 0 percent.
That ended on January 1st 2026. And the new rule comes with an exit door: leaving the country can now tax you on gains you never sold.
For years Belgium was one of the last EU states with no general capital gains tax on individual investors, even while income tax climbed past 50 percent. Shares, ETFs, crypto, all sold tax free as long as it stayed within normal management of private wealth. Speculative gains were already taxed at 33 percent, and professional trading at the ordinary progressive rate.
Belgium's Law of 6 April 2026, retroactive to January 1, ended that. Gains on financial assets are now taxed at 10 percent above a 10,000 EUR annual exemption.
Only gains built after December 31 2025 count. Everything before is grandfathered, with your portfolio revalued at the 2025 close as the new cost basis. Holders of 20 percent or more of a company get a separate ladder, 1 million EUR exempt then 1.25 percent rising to 10 percent past 10 million.
Here is the part that matters for anyone planning to move.
Transferring your tax residence out of Belgium is now treated as a deemed disposal of your covered financial assets. Taxed on the accrued gain, even with no actual sale.
But the law left a clean window. Move to the EU, the EEA, or a treaty country with information exchange and recovery assistance, and payment is automatically deferred. And if you do not actually sell within 24 months of leaving, no exit tax is due in principle.
So Belgium did not build a wall. It built a 24 month clock. The base is gone either way, but the exit charge mainly bites if you cash out too fast after departure.
A country can erase a 0 percent advantage in a single budget law. The real mobility question is no longer where rates are low today, but where they are structurally hard to raise tomorrow.
Which is the bigger risk for a long term plan, a high rate that stays stable, or a zero rate that can vanish overnight?
Data from GeoCompass, the jurisdiction intelligence layer I build at Lucky Nomads.
Belgium