Foreign sportsmen and artists perform in Belgium. What are the fiscal consequences ?
How are foreign athletes and artists who perform in Belgium taxed? Regardless of which contracting party you have booked a foreign artist or athlete for an event: the sporting or cultural performance of an athlete/artist is in itself a trigger for Belgian tax. Sometimes there are specific double tax treaties that regulate such matters, but in this short contribution we want to take a look at the general system in the personal income tax of non-residents.
The basis of taxation then is the piece that the artist acquires for the performance on Belgian soil. Note that this is a separately defined source of professional income and therefore does not fall under the general professional income or profits. Distinguishable from the performance are the other remunerations such as reimbursement for stage construction or portrait rights.
How much tax?
An 18% withholding as a liberating withholding tax is the standard tax rate. By default, expenses are no longer deducted, the fixed percentage takes this into account. This can be advantageous if few costs are involved, but in certain cases this can be experienced as unfair (e.g. smaller payments with many costs), which is why one can also opt for a flat-rate cost deduction of 400 Euros for the first day on which the first service is performed and 100 Euros for each subsequent day (maximum of 10 days). A regularization (with accompanying declaration and possibility to deduct costs) is optional if there is less than 30 days of activity in Belgium and mandatory if there is more than 30 days of activity in Belgium.
Rent a star
It is not because you pay the fee to a company and not to the artist himself that no tax is possible in Belgium. A so called 'rent a star company' doesn't change anything in this specific tax mechanism.
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