In his bill on capital gains tax, Federal Finance Minister Jan Jambon (N-VA) is launching an exemption for those who keep their shares in their portfolio for ten years or more.
The solidarity contribution should raise €500 million to finance the reduction of the burden on labour. For Flemish socialist Vooruit, the tax was the condition for entering Bart De Wever's Federal Government.
The proposal is to levy a 10% tax on capital gains on financial assets, insurance contracts, crypto assets and currency. These financial assets include listed and unlisted shares, bonds, money market instruments, derivatives, mutual funds and ETFs (stock market trackers). Insurance products include savings insurance (branch 21, branch 26) and investment insurance (branch 23).
The draft provides for a general abatement for the first €10,000, De Tijd reports. For shareholders with a 20% stake in a company – the substantial interest – there will be an exemption of up to €1 million, followed by a graduated rate scale from 1.25% to 10%.
'Special regime'
Immediately after the coalition agreement was concluded, it became known that Francophone liberals MR read that provision differently from Vooruit. For Vooruit, someone with a 19% stake pays the full pot from €10,000. For MR, this was only from a capital gain of €10 million.
Now, Jambon has worked out an interim solution. For instance, that 20% will be calculated on the basis of an entire family up to the fourth degree, and it will be possible to go back 10 years in time.
Another point of disagreement was about the exemption for those who hold their shares for more than 10 years. The draft mentions "a special regime for capital gains realised 10 years after the acquisition of the financial assets to which they relate."
The exemption is not expected to go over well with the socialists.
