On 17 February 2021, at the initiative of the Belgian government,a new annual tax on securities accounts held by individuals with Belgian and foreign financial institutions was passed (publication in the Belgian Official Gazette on 25 February 2021). This tax replaces the previous securities accounts tax, which was annulled by the Constitutional Court on 17 October 2019. This tax imposes a 0.15% levy when the average total value of securities on a securities account during a 12 month period, called a ‘reference period’, is higher than one million EUR.
The average total value is calculated over this reference period, which runs in principle from 1 October to 30 September. The average total value, takes into account the values of the securities on a given securities account on certain ‘reference points’, which are the quarter end dates (31 December, 31 March, 30 June and 30 September) and account opening/closing dates of the securities accounts (considering the day on which the tax entered into effect, the first reference period exceptionally started on 26 February 2021).
This tax applies on all securities booked on a securities account, amongst other the following securities offered by MeDirect:
- Shares
- Bonds
- Trackers
- Mutual Funds