If you are an heir, you must declare your inheritance to the tax authorities. The tax authorities will calculate the taxes that you must pay on your inheritance based on the tax return you file. Our estates team will help you declare your inheritance by giving you an overview of what we at KBC Brussels submit to the tax authorities.

When your heirs inherit part of your assets, they'll begrudge having to immediately give up some of that in the form of inheritance tax. Savings life insurance or investment-type life insurance could be a good solution for this and an easy way to do your wealth and inheritance planning.

An inheritance tax return must be filed by

• All heirs
• The surviving spouse or partner
• The people to whom all the estate assets are left under the will

who may each file individual returns or - more usually - make one joint declaration.

Heirs only need to file an inheritance tax return if they inherit real estate in Belgium.

When you inherit from someone who died

Submit your inheritance tax return to the registration office in the deceased’s last tax residence. You can download the model inheritance tax return from www.myminfin.be or get one free of charge from any registration office. There's also a model form that comes with a useful guide for completing it.

Submit your inheritance tax return to the Flemish tax authorities at this address: Vlaamse Belastingdienst – Erfbelasting, Vaartstraat 16, 9300 Aalst. You can download the model inheritance tax form (in Dutch) from the Belastingportaal Vlaanderen website.

Submit your declaration to the office in the district where the real estate with the highest property tax value is located.

The model declaration form for Flanders specifies the various items that you have to report. For the Walloon and Brussels-Capital Regions, the form guides you through the items that need to be included. To help you fill it in, your Estates Team will provide you with an overview of the tax return filed by KBC Brussels.

What you need to include in your declaration (this differs per region)

• Details of the deceased, the person submitting the declaration and the heirs
• Details of any heirs who have rejected their inheritance
• Details of any will or gift
• Gifts made within less than three years before death (Flemish and Brussels Capital Regions) or within less than five years before death (for gifts made on or after 1 January 2022 in the Walloon Region)
  
• Details of any usufruct rights the deceased had
• Information as to whether the movable property was insured
• A list of all possessions of, earnings and amounts owed
  • Details of movable property (furniture, jewellery, savings, etc.)
    Please note: depending on the situation, you may need to include life insurance.
    • Life insurance benefits and declaration of an estate/ inheritance tax in the Flemish Region
    • Life insurance benefits and declaration of an estate/ inheritance tax in the Brussels-Capital Region
    • Life insurance benefits and declaration of an estate/ inheritance tax in the Walloon Region
  • Details of real estate (properties like houses)
• A list of debts, if any (in the Flemish Region, you can choose from various lump-sum options for reporting purposes)

In the Walloon and Brussels-Capital Regions, when you submit an inheritance tax return you are then sent a demand for payment. You then have two months from the deadline for submitting your declaration to pay the inheritance tax. In the Flemish Region, after you file an inheritance tax return you are sent a tax assessment notice. You then have two months to pay the inheritance tax, which starts running from the date of receiving the assessment.