Since 1 January 2026, leaving Belgium is no longer just a change of tax address: the move itself can trigger tax on your capital gains. This page is for you if you are leaving with a US LLC: when Belgium still treats you as a resident of the Kingdom, how the Cayman tax can reach your LLC, what the departure itself costs, and the order in which to leave. The articles quoted are those of the 1992 Income Tax Code (CIR 92) in the "income 2026" version published by the SPF Finances.
When Belgium still treats you as a resident
You are a resident of the Kingdom if you have your domicile in Belgium or, failing a domicile, the seat of your wealth. The SPF Finances describes the seat of wealth as the centre of your economic activities or of your property interests. Both are questions of fact, with one major exception: if you are entered in the National Register of natural persons, you are presumed to have your domicile in Belgium unless you prove otherwise. The SPF Finances confirms that this presumption can be rebutted, but the burden of rebutting it is on you.
For married couples and legal cohabitants, the tax domicile is wherever the household is established. The couple therefore falls either entirely under personal income tax (household in Belgium) or entirely under non-resident income tax (household abroad). For as long as you are a resident, you are taxed on all your income, including income produced or received abroad.
The Cayman tax and your LLC
The CIR 92 defines a legal construction as any company or entity with legal personality (or with a form similar to a Belgian company with legal personality) that, in its own state, is not subject to an income tax, or is subject to one at less than 15 % of its taxable income calculated under Belgian rules. Entities established in the European Economic Area are in principle excluded; a US entity does not benefit from that exclusion.
The founder is the individual who holds, directly or through a chain of intermediate constructions, the legal or economic rights to the construction's shares or units. If you are entered in a register of beneficial owners (UBO), in Belgium or in another state, as the ultimate beneficial owner of a company, you can be presumed to be the founder unless you prove otherwise. The income received by the construction is then taxed in the hands of the founder resident in the Kingdom as if the founder had received it directly.
There are two ways out for a given year: showing that the construction is subject to an income tax of at least 15 %, or that it is established in a state linked to Belgium by a treaty or instrument for the exchange of information and carries on a substantial economic activity there, with staff, equipment, assets and premises, whose purpose is not to manage the founder's private wealth.
In its judgment no. 117/2025 of 18 September 2025, the Constitutional Court partially annulled article 5/1, § 3, first paragraph, c), and annulled the second paragraph of the same section, as introduced by the programme law of 22 December 2023.
Is your LLC a legal construction? No circular or FAQ from the SPF Finances that we have been able to check applies the Cayman tax to US LLCs. The risk comes from reading the text: an LLC outside the EEA that does not itself pay income tax could fit the definition. That is a reading of the text, not a published position of the administration and not a court decision.
On the reporting side, for as long as you are a resident, your annual return must disclose any legal construction of which you, your spouse or your minor children are founders, as well as any foreign accounts held during the year, including those you were authorised to operate, for example as a signatory on your LLC's account.
The exit tax since 1 January 2026
The law of 6 April 2026 (Moniteur belge of 21 April 2026), which applies from 1 January 2026, introduced a tax on capital gains on financial assets. It treats as a disposal the transfer of your domicile or of the seat of your wealth out of Belgium. The price is then deemed to equal the value of the financial asset at the time you leave.
The regime covers three categories, each with its own rates:
- other financial assets: 10 %, after an exemption of EUR 4,855 a year (the amount shown for income 2026);
- holdings of at least 20 % in a company: 1.25 % up to EUR 2.5 million, 2.5 % from EUR 2.5 million to EUR 5 million, 5 % from EUR 5 million to EUR 10 million, 10 % above EUR 10 million; the first EUR 1,000,000 is exempt, less the exemption used in the four previous taxable periods;
- shares sold to a company you control (together with your family up to the second degree): 33 %.
Which category your interest in a US LLC falls into is a point to have checked for your own case before you leave.
Automatic payment deferral applies if you move to another state of the European Union or the EEA, or to a state with which Belgium has concluded a double tax treaty providing for the exchange of information and mutual assistance in tax collection. For any other state, deferral can be granted on request, if you provide sufficient security. The deferral ends if the financial assets are sold or pledged as collateral on financial instruments, and keeping it requires an attestation every year.
The published text also provides that the deferred payment obligation ends either if you re-establish your domicile in Belgium within 24 months, or once a period of 24 months after your departure has expired. Its practical reach, in particular if you sell during those 24 months, still has to be confirmed by reading the parliamentary preparatory works: do not build your plans on this period without checking.
Finally, pension capital, surrender values and savings covered by article 34 that are paid to you after a move to a state outside the EEA are deemed to have been paid on the day before you left.
Leaving in the right order
Before you go: value your financial assets and holdings at their value on the day you leave, and check whether your destination qualifies for automatic deferral. Destination outside the EU and the EEA and without a suitable treaty: prepare the security on which deferral on request depends. If you are a Belgian national, no later than the day before you leave: report your departure to the municipal administration where you live. It gives you proof of your removal from the population registers. Once you have settled: register with the competent Belgian career consulate, with the proof of deregistration and proof of residence abroad. Every year: provide the attestation that keeps the payment deferral in place. Belgian income after you leave (salary, pension, rent): file a non-resident income tax return. For income 2025, the deadline is 20 November 2026.What goes wrong when a step is missed
- You stay on the National Register: you are presumed to be a resident, taxed on your worldwide income, and the Cayman tax remains a risk for your LLC.
- Your household stays in Belgium: so does your tax domicile.
- You move outside the EU, the EEA and any suitable treaty without providing security: no payment deferral on the exit tax.
- You sell your financial assets or forget the annual attestation: the payment deferral ends.
- You do not file the non-resident return although you have Belgian income: a fine and/or a tax increase.
Leaving another French-speaking country? See Leaving France and Leaving Luxembourg.
Sources
Checked 26 October 2026. CIR 92 articles are quoted in their "income 2026" version on FisconetPlus (SPF Finances).
- CIR 92, art. 2 (residents, legal construction, founder): eservices.minfin.fgov.be
- CIR 92, art. 5: eservices.minfin.fgov.be
- CIR 92, art. 5/1 (Cayman tax, partial annulment by the Constitutional Court, judgment no. 117/2025): eservices.minfin.fgov.be
- CIR 92, art. 307 (tax return): eservices.minfin.fgov.be
- CIR 92, capital gains on financial assets (law of 6 April 2026): art. 90, art. 92, art. 96/2, art. 102, art. 171
- CIR 92, art. 413/1 (payment deferral): eservices.minfin.fgov.be
- CIR 92, art. 364bis (pension capital): eservices.minfin.fgov.be
- SPF Finances, "Quitter la Belgique, déclaration d'impôt": fin.belgium.be
- SPF Finances, "Déclaration à l'impôt des non-résidents": fin.belgium.be
- SPF Affaires étrangères, "Avant votre départ": diplomatie.belgium.be
Your own case
This page is general information, not advice on your case. Your own situation is checked in a consultation, held in English.
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