Registration duties (registratierechten), also known as sales duties (verkooprechten), are the taxes you pay when ownership of real estate is transferred. The tax is due when the deed transferring ownership is registered. Different rules apply to new-build properties: there you do not pay registration duties but VAT (21%).

You pay registration duties on:

  • The purchase of a house, holiday home, investment property, etc. that was first occupied more than 2 years ago.
  • The purchase of a building plot, agricultural land, etc.

The amount you pay as a buyer depends on the region where you live and on your personal situation.

In Flanders, the standard rate is 12%.

There are a few exceptions to the standard rate that allow a different rate to apply. One of the most widely used is a reduced rate of 2% for the purchase of your ‘only own home’ (enige eigen woning). Note that several important conditions apply.

First, the home must be used to house a family or person, after any renovation or repair work. In addition, the buyer must register in the population register or the foreigners’ register within three years. The reduced rate of 2% only applies if the buyer is a natural person. Legal entities, such as companies, are not eligible.

Furthermore, the purchase must be a straightforward sale, in which the seller sells the property in exchange for a sum of money. Exchanges or transfers into private assets do not qualify for the reduced rate. If you acquire only the bare ownership or the usufruct of a home, you cannot benefit from the reduced rate either. It must be the purchase of full ownership.

Do you already own land or another home? In that case you are not entitled to the reduced rate of 2% and the regular rate of 12% applies, unless you sell that other property within 2 years of the deed of your purchase.

More information about these and other exceptions can be found on the Flemish government’s website (vlaanderen.be).

Forewarned is forearmed: know what costs you will incur when buying or transferring real estate. Ask your notary, or use the notaries’ handy calculator (notaris.be), so that you do not face any surprises.