Readers’ forum: What to include on former Belgian resident’s return?

Our client was employed in Belgium for a number of years before he retired in early 2001. Since then he has been receiving a state pension from that country the details of which have been included on his tax return each year.

However he has recently been contacted by the Belgium tax authorities informing him that under the terms of the UK Belgium tax treaty Belgian tax must be deducted from the state pension commencing in the fiscal year 2018-19 onwards.

He has received assessments for 2018-19 and 2019-20 and he has settled the relevant liabilities. Our client is of the opinion that details of this source of income should no longer be included on his tax returns commencing 2018-19 when tax deductions were first made.

It appears that the Belgian tax authorities will be raising additional assessments to cover the fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22. Our client...