Opening an account on a foreign app takes a few minutes. Trade Republic, Revolut, DEGIRO, Interactive Brokers: signing up is so smooth that it is easy to overlook the essentials. Yet holding a securities account with a foreign platform creates Belgian reporting obligations that many investors are unaware of. These obligations are independent of the taxes you pay elsewhere, and they have been in force since 2015.
In practice, you have to do two things: report the account to the National Bank’s Central Point of Contact, and mention it every year in your personal income tax return. Failing to do so exposes you to penalties. The good news: the procedure is simple once you know it. Here is the step by step.
The tax authorities want to know where Belgian residents hold financial assets abroad. The legislator therefore designed a two-tier mechanism: a centralised register kept by the National Bank, and an annual mention in your tax return. The two are complementary. One does not replace the other.
This logic applies to any securities account, but also to cash accounts opened abroad. If you have transferred money to an app that holds your cash or your securities outside Belgium, you are very likely concerned. For a complete overview, see our reference guide on foreign accounts.
The first obligation is registration with the Central Point of Contact (CPC, in French PCC), a register kept by the National Bank of Belgium. The principle is simple: you report the existence of the account once per account. This is not a formality to repeat every year — once the account has been reported, it is done.
Registration is carried out online, by authenticating with your eID or via itsme, or by paper form if you prefer. You provide details of the foreign institution and the account concerned.
When should you do it? By the time you file the return that mentions the account, at the latest. In other words, registration with the CPC and the mention in your return go hand in hand: you cannot mention an account in your return without having reported it to the CPC.
You will find the procedure directly on the website of the National Bank of Belgium — Central Point of Contact (CPC).
The second obligation comes back every year. In your personal income tax return, you must mention the existence of your foreign accounts in section XIII (part A).
The information to provide is precise:
Unlike registration with the CPC, this mention is recurring: you must include it in your return every year you hold the account, for as long as it remains open. As long as the foreign app holds your securities or your cash, the box must be ticked and the information provided.
The practical details are explained by the tax authorities on the page FPS Finance — Foreign accounts.
These two obligations are not mere recommendations. They rest on Article 307, § 1/1 of the Income Tax Code 1992 (ITC 92), the terms of which are set by the Royal Decree of 23 June 2019. The CPC reporting obligation itself has existed since 2015.
Article 307, § 1/1 of the ITC 92 and the Royal Decree of 23 June 2019 frame the registration with the CPC; the mention in section XIII of the return is, for its part, annual.
The text of the decree can be consulted here: Royal Decree of 23 June 2019 (CPC terms).
Failure to comply with these obligations exposes the individual to a tax increase, modulated according to the situation — fraudulent intent not being presumable. It is this increase that applies to the investor.
A useful clarification to put certain alarmist readings into perspective: the heavy fines, from €50,000 to €1,000,000, do not target the retail investor. They concern the institutions subject to the reporting obligations. For you, the concrete risk is the tax increase — reason enough not to neglect these two steps.
The pitfall with foreign apps is how they multiply. An account here, another there, a platform tried then forgotten: by the end of the year, it becomes hard to know which ones must appear in your return. And it is precisely a forgotten account that creates the problem.
Benchmarkr provides a consolidated view of all your accounts and platforms in one place. The aim is simple: to help you identify which accounts to declare so you forget none, whether it is registration with the CPC or the annual mention in section XIII. You keep a clear reading of what must be reported, without having to reconstruct the list of your scattered accounts every year.
Benchmarkr is an assistance and calculation tool. It does not replace your return and does not substitute for the analysis of your situation: it gives you the visibility you need to approach these obligations with peace of mind.
Holding a securities account or a cash account on a foreign app involves two steps: register the account once with the National Bank’s Central Point of Contact, and mention it every year in section XIII of your personal income tax return. The legal basis — Article 307, § 1/1 of the ITC 92 and the Royal Decree of 23 June 2019 — leaves no room for improvisation, and forgetting exposes you to a tax increase. With a little method, these two steps become a simple annual routine.
To go further, see our complete guide on foreign accounts, or log in to Benchmarkr to bring your accounts together in one place.
“This article is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute tax advice.”
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