r/BEFire • u/NightSudden2077 • 3d ago

Investing ETF

Good evening, I was wondering if someone could help me understand what I need to do to be fully tax-compliant in Belgium.

I am a 19-year-old student and I would like to invest €50 per month in the 'Core MSCI World USD (acc)' ETF using Trade Republic.

I want to let this money grow over the long term without touching it for at least 10 years. Ideally, I won't be living in Belgium anymore by then.

My questions are as follows:

  1. Should I stick to €50 for this ETF, or could I afford to put in more, say €100 in total? (Of course, my current priority is building an emergency fund of around €3,500, but once that is done, is it a good idea to add more?)

  2. I'm hesitating between investing 100% in the MSCI World or putting 80% into the MSCI World and the remaining 20% into another ETF like the Nasdaq. Should I do this, or should I stick exclusively to the MSCI World?

  3. I use Trade Republic—is it a good platform?

  4. I know I have to report my account to the Central Contact Point (CCP) of the National Bank of Belgium and mention holding this foreign account on my annual tax** **return. Is there anything else I need to do?

Thanks

7 Upvotes

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5

u/skievelavabo 2d ago

Especially with small sums like these, keep it simple. Use a broker that does the Belgian fiscal administration for you.

2

u/Neat_Analysis7374 3d ago

You are doing amazing if you are already thinking about investing while studying!

1 any amount to start with is good. The more you put in now, the more it can compound 

2 I would stick with 1 ETF for now. MSCI and Nasdaq already have a lot of overlap. You would be paying transaction fees twice for little benefit

3 I would highly recommend you to go to a Belgium broker like SaxoInvest

4 If you do not use a Belgium broker you must:

- declare your foreign bank account 

- pay the TOB yourself on your tax form (tax on buying and selling)

- calculate and pay meerwaarde belasting on your tax form (capital gains tax)

A Belgium broker does all of these things for you!

Bonus tip: look into automating the transfer and buy of the ETF so you can let it run on autopilot while you continue to study and work

2

u/Shoddy-Sea7995 2d ago

Paying the TOB tax yourself is technically very easy, I do it myself. But yes, this is a nuisance.

1

u/ActuatorOk2735 3d ago

Personally use Curvo, would recommend it to everyone. Even more when starting out. Their website is great

1

u/yxgxz_ 2d ago

genuinely curious but where do you plan on living if not belgium? And why do you think about leaving belgium? I'm in the same situation and think that the taxes here are absurd, so leaving is smart but i dont know where to go.

3

u/Gaufriers 2d ago

Thinking "taxes here are absurd, I need to leave" without first considering the alternatives is putting the cart before the horse. There’s no reasoning behind it, just a stereotype being repeated.

1

u/Nass96 3d ago

You are doing great, but I would recommend you to stick with 1 etf msci world with isin IE00B3YLTY66 and to stick with a belgian broker. Im on MeDirect, 0 euro fees on etf and they take care of your taxes

0

u/t0mares 2d ago

I’m using Trade Republic to invest monthly in 3 ETFs, I hope this helps :

  1. I chose TR because they allow fractional shares and their saving plans are free. You basically set it up once and forget it.

However there a few drawbacks :

  • They are known to have a wider spread than other brokers.

- They do not handle the tax payment in Belgium.

- Their customer support has a terrible reputation (I’ve never had to call on them yet so I have no opinion on this).
For what it’s worth, TR acknowledged this and said that they were going to work on it.

  1. TR does not handle tax payment but they do provide a monthly report with all the informations needed for the declaration.
    If you stick to accumulating ETFs you’ll only have to pay the TOB.
    The TOB is due the last business day of the second month following the month of the transaction.
    You can basically pay it once every two months and once you know how it works, it literally takes 5 minutes.