There seems to be a new aviation tax in belgium : “embarkation tax” since April 1st. I heard yesterday that apparently GA is not exempt, so anyone taking off with passengers in Belgium has to register and pay a fee (10 euro per passenger in case flight is <500 km).
https://finance.belgium.be/en/enterprises/other-taxes/tax-embarkation-aircraft
It seems there are very few exemptions. Local flights seem to be exempt – eg. land at the airport of departur – but if you’re in for a burger run with your other half, you’ll have to pay the fees twice.
At the moment I know very little about it though. Anybody else heard about it ?
Unbelievable, but they mention the word „airliner“ to register.
It’s all true.
It only applies to GA flights with (paying) passengers?
When I am flying with friends & family, they are crew (as long as they can help with flight safety watching for wing/hangar? or check that fuel caps are locked or PT cover is removed?)
So far no one has ever challenged that claim, even airports who charge “pax fee” had to swallow, we had to show crew badges twice
@ibra
for a lousy paid staff at an airport, it’s probably not worth the trouble going into a discussion. Having a conflict with local tax authorities may be a different matter from what I hear. Airports also have to hand in listings, these also contain # pax. In my experience, belgian tax authorities will use these listings and cross check with tax declarations.
That being said, maybe it’s worth a shot.
If I understand correctly, it also applies to foreigners. And not only you have to register in advance, you need a fiscal representative in Belgium that is approved by the ministry of finance (I assume they will carry the fiscal liability). I smell a business opportunity 😮
If I understand correctly, it also applies to foreigners. And not only you have to register in advance, you need a fiscal representative in Belgium that is approved by the ministry of finance (I assume they will carry the fiscal liability). I smell a business opportunity
Sounds like an organisational nightmare !
Just like how foreigners struggle to pay for UK Duty on JetA? unless they have done Self-Assement or have buiness account with HMRC there is no simple way to declare and pay…the alternative is to print forms for pilot and fuel provider, then send those papers with £-cheques to some office in Cumberland, the majority of the cheques will remain uncahsed though
Just make sure that your alternate is more than 500km away and accidentally confuse destination and alternate in your flight plan… ;-)
Interesting, the websites can be set to all official languages plus english (with.. interesting translations mixing airline/freightline plane/zeppelin etc, but the main form pops up in french or dutch only….
Greece has had such a tax for many years but it was applied only to N-regs; possibly also to non-SX regs
I was around €10 per passenger.
How did they get rid of it ?
AFAIK it still applies, at some airports.