An employer/company can pay daily lump-sum allowances for foreign business travel to employees or company directors in order to reimburse certain expenses. If the lump-sum reimbursements for short-term business trips abroad (not exceeding 30 calendar days) are determined on the basis of the list of allowances paid by the Federal Public Department of Foreign Affairs to its posted agents, the Belgian tax authorities accept the classification as a non-taxable reimbursement of costs.
The lump-sum reimbursements for long-term business trips abroad (exceeding 30 calendar days) should also be calculated in accordance with the list of allowances paid by the Federal Public Department of Foreign Affairs to its posted agents, but must be limited to 60% of the amounts applicable for civil servants on an assignment abroad. Daily lump-sum allowances paid to reimburse these expenses can be exempt from tax for business trips of up to 24 months.
The new list of daily lump-sum allowances applicable as from 1 October 2017 has been published in the Official Gazette of 3 October 2017 (click here to open the list).
