Puffer

I referred above to my wife's receipt of a Belgian state pension relating to her historic employment by a manufacturer in Belgium. There was a delay in receiving this initially, with the pension for 2023 received as a lump sum only in February 2024, and subsequent entitlement received monthly. She has just received letters summarising (correctly) the arrears and the current pension payments made in 2024 and seemingly requiring her to submit a Belgian tax return (online or on paper). This is not unexpected, although it will doubtless prove somewhat difficult as the return is not available in English and we wish to clarify matters before attempting completion. I cannot find any clear indication of the extent of information required by the return, or what tax (if any) will be payable, and when. The Belgian pension is much less than 75% of my wife's total taxable income (which is primarily her UK state pension). Will the 2023 arrears be treated as 2024 income? Are there any personal reliefs or exemptions given against the Belgian income that will reduce or eliminate any tax charge? Is my income, as husband, also declarable and relevant in any way? The position is clouded because my wife has a friend who has similarly received a Belgian pension for some years (starting after 2013) has never made a return nor paid Belgian tax and says to ignore the return, which sounds dangerous!

Gary C: Thank you. If you look back at my earlier post, you will see that I had quoted the same note. My point was that the first paragraph of the same section of notes appears to require declaration of the pension as income regardless of it not being taxable in the UK. As to paying tax in euros, I realise that this is not difficult, by any of several routes. My point was that it is a nuisance (and involves loss) if one receives a pension here converted into sterling and subsequently has to buy back euros to pay tax.

All noted; thanks. My wife's monthly pension arrived today - and was more than twice the usual amount! We wonder if there has been a (significant) increase in the rate of payment, or maybe a backdated supplement? Is there info on this?

Thank you, Eileen; that is helpful. I would hope that the Begian return could be done online. If Belgian tax is then payable, I suppose it will be necessary to buy euros for a bank transfer to Belgium - something of a nuisance when the pension itself has previously been credited here in sterling. It would make sense if the Belgian pension needs no declaration whatsoever in a UK tax return, but the return itself suggests otherwise. The 'Foreign Notes' state: 'Fill in columns A to F if you received a pension or social security benefits from overseas during the 2023 to 2024 tax year.' (which implies declaration regardless of the pension's tax status) and go on to say ' If you have a pension that’s not taxable in the UK because of a DTA, give full details of the pension’s payer, pension and relevant DTA in the ‘Any other information’ box on your tax return.'. Maybe we should just give the latter information, assuming that HMRC will raise a query if this is not sufficient.

My wife's situation appears to be similar but I am thoroughly confused by the information given here. She is UK resident and starting receiving a Belgian State Pension (relating to past non-government employment in Belgium) in April 2023. So far, this has been paid gross but we understand is taxable only in Belgium, although no Belgian return has yet been requested, issued or made. Her UK tax return 2023-24 appears to require this pension to be entered, despite not being taxable in the UK. If this is done, a dummy run appears to result in a charge to UK income tax. If she declares the amount and notes the circumstances and refers to the double taxation agreement, will that result in the tax being cancelled? She cannot claim FTCR as no tax has yet been deducted, nor is the amount (if any) known for certain. Will someone please state clearly whether or not this pension does need to be declared in her UK return and, if so, what entries are needed to ensure that it is not taxed in the UK.