Technical article

Wills and Inheritance Tax in the Netherlands and Belgium: Who Pays What

If one of us dies there, what does the tax office take?

By Neil Solomon · 5 min read

Picture a couple named Frank and Linda. Both are 66. They plan to spend their retirement in the Netherlands and perhaps a few years in Belgium. Their home and savings would go to each other first, then to two adult children and a close friend. They ask one question. If one of us dies there, what does the tax office take?

The Netherlands: the rate depends on the heir

The Belastingdienst lists the 2026 rates. An exemption is subtracted from what you receive first. Then the rate applies.

The same office lists the 2026 exemptions.

Here is a worked example, labeled my arithmetic. A friend inherits EUR 100,000. After the EUR 2,769 exemption, EUR 97,231 is taxed at 30%, which is about EUR 29,169. A partner who inherits the same EUR 100,000 owes nothing, because it is below EUR 828,035.

The tax office also has a page on people who lived abroad. It says Dutch inheritance tax does not apply if the person who died "was Dutch but died more than 10 years after leaving the Netherlands." The page I read does not spell out what happens inside those 10 years. For someone who is not Dutch, no rule on an official page I could read was found.

Belgium: three regions, three rate sets

Belgium sets inheritance tax by region. The federal finance site (FPS Finance) says: "Exactly how much you have to pay depends on the region where the deceased lived." It gives these ranges.

The page says rates rise as you inherit more and depend on how close you were to the person who died. It shows no date and no bracket thresholds or exemption amounts.

Flanders publishes its own rates in the Flemish tax code. The text I read is the decree that put the current tables into the code, in force from 1 September 2018. It sets two tables, and each rate applies to the slice of the estate in that band (the second column of the source shows the tax on the slices before it).

A search extract of the Flemish tax portal repeats the 3%, 9% and 27% bands for the direct line and partners. The Flemish portal page itself mentions a change from 1 January 2026 in the conditions for a reduced rate on family businesses. My arithmetic: a child who inherits EUR 100,000 in Flanders owes 1,500 plus 9% of the 50,000 above the first band, which is EUR 6,000 in all, before any exemption or reduction that applies. The federal page does not say which region applies when the person who died lived abroad.

What this article leaves for another day

• Brackets and exemptions in Wallonia and Brussels. The federal page gives ranges only, so the table above shows ranges for those two.
• The Belgian family home rule and any Flemish exemption. They depend on the heir and on the estate.
• Which Belgian region taxes an estate when the person who died lived abroad. A lawyer in Belgium answers that for your case.
• How a will must be made in either country, and how a person who is not Dutch is treated in the Netherlands. These are matters for a lawyer on the spot.