Tax on Divorce Settlement

I divorced last year and in the divorce settlement I will receive certain amount of cash from my ex-husband, which he will pay me for over the period of 5 years.

In Switzerland, there is no tax implication on this type of settlement.

However, I planned to move to Belgium this year.

Does anyone know whether I will be tax in Belgium for this type of settlement?

In Switzerland, income you receive from alimony or child support payments is taxable, so there is a tax implication.

The one receiving the money has to declare it as income, and the one paying the money (the father or ex-husband, for example) can deduct these payments from their taxable income.

I'm not very familiar with Belgian laws, but apparently 80% of income you receive from alimony payments does count as taxable income there. There is a tax exemption of several thousand francs for a certain amount of the alimony or child support income, so only income above the threshold counts towards taxable income.

Hello Harold,

Thank you for you information.

This is not alimony or child support.  It is "Liquidation du régime martimonail" in French.

Tax advisor in Switzerland confirmed that this amount is not taxable in Switzerland.

It is a kind of sharing of assets accumulated during the marriage.

I am not sure that this will be the same in Belgium.

Do I understand correctly that the money in question is your portion of personal wealth accumulated during the marriage? Belgium does not have a wealth tax (Switzerland does), so there should be no Belgian tax on your existing wealth.

The fact that you will receive the money as a series of payments over five years could complicate things, but your divorce agreement detailing the division of your wealth should provide sufficient proof that the money is wealth and not income.