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Brussels office property under increasing tax pressure
Brussels, June 27, 2025
A new study by Ayming Belgium, quoted by Trends, highlights the exceptional tax burden on office real estate in the Brussels-Capital Region. This tax burden is driving a growing number of companies out of the capital.
A pile of taxes that adds to the bill
The only real estate tax common to all three Belgian regions is the property withholding tax, based on cadastral income. This notional rental income, fixed in 1975 and still expressed in Belgian francs before conversion into euros, remains the cornerstone of a system considered obsolete.
But in Brussels, this withholding tax is accompanied by an accumulation of regional and communal taxes, including the tax on non-residential surfaces, representing on average an additional 25%. As a result, in 17 of Brussels’ 19 communes, the tax burden exceeds 60% of indexed cadastral income, and even exceeds 70% in nine of them. Schaerbeek holds the record with 82.45%.
Large companies vs. SMEs: two realities
Only large companies – notably BNP Paribas Fortis, Belfius and ING – still seem to justify the additional costs of locating in Brussels. The majority of SMEs and consultancies (including the Big Four, all based on the outskirts) prefer to bypass the capital.
“The multiplication of taxes is also an administrative hell for entrepreneurs,” insists Alexandra Dryjski, Director of Finance & Grants Performance at Ayming BeNeLux.
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Read other articles on the subject:
Read Belga.press Read La DH Read Batibouw
