“This means that the payment of the withholding tax, which is a prepayment of the tax, has been postponed,” explains Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem. “Now that the tax is calculated, we look at how much tax you have to pay exactly, and that is compared to what people have already paid in advance. That difference must then be made up or will be refunded.”
According to Van Peteghem, employees with low wages will usually get money back. “It is mainly people with higher wages who have been unemployed for a short period who will probably have to pay extra.”
To avoid surprises for the temporarily unemployed, you can calculate yourself from today whether or not you have to pay extra. “You will be able to perform a personalized simulation via the digital calculation tool Tax-Calc on the website of the FPS Finance,” says Minister Van Peteghem. “There you will be able to check how much you have to pay extra or will be refunded.”