Flanders Inheritance Tax: Erfbelasting Rates, Abatements and the Family Home

Belgium's regions, not the federal state, set inheritance tax, and the three regional regimes differ enough that a single Belgian rate table would misstate at least two of the three. This page covers only the Flemish Region: the levy called erfbelasting in Dutch and droits de succession in French, run under the Vlaamse Codex Fiscaliteit (VCF) by the Vlaamse Belastingdienst, known by its short name VLABEL. If the estate involved was not taxed in Flanders, its rates, abatements and family-home treatment are different; see the separate pages for Wallonia and Brussels.

Which region actually taxes a given estate is not decided by where the heirs live or where any property sits. It is decided by the deceased's own fiscal domicile in the years before death, and that single rule surprises more families than the rate tables themselves.

Information last verified on 21 July 2026. This page provides general legal information and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

Which estate Flanders actually taxes

Belgian inheritance tax is assigned to a region under the special law of 16 January 1989 on the financing of the Communities and Regions. For inheritance tax, article 5 of that law points to the deceased's fiscal domicile: real, habitual residence, together with the family and the centre of economic activity, not merely a registered address. Where domicile moved between regions during the 5 years before death, the applicable region is whichever one held that domicile the longest during that specific 5-year window, not wherever the deceased lived for most of their life.

That rule catches families off guard more often than any rate table does. Consider someone who lived in Flanders for thirty years and then moved to Brussels for the final four years before death, perhaps to be near a hospital or an adult child. Because the test looks only at the 5 years immediately before death, and Brussels held the deceased's fiscal domicile for four of those five years against Flanders' one, Brussels is the region that taxes the estate, not Flanders, even though the deceased spent almost their entire life in Flanders and the heirs may have assumed Flemish rates would apply. Where the estate includes property, the location of that property plays no part in this decision either; only the deceased's own fiscal domicile does.

The direct-line scale: partner and children

In Flanders, a surviving spouse, legal cohabitant, qualifying de facto partner and children (and other descendants inheriting in their place) all fall into the direct-line scale under VCF article 2.7.4.1.1, Table I. The scale applies separately to each heir's own net share, not to the estate as a whole, so a larger family does not push any single heir into a higher band just because the estate overall is large.

A commonly repeated figure describing a "150,000 euro first bracket" for Flemish direct-line inheritance is wrong; that number belongs to the separate table for immovable gifts, not to inheritance. The scale above, with band edges at 50,000 and 250,000 euro taxed at 3, 9 and 27 percent, is the one that applies when someone dies owning property or other assets taxed in Flanders.

Siblings and others: two different mechanics under one label

Flanders taxes brothers and sisters, and everyone further removed, under VCF article 2.7.4.1.1, Table II, but the two categories work differently in a way that trips up more than a few readers of aggregator sites.

Siblings are taxed per heir in Flanders, exactly like the direct-line scale: each brother or sister's own net share is measured against the table separately. The "others" category, everyone outside the family circle and any partner who does not qualify for the direct-line scale, works differently in Flanders: the whole class's combined total is taxed once, and that combined tax is then apportioned between its members. If two unrelated friends together inherit 100,000 euro from a Flemish estate, Flanders does not test each friend's own 50,000 euro share against the table on its own; it tests the combined 100,000 euro. On that combined total, the tax comes to 8,750 euro on the first 35,000 euro, 18,000 euro on the next 40,000 euro and 13,750 euro on the remaining 25,000 euro, for 40,500 euro in total, noticeably more than the 31,000 euro the same two 50,000 euro shares would generate in Flanders if each were instead tested on its own against the same rates. This combined-class mechanic is specific to Flanders; Wallonia and Brussels tax every category, siblings and non-relatives alike, per heir throughout, with no equivalent combined step.

The tool below applies the Flemish scales above to a net share you enter and returns an indicative figure only, not a filed return.

Abatements: why Flanders looks different on paper

Wallonia and Brussels each let a direct-line heir subtract a flat amount from their share before the progressive scale applies. Flanders does not offer an equivalent flat, universal abatement. Flemish law instead uses a narrower, formula-based reduction that phases out as the value involved grows, and its exact thresholds are not settled clearly enough in Flanders' own public guidance for this page to restate them reliably. A reader relying on a small Flemish estate qualifying for a specific reduction figure should confirm the current amount directly with VLABEL or a notary rather than from a generic table.

The family home: a partner's exemption, not a child's

A surviving spouse inherits the family home in Flanders entirely free of inheritance tax, and a legal cohabitant receives the identical exemption with no minimum duration of the relationship required. A de facto cohabitant, someone who registered no formal declaration, only receives the same exemption in Flanders once the couple shared a household and that same home as their main residence continuously for at least 3 years before the death. The exemption is not available between direct-line blood relatives who happen to share a home, such as a parent and adult child living together. It also only covers the exempted partner's own share of the home; children who inherit alongside that partner still pay the ordinary Flemish direct-line scale on their own share of the same property.

Two changes for deaths from 1 January 2026

A Programmadecreet passed at the end of 2025 changed two things in Flemish inheritance tax for deaths from 1 January 2026.

First, the partner exemption on movable assets, meaning bank accounts, investments and similar assets inherited by a spouse, legal cohabitant or qualifying de facto partner, rises from 50,000 to 75,000 euro under VCF article 2.7.6.0.6, paragraph 2. This is a partner-only exemption in Flanders: it does not extend to children, and it does not apply to immovable property beyond the family-home rules described above.

Second, Flanders introduced the singlevermindering under VCF article 2.7.4.2.5, a new reduction letting a testator who has no partner and no descendants in the direct line direct up to 100,000 euro to one or more named "others" beneficiaries at 3 percent on the first 50,000 euro and 9 percent on the next 50,000 euro, instead of the ordinary Table II rates described above. The reduction is not automatic in Flanders; it must be claimed explicitly in a will. The older vriendenerfenis mechanism, which let a similar group of beneficiaries receive up to 15,000 euro at a reduced rate, now only continues to apply in Flanders to wills dated before 1 January 2026, and it cannot be combined with the new singlevermindering in the same estate.

Filing and paying: the deadline is federal, the tax is Flemish

The deadline to file the aangifte (estate return) is the same federal rule that applies in every Belgian region: 4 months after a death in Belgium, 5 months after a death elsewhere in the European Economic Area and 6 months after a death outside Europe, with the deadline rolling to the next business day if it lands on a weekend or public holiday. Filing late in Flanders costs 25 euro per month per heir. Payment itself is due 2 months after that filing deadline expires, not 2 months from the date the return was actually filed and not from any assessment notice VLABEL later sends. Hardship extensions of up to 5 years exist in Flanders where an heir genuinely cannot pay on time.

A worked example: what Flemish inheritance tax actually costs

Take a Flemish estate worth 300,000 euro net, left equally to two children with no surviving spouse or partner. Each child's own share is 150,000 euro, tested separately under the direct-line scale above: 3 percent on the first 50,000 euro is 1,500 euro, and 9 percent on the remaining 100,000 euro up to that child's 150,000 euro share is 9,000 euro, for 10,500 euro owed by each child. Combined, the two children owe 21,000 euro in Flemish inheritance tax on the 300,000 euro estate, an effective rate of 7 percent overall, even though the scale's top marginal rate reaches 27 percent.

Wallonia and Brussels tax the same kind of estate differently

None of the figures on this page apply outside Flanders. An estate taxed in Wallonia follows a nine-band direct-line scale and different family-home and abatement rules; see Wallonia's inheritance tax page. An estate taxed in the Brussels-Capital Region follows its own six-band direct-line scale and three separate collateral scales; see Brussels' inheritance tax page. For who inherits under Belgian civil law before any tax is calculated, see who inherits in Belgium; for how a gift made years before death can still affect an estate, see lifetime gifts in Belgium.

This page describes Flemish inheritance tax law in general terms and does not constitute legal or tax advice for an individual estate. Rates, exemptions and deadlines described here can change, and an estate's own facts, prior gifts, marriage contracts and family-business holdings among them, can shift the result. Confirm current figures with VLABEL or a notary before filing an aangifte or making a decision based on this page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which region's inheritance tax applies if someone lived in more than one region before death?

The region that held the deceased's fiscal domicile for the longest period during the 5 years immediately before death, not the region where the deceased spent most of their life or where the heirs themselves live.

Are Flanders' inheritance tax rates the same for every heir in an estate?

No. Flanders applies its direct-line scale and its siblings scale separately to each heir's own net share, but it applies the 'others' scale to the combined total received by that whole class rather than to each person's individual amount.

Is there really no flat abatement in Flanders like there is in Wallonia and Brussels?

Flanders does not offer an equivalent flat, universal abatement. It uses a narrower, formula-based reduction instead, and its exact thresholds are not reproduced on this page because Flanders' own guidance on the mechanism is not settled clearly enough to restate reliably.

Does the higher 75,000 euro partner exemption apply to children too?

No. The exemption on movable assets that rose from 50,000 to 75,000 euro for deaths from 1 January 2026 belongs only to a surviving spouse, legal cohabitant or qualifying de facto partner. Children and other heirs are taxed on movable assets under the ordinary scale.

Does a partner who lived with the deceased but never registered anything inherit the family home free of tax?

Only after living together continuously in that home as a de facto cohabitant for at least 3 years before the death. A registered legal cohabitant or a spouse receives the exemption without that waiting period.

When is Flemish inheritance tax actually due?

The estate return is due 4 months after a death in Belgium, 5 months for a death elsewhere in the EEA or 6 months outside Europe, and payment is due 2 months after that filing deadline expires, regardless of when the return was actually filed.

Can a childless person leave money to a friend at a lower Flemish rate?

For deaths from 1 January 2026, a testator with no partner and no direct-line descendants can direct up to 100,000 euro to named 'others' beneficiaries at 3 and 9 percent through the singlevermindering, provided the will claims it explicitly. The older vriendenerfenis still applies only to wills dated before that date and cannot be combined with the new reduction.