Matrimonial Property Regimes and Investment Taxation in Belgium: 2026 Edition

Introduction

Are you married or in a legal cohabitation in Belgium and investing through a foreign broker like Interactive Brokers or DEGIRO? Then your family situation has significant implications for your tax obligations. In this article, we explain exactly how capital gains and dividend taxation works for couples, and what pitfalls to avoid.

Why Does Your Family Situation Matter?

Since January 1, 2026, Belgium has implemented a new 10% capital gains tax on financial assets. For singles, the rules are relatively straightforward: you have an annual exemption of €10,000 and you report your own income. But for married couples or legal cohabitants, it's more complicated.

Your family situation determines:

• The amount of your capital gains exemption (€10,000 per person)
• How dividends are divided between you and your partner
• Who must report which income in the tax return
• Whether you can optimize by strategically distributing investments

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The Three Forms of Cohabitation in Belgium

In Belgium, there are three ways of living together, each with different tax consequences:

1. Single (no formal relationship)

You are not married and do not have registered legal cohabitation. Each partner files an individual tax return and is fully responsible for their own investments.

Tax consequences:

• Capital gains exemption: €10,000 per person
• Dividend exemption: €833 per person
• No income sharing between partners

2. Legal Cohabitation

You have made a declaration of legal cohabitation at the municipality. For tax purposes, you are treated as equivalent to married couples, but you always have separation of property. This means everyone keeps their own assets.

Tax consequences:

• Capital gains exemption: €10,000 per person
• Dividend exemption: €833 per person
• No automatic income sharing
• Each reports their own investment income

Source: FPS Finance - Legal Cohabitation

3. Marriage

You are legally married. Here, your matrimonial property regime becomes important. In Belgium, there are several regimes, but the two most common are:

• Statutory regime (community of acquisitions) - the default regime
• Separation of property - via marriage contract at the notary

Source: Notaire.be - Matrimonial Regimes

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The Matrimonial Property Regimes Explained

Statutory Regime (Community of Acquisitions)

This is the default regime in Belgium. If you did not have a marriage contract drawn up at the notary, you have this regime. It is characterized by a three-estate system:

1. Personal estate spouse 1: Assets owned before marriage, inheritances, gifts
2. Personal estate spouse 2: Assets owned before marriage, inheritances, gifts
3. Communal estate: Everything acquired during the marriage with work income

Important for investors: A portfolio opened BEFORE your marriage remains a personal asset. But the dividends and interest from this portfolio fall into the communal estate!

Source: Belgium.be - Statutory Matrimonial Regime

The "Fruits" Rule (Article 1405 Civil Code)

This is the most surprising rule for many married investors. According to Article 1405 of the Belgian Civil Code, the "fruits" (income) from personal assets belong to the communal estate. Concretely:

• Your Apple shares that you bought before your marriage? They remain yours alone.
• The dividends from those Apple shares? They are split 50/50 with your partner!

This rule applies to:

• Dividends from individual stocks
• Distributions from funds and ETFs
• Interest income from bonds
• Rental income (outside the scope of this article)

Source: Belgian Civil Code - Article 1405

Separation of Property

With a marriage contract for separation of property, each spouse retains their own estate. There is no communal estate (unless specifically agreed). Everyone remains owner of their own investments and income.

Tax consequences:

• Capital gains exemption: €10,000 per person
• Dividends stay with the owner (no 50/50 split)
• Capital gains stay with the owner
• Complete financial separation

Source: Notaire.be - Separation of Property

Comparison Table

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How Are Dividends Taxed?

Dividends are subject to 30% withholding tax. The annual exemption is €833 per person.

Dividend Attribution by Regime

The golden rule: Under the statutory regime, dividends are ALWAYS split 50/50, regardless of who owns the shares. This applies even to pre-marriage portfolios. Source: FPS Finance

Dividend Exemption (€833 per person):

Source: Wikifin - Withholding Tax

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How Are Capital Gains Taxed?

Since 2026, a 10% tax applies to realized capital gains. The rules differ depending on your regime:

Capital Gains Attribution by Regime

Source: "The draft preparatory documents also confirm that marital property law must be considered when calculating capital gains tax. For example, if a couple is married under the statutory regime, capital gains realized on jointly owned financial assets must be declared by each spouse for half the gain." — KPMG

Speculative capital gains (33%): same attribution rules as above, but NO exemption. The €10,000 exemption applies ONLY to normal gains (10%).

The €10,000 Exemption Explained

Clarification: The "€20,000 for married couples" you often read is NOT a shared pool. It's €10,000 per person. For communal assets, the gain is first split 50/50, then each partner applies their own €10,000 exemption to their half. You cannot transfer unused exemption from one partner to the other.

Source: "The first €10,000 of gains per year per person are tax-free [...] (€20,000 for married couples under the community of property regime)." — BNP Paribas Fortis

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Watch Out: Mixed Portfolios

This is one of the most common situations and also the most complex.

Example: You open an IBKR account as a single person in 2023. You buy 50 ASML shares at €600. In 2025, you marry under the statutory regime. In 2026, you buy 15 more ASML shares at €700, paid with your salary.

Now you have 65 ASML shares in one account:

• 50 shares = personal property (purchased before marriage)
• 15 shares = communal property (purchased with employment income during marriage)

How are these taxed?

Dividends: All dividends from all 65 shares are split 50/50. The fruits rule makes no distinction — all income FROM the shares is communal.

Capital gains: These are assessed per lot. If you sell 60 shares, FIFO (First In, First Out) determines which shares you sell first:

• The first 50 (pre-marriage) → 100% attributed to you (personal property)
• The remaining 10 (purchased during marriage) → 50/50 (communal property)

Worked example

Tip: Always keep your broker transaction history. This is your proof of which shares were purchased before and which during marriage. Our Belgian Tax Calculator detects this automatically based on your import data and marriage date.

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Other Edge Cases to Know

Reinvested Dividends (DRIP)

If your broker automatically reinvests dividends, the new shares purchased this way are communal property. Why? Because under the statutory regime, dividends are fruits → they become communal. Shares bought with communal money are also communal.

This means that even in a 100% pre-marriage portfolio, DRIP slowly creates communal shares within it.

Selling and Reinvesting (Remployment)

If you sell your pre-marriage shares and reinvest the proceeds, you need to be able to prove "remployment of personal property" (Art. 2.3.20 Civil Code). Without clear documentation, the new shares could be considered communal, as the sale proceeds may have mixed with your salary in the same account.

Tip: Maintain a clear paper trail: sale proceeds → direct repurchase, without paying communal expenses from the same account in between.

Speculative Capital Gains

Speculative gains (transactions within 90 days or positions above €4,000) are taxed at 33% instead of 10%. The attribution rules (who declares what) are identical to normal gains, but there is no €10,000 exemption. Every euro of speculative gain is taxable.

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Year of Marriage: Special Rules

A common question: how does it work in the year you get married?

Important rule: In the year of your marriage, you are still taxed as a single person. Joint taxation starts from the following year.

Example: You get married on June 15, 2026

• Tax year 2026: You are still taxed as single
• Tax year 2027: First joint taxation

This also means that the 50/50 sharing of dividends (fruits rule) starts from the year after your marriage.

Source: FPS Finance - Joint Taxation

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Practical Examples

Example 1: Married Couple Under Statutory Regime

Situation:

• Marie and John have been married since 2020 under the statutory regime
• Marie owns an IBKR portfolio opened before the marriage (personal asset)
• John owns a DEGIRO portfolio opened after the marriage (communal asset)
• Marie's portfolio: Capital gain of €15,000, dividends of €2,000
• John's portfolio: Capital gain of €8,000, dividends of €1,000

Capital gains calculation:

• Marie's capital gain (personal): €15,000 → 100% to Marie
• John's capital gain (communal): €8,000 → €4,000 each
• Total Marie: 15,000 + 4,000 = €19,000 (exemption €10,000) → €9,000 taxable
• Total John: €4,000 (exemption €10,000) → €0 taxable

Dividends calculation:

• All dividends are split 50/50 (fruits rule)
• Total dividends: 2,000 + 1,000 = €3,000
• Per person: €1,500 (exemption €833) → €667 taxable each

Example 2: Married Couple with Separation of Property

Situation:

• Sophie and Marc are married with separation of property
• Sophie owns a Bolero portfolio
• Marc owns a Trade Republic portfolio
• Sophie's portfolio: Capital gain of €12,000, dividends of €1,500
• Marc's portfolio: Capital gain of €6,000, dividends of €500

Capital gains calculation:

• Sophie: €12,000 (exemption €10,000) → €2,000 taxable
• Marc: €6,000 (exemption €10,000) → €0 taxable

Dividends calculation (no sharing!):

• Sophie: €1,500 (exemption €833) → €667 taxable
• Marc: €500 (exemption €833) → €0 taxable

Example 3: Legal Cohabitants

Situation:

• Lisa and Tom are legal cohabitants (always separation of property)
• Each has their own portfolio
• Lisa: Capital gain of €8,000, dividends of €1,000
• Tom: Capital gain of €14,000, dividends of €600

Calculation: Same as separation of property - no sharing.

• Lisa: €0 capital gains tax, €167 dividends taxable
• Tom: €4,000 capital gains taxable, €0 dividends taxable

Example 4: Mixed Portfolio (Statutory Regime)

Situation:

• Nadia opened an IBKR account in 2023 as a single person
• She bought 100 ASML shares at €550 (personal property)
• She married in 2025 (statutory regime)
• Via DRIP, 5 shares were added during the marriage (communal)

In 2026 she sells 102 shares at €750:

Tax calculation:

• Nadia: €20,100 - €10,000 exemption = €10,100 taxable → €1,010 tax
• Partner: €100 - €10,000 exemption = €0 taxable → €0 tax

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Which Regime Suits Me Best?

Choosing a regime is not just a tax decision. Many factors play a role. But from a purely tax perspective on investments:

The statutory regime is advantageous if:

• One partner invests significantly more than the other
• You want to optimize by using the other partner's exemption
• You have a communal estate with large potential capital gains

Separation of property is advantageous if:

• Both partners invest actively in similar amounts
• You want to keep your finances strictly separate
• You want to avoid the fruits rule (dividends)

Warning: Changing regimes is expensive and requires a notarial deed. Do not make this decision solely for tax reasons.

Source: Notaire.be - Changing Your Regime

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What Does Belgian Tax Calculator Do for Couples?

Our tool helps married couples and legal cohabitants:

1. Correctly configure your family situation - Enter your status, marriage date, and regime
2. Assign your portfolios - Define whether a portfolio is personal, your partner's, or joint
3. Automatic split calculation - The fruits rule is automatically applied for the statutory regime
4. Mixed portfolio detection - Per-lot FIFO attribution for pre- and during-marriage shares
5. Separate reports - Each partner gets their own tax overview
6. Exemption optimization - See how to optimize your exemptions

Get started with Belgian Tax Calculator →

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Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to report my partner's portfolio?

No, each partner reports their own income. But under the statutory regime, you must report 50% of the total household dividends.

Does my foreign broker know I'm married?

No, foreign brokers like IBKR and DEGIRO do not take your marital status into account. You are responsible for reporting correctly yourself.

What happens if we divorce?

Personal assets remain with their owner. Communal assets are divided according to divorce agreements. Tax history remains intact.

What about accumulating ETFs?

Accumulating ETFs do not distribute dividends, so the fruits rule does not apply to "dividends." However, upon sale, the capital gains rules of your regime apply.

What about TOB (stock exchange tax)?

TOB is owed by the actual buyer/seller, so the person who executes the transaction. This is not shared between partners.

What if I have DRIP (automatic reinvestment)?

Under the statutory regime, shares purchased via DRIP become communal property, even if your original portfolio is personal. The tool automatically accounts for this in the FIFO calculation.

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax advice. Consult a tax advisor for your personal situation.

Useful links:

• FPS Finance - Withholding Tax
• Wikifin - Investing
• Notaire.be - Matrimonial Regimes
• Civil Code - Statutory Regime
• KPMG - Draft Law Capital Gains Tax
• BNP Paribas Fortis - Capital Gains Tax