FURTHER EXPLANATION · 2 MIN READ
When can the 2% rate apply?
The Flemish 2% sales duty applies only if every legal condition is met. You buy a home outright as an individual in order to live there yourself. On the date of the authentic purchase deed, you may not fully own another home or building plot outright, including abroad. You must also register at the new address within three years and remain registered there continuously for at least one year.
A gift of your existing home can mean that this home is no longer fully owned by you on the date of the purchase deed. That satisfies only the ownership condition. It does not mean that the rate applies automatically or that the tax authority accepts the chosen sequence without further assessment.
What did VLABEL decide on 9 November?
In advance decision VB 26082, spouses wanted to gift their family home outright to their son. On the same day, they would buy a smaller apartment and claim the 2% rate. The Flemish Tax Administration found that the gift removed the existing home ownership and made a substantial tax advantage possible. Because of the close timing, the gift and purchase formed one connected transaction that initially fell within the anti-abuse rule.
The spouses nevertheless gave specific family reasons for the gift: living in a smaller home, being closer to their son and granddaughter, involving their son in managing the assets and being able to include a reversion clause in the gift deed. For that specific case, VLABEL accepted those reasons as counter-evidence. The decision concerns registration tax only. It does not confirm the civil-law validity of the deeds and decides nothing about other taxes.
One general possibility
For example, parents may have long intended for family reasons to gift their old home to an adult child and move to a smaller apartment themselves. Those reasons can be relevant when the gift and purchase occur close together. This is a possibility, not an automatic right to the 2% rate and not a guarantee that the same reasons will be enough in another case.
The tax authority examines the real facts. A reason that only appears on paper afterwards or does not fit the other documents is less convincing. Ownership through a partner, property abroad, the nature of the new purchase and registration at the new address can also change the outcome.
What should you prepare before both deeds?
Bring the title to the current home, the signed sale agreement for the new home, both draft deeds and an overview of other property. Record why you are making the gift now, why you are moving, what arrangement you want for the gifted property and how the new home will become your principal residence.
Notariaat Wellens can review the sequence, conditions and evidence together before signing. This shows which conditions are fixed, which assessment remains case-specific and whether a different schedule is legally or fiscally safer.