Belgian vehicle tax explained..

This post is related to  some of my earlier posts regarding your car purchase in Belgium.

Many of the expats come to a situation of buying a car in Belgium. Whether its new or used, some of you want to know the tax that you've to pay. The following details are for cars (personal use) bought in Flanders (the Dutch speaking region). There is slight difference in the tax amounts if you live in the French speaking region.
Apart from insurance (will explain in separate post) one need to pay two taxes when buying a car.
1. 'Belasting op inverkeerstelling' (BIV)
2.' Verkeersbelasting'

1. BIV is a one time tax when one first register the car and act as an introductory tax related to environmental norms.  This is calculated after considering various factors such as the engine size, engine power output, CO2 emission, ... These details can be found from the car's registration document as below,

[Source: Belastingportaal Vlanderen]

There is an approximate simulation tool available in the tax portal to calculate the BIV tax amount. The simulation can be completed by selecting the type of vehicle you want to check, type of driver and then adding some details of the car.
The picture below shows an example for calculating BIV of a personal use car first registered in 2009, having engine class (fiscale pk) 9 and engine output kW = 91. Click on the image for larger size.

The above tool is not considering the CO2 emission but the actual case includes that, and thus can have slight variations in the BIV amount.

2. 'Verkeersbelasting' is the actual yearly tax one need to pay for vehicles. In Belgium, this is calculated purely on the basis of engine capacity. The following table shows the different tax class/category (fiscale pk) and the corresponding 'verkeersbelasting' to be paid per year (as of December 2013).

 [Source: Belastingportaal Vlanderen]

Note: In Belgium, there is no BIV to paid for for light weight (lichte vracht) commercial vehicles (for example: 2 seated pick-up trucks). Such vehicles have only a flat rate of verkeersbelasing on the basis of their capacity.

Driving Licence in Belgium - Theory exam

This post continues the information on getting a driving licence in Belgium.

Theory examination for driving license is available only in a few centers across Belgium. That means, not all the centers listed in my previous post, conducts a theory exam with an English translator. For example, one can take the exam in English at Bree and Schaerbeek centers. The waiting period for an English exam may be up to a month, as they will wait for a minimum number of candidates to book for the exam. The questions on the computer screen will be in Dutch/French, but you are paying (50€) for an English translator who will translate the questions before your answering timer starts.
The theory examination contains 50 questions and for each questions (after translation), there is 15 sec to answer it. Personally I found the translator helpful because the time the translator does her/his duty, is a bonus for the candidate to look at the picture associated with the question.
One need to answer a minimum of 41 questions correct, in order to pass the exam. Annoying part is that, if you fail for any reason, you will have to wait again for the English test date.

Avoid paying euros to any driving school if you have some idea about traffic rules. You should pass the exam if you can go through the theory and practical question books, atleast one time.

Did I miss anything you wanted to know? 

What to avoid!!

In any 'tweedehands' (second hand) website that I mentioned in my first post, there can be enough frauds to fool the beginners.
Tips:
When you see a car for sale ad, with 'too good to be true', the best is to avoid such a deal.
For example, recently there were many posts showing VW Golf mk6 (2010 and later) for sale less than €5000!!!

An example quoted above is a real life sample. Such a car will cost atleast 8000€!!
These are mostly frauds looking for online scams. It's your duty to think twice or ask your colleagues or simply search in the website for similar models and get the market value.

cheers