Lesson #12: How To Pay A Tax You Are Not Supposed To Pay Because Of A Mistake You Haven't Committed

Preliminary: commit the crime not to work for the Almighty Welfare State and run your own business.

  1. Stop your business dating december 31st of year Y
  2. Get the first notice for a tax (that you're not supposed to pay in the first place) relevant to the Y+1 period at your previous address and do not get notified
  3. Get the a second notice for that very tax (that you're still not supposed to pay in the first place) and still relevant to the Y+1 period, this time including a penalty fee for the delay
  4. Email your local tax administration that you are not supposed to be burdened by this tax anymore
  5. Wait 1 to 4 weeks
  6. Get answered by snail mail, important points are:
    • according to the database of the responsible administration, you were still registered as a business january 1st of year Y+1.
    • if a mistake has been made in the update of their data, you must notify the aforementioned administration to fix it, but you're still due to pay the tax
    • don't even think about it: it's too late to provide the document which proves that you are not supposed to pay the tax.
  7. Pay *

Belgium: It's as simple as that!

* Because going on a Oklahoma City scale rampage just doesn't feel right... ;)