What is a cadastral income?

What is a cadastral income?

The 'cadastre' is actually a government service that makes an overview of all the houses in Belgium. This service therefore knows who owns a property. The government charges a tax for your property. This is called the property tax. How much this tax entails depends on your cadastral income.

Cadastral income is calculated as follows. The land register estimates how much your property would yield in 1 year if you were to rent it out. The starting point is the rent in 1975. From that, costs for repairs and maintenance are deducted. That sum is equal to the net cadastral income of your home. This amount is indexed annually.

Conclusion: the lower your cadastral income, the less taxes you pay.

How can I find out how much my cadastral income is?

When you build a house, someone from the land register will visit you. This person then determines how much the cadastral income is and this is then included in the cadastral plan. If you ever rebuild your house, the land register will have to revise this.

If you buy an existing house, then you must also be informed of the cadastral plan and income. This is because you pay 6% registration fees depending on your cadastral income.

Where can I view the cadastral plan?

You can view the cadastral plan for free via the online tool CADGIS of the FPS Finance.

There you can find all owners within a radius of 50 km around your home. You will see an overview of the surface areas of the plots and the cadastral incomes. However, some of this information is private.

When should I contact the land register?

If you are going to live in a newly-built house, you must contact the land register no later than 30 days after you have moved in. The same rule applies to renovations. You can find the office to contact in your municipality on the site of the land register.

Afterwards you will receive a letter with your cadastral income. If you don't agree, you have two months to appeal.