How much registration duty do you pay when you buy a home?
When you buy a home, you pay registration duties to the region where it is located. In 2026 that is 2% in Flanders for your only own home and 12% for any other purchase; 12.5% in Brussels, with an allowance of €200,000 for your only own home up to a price of €600,000; in Wallonia 3% for your only own home and 12.5% otherwise. The duties are charged on the price, but never on less than the market value of the property.
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What registration duties are
Registration duties, in Flanders also called sales duty (verkooprecht) or registration tax, are a tax on buying real estate. They are due as soon as the sale is agreed, also with a private sale agreement, and the notary settles them at the deed. Which region levies them depends on where the property is, not on where you live now.
The base is the price plus the charges the buyer takes over, but never less than the market value (venale waarde): the price the property would fetch in a normal sale. If the price is clearly lower, the tax administration can ask for a valuation.
A purchase involves other points too, such as property tax by municipality and who provides which information on a plot. What a report on an address costs is listed under Perceelscan pricing. You can work out the taxes on a purchase for free with the property tax calculator.
Flanders: 2% for your only own home, otherwise 12%
- 2% for the purchase of your only own home by a private individual, for a deed from 1 January 2025; from 2022 to 2024 it was 3%. The date of the deed counts.
- The conditions: on the day of the deed you own no other home or building plot outright, and you move in within three years (Flemish Tax Code, art. 2.9.4.2.11).
- At a price up to €220,000, €1,867 comes off the duties; in Antwerp, Ghent and the municipalities of the Flemish periphery around Brussels the ceiling is €240,000 (art. 2.9.5.0.5).
- 12% for any other purchase: a second home, a home to let, a building plot alongside a home you already own (art. 2.9.4.1.1).
The separate 1% rates for a home with a major energy renovation and for a protected monument as your only own home are no longer listed by the Flemish Tax Administration for deeds from 2025.
Brussels: 12.5%, with an allowance for your only own home
In the Brussels-Capital Region the rate is 12.5% (Registration Duties Code, art. 44). For your only own home you pay nothing on the first €200,000 of the price, if the price is at most €600,000 (art. 46bis). You may not own another home, must move in within three years and stay five years. Above €600,000 the allowance disappears entirely.
Wallonia: 3% for your only own home, otherwise 12.5%
In the Walloon Region you have paid 3% for your only own home since 1 January 2025, with no price ceiling, if you own no other home outright and move in within three years (Registration Duties Code, art. 44bis, decree of 5 December 2024). Any other purchase pays 12.5% (art. 44).
The rates side by side
| Region | Only own home | Other purchase |
|---|---|---|
| Flanders | 2%, minus €1,867 up to a price of €220,000 | 12% |
| Brussels | 12.5% after an allowance (abattement) of €200,000, up to a price of €600,000 | 12.5% |
| Wallonia | 3% | 12.5% |
A worked example
What the statutory rates give at three prices, without the notary’s costs:
- Flanders, only own home at €200,000: 2% is €4,000, minus €1,867, so €2,133. As a second home: 12%, so €24,000.
- Brussels, only own home at €400,000: 12.5% on €200,000 (the price minus the allowance), so €25,000. Without the allowance: €50,000.
- Wallonia, only own home at €300,000: 3%, so €9,000. As a second home: 12.5%, so €37,500.
What comes on top
On top of the duties you pay the notary: a fee on a statutory scale that falls per price band (lower for your only own home), administrative costs, outlays such as certificates, 21% VAT and a few fixed duties. If you take out a loan, a separate mortgage deed is added, with its own duty. The notaris.be calculation tool gives an estimate; your notary works out the exact amount.
What the Perceelscan shows
Section 16 of the report, Costs on purchase, sets out all the region’s rates side by side, with property tax and the notary. You enter the price and your browser does the maths; the Perceelscan stores nothing. Whether you meet the conditions for a reduced rate, we do not know. See the sample report.
Work them out yourself for your price with the free registration duties calculator.
Do I pay registration duties on the asking price or on my offer?
On the price in the deed, so what you agree with the seller, plus the charges you take over. If that is clearly below market value, the duties are charged on the market value.
Does the reduced rate also apply to a flat?
Yes. It is about your only own home: a house or a flat you will live in, if you meet the region’s conditions.
Which region counts if I live in Flanders and buy in Brussels?
The region where the home is. Whoever buys in Brussels pays the Brussels duties, with the Brussels allowance if they meet the conditions.
When do I pay the registration duties?
At the deed: the notary asks for the amount in advance on his account and pays it to the tax administration on registration.
Sources
- Flemish Tax Administration: sales duty for your only own home (in Dutch)
- Flemish Tax Code (registration duties, property tax)
- Allowance (abattement) in Brussels (ordinance of 17 November 2022)
- Decree of 5 December 2024: 3% for your only own home (Wallex)
- Calculator on notaris.be
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