Reporting to the Flemish tax authorities now possible online
June 2022 – On 3 April, the Flemish Tax Administration (Vlabel) launched the new "ERFonline" application. ERFonline allows you to complete and send an inheritance declaration online. A major step forward.
Access
ERFonline is one of the platforms for exchanging information with the public authorities. You can access it using your e-ID or via Itsme. You can log on directly at "vlaanderen.be/erfonline" or via "mijn dossier" on the Vlabel website.
If you log in via "mijn dossier", you can access the online declaration with one click, but you can also print out a PDF version of the declaration (the online declaration is not compulsory) and request a deferment and a binding estimate online.
Particular attention has been paid to the protection of privacy. According to Vlabel, no information has been pre-filled on the declaration in order to prevent one heir from having access to the personal data of the other heirs.
Step by step
Once you have logged on to the application, you are asked to complete certain fields. Some fields are mandatory, others need only be completed if the information requested is relevant.
A tailor-made declaration is drawn up via nine questions targeted at the deceased and his/her assets. This means that you no longer have to go through the lengthy standard declaration form. You only need to fill in the information requested by the application.
On the individual pages that you have to complete, you will find additional information on the legal terms used and answers to the most frequently asked questions.
Because you fill in the data directly on the platform of the Flemish tax administration, it can be checked and processed more quickly.
Processing
You have four months to complete the declaration. Once the file has been created, the tax authorities will not process the declaration until this period has expired. This means that during this period you can still make changes. You can therefore create the file, complete what you already know and temporarily close the file. You can then continue to complete it a few weeks later.
The application does not contain any calculation modules. According to Vlabel, this is not the purpose either, because not all the relevant information is directly available to make an accurate calculation.
It is questionable whether this argument holds water: after all, we must assume that the taxpayer completes his return to the best of his ability. If he has unintentionally omitted certain information, he will be billed anyway, regardless of whether a calculation was made on the basis of the declaration or not. An indicative calculation without obligation does not seem to us to be an unreasonable expectation.
Advantages according to Vlabel
Vlabel summarises the advantages of ERFonline as follows
tailor-made declaration, adapted to the situation of the deceased ;
step-by-step guidance in filling in the declaration;
less risk of forgetting to declare certain information;
less risk of errors;
faster processing of the declaration.
In its press release, Vlabel also draws attention to the fact that the declarants take full responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the information included in the declaration. For complex succession files, Vlabel recommends calling in a specialist, such as a notary. The fact that you have to pay third parties in order to make a declaration for a tax that is as inevitable as death itself is astonishing.
