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Sold investments in Belgium? Check your U.S. tax exposure.

Belgium taxes gains on shares, funds and ETFs from 1 January 2026 — at 10%, after a €10,000 exemption, measured from what your holdings were worth on 31 December 2025. The United States taxes the same sale from what you paid, in dollars. Enter one sale and see both, side by side: the Belgian figure, the US gain, whether the Belgian tax can be credited, and the PFIC, FBAR and Form 8938 questions around it. How the two systems differ.

Before you rely on this result

What would settle it, and what covers it

Documents or facts needed

• The year-end 2025 statement showing each holding's value on 31 December 2025
• Trade confirmations for the purchase and the sale (dates, prices, fees, the exchange rate)
• The Belgian tax slip showing any 10% withheld, or your opt-out
• The fund's legal name, ISIN and domicile, and any prior Form 8621

Where this leads

PFIC Portfolio · $499 — a European fund sold from a Belgian account is a Form 8621 and a Form 1116 question at once, which the PFIC package prepares.

Also possible: Complex ($799). The cheapest route that covers your facts is the right one; a package never covers more than one tax year.

How to read a status

Likely:: The facts entered meet the published test; confirm the inputs before acting.
Possible:: Some facts point this way and others are missing; more information decides it.
Needs review:: These inputs leave it open; a person should look before filing.
Not currently indicated:: Nothing entered triggers it this year; a changed fact can change the answer.
Outside supported scope:: This item is routed to a professional for preparation.

Scope. A screen of one sale under each system's rules: the Belgian figure is an estimate of tax under the 10% regime, the US figure a gain, and whether the Belgian tax is creditable is a professional judgment — none of it is a return. This is a computation on the answers you gave, not individualized tax advice.

What changes the result

This answer changes if…

Whether a fund is treated as a PFIC

…the fund is held inside a pension or retirement arrangement the U.S. recognises for this purpose — a treaty-recognised pension can take the fund out of Form 8621 reporting for the years it stays inside.
…the fund turns out to be U.S.-registered under a European-sounding name — a U.S.-registered fund is not a PFIC at all; the ISIN decides it. Check it
…the instrument is a note or a certificate rather than a fund — an exchange-traded note or a structured certificate is a debt claim on its issuer, analysed differently. Check it
…you hold shares of the fund manager rather than units of one of its funds — an operating company is not a pooled vehicle; the domicile alone never decides it.
…a reviewer has verified the classification — a screen from the fund's identity becomes a determination only when a person checks the fund's own facts.

What a PFIC costs in a given year

…you sold the holding, in full or in part, during the year — a disposition is an excess distribution over the whole holding period, with interest, not a capital gain.
…the fund paid you a distribution that exceeds 125% of the prior three years' average — the excess is thrown back across the holding period and taxed at each year's top rate.
…a qualified electing fund or mark-to-market election was made in a prior year — an election changes the regime for every later year until revoked; the §1291 default no longer applies.
…the fund publishes a PFIC Annual Information Statement — a QEF election becomes available; without the statement it cannot be made or kept.
…the purchase date or the cost is not what the statement assumed — the holding period and the basis drive both the allocation and the interest; a reconstructed date moves both.
…the year-end value is not the one used — under mark-to-market the year's inclusion is the change in value; a different value is a different figure.

Each line names a fact that moves the result; what it moves to depends on the rest of your facts. Nothing here is a determination.

How Atamatax calculations are produced — the tests applied, statutory sources and review cadence — is documented in the methodology, and how the engine is validated in accuracy & review. Calculation fixes are recorded in the changelog.

Authorities cited

Loi du 6 avril 2026 — Loi du 6 avril 2026 introduisant un impôt sur les plus-values sur les actifs financiers (Moniteur belge 21 avril 2026, Numac 2026002780)
Circulaire 2026/C/74 — SPF Finances — Circulaire 2026/C/74 du 22 juillet 2026 relative à l'impôt sur les plus-values sur actifs financiers (impôt des personnes physiques)
IRC §865 — IRC §865 — Source rules for personal property sales; §865(g)(2): a citizen is a nonresident for a sale only if foreign tax of at least 10% of the gain is actually paid
Treas. Reg. §1.901-2(e) — Treas. Reg. §1.901-2(e) — Amount of foreign income tax paid: refundable and noncompulsory amounts are not tax paid
US–Belgium Treaty (2006) — Convention between the United States and Belgium for the avoidance of double taxation (signed 27 November 2006) — Articles 1(4)–(5), 13(6), 22(4)
Treas. Reg. §1.988-2(a)(2) — Treas. Reg. §1.988-2(a)(2)(ii)(B) — Property bought or sold for foreign currency is translated at the spot rate on the date of the exchange
IRC §1297 — IRC §1297 — Definition of a passive foreign investment company
IRS Form 1116 — About Form 1116 — Foreign Tax Credit (Individual, Estate, or Trust)

Primary sources (Cornell Legal Information Institute for the US Code and CFR; IRS.gov for forms, procedures, and treaty documents). This page is general information, not individualized tax or legal advice.

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