Budgeting App for Expats in Belgium

Belgium uses the euro.¹ If you're legally resident anywhere in the EU, you're entitled to open a basic payment account, and a bank can't refuse it just because you don't live in that country.² A euro current account for salary, rent and bills, next to an account at home in your earning currency, keeps each side of your money in its own currency.

Borderless Budget connects to major Belgian banks including BNP Paribas Fortis, KBC, Belfius, and ING through secure bank connections, and your accounts in the US, Canada, the EU, the UK, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein connect too.

Major banks for expats

• BNP Paribas Fortis
• KBC
• Belfius
• ING

Cash vs. card culture

Since 1 July 2022, businesses have had to offer at least one digital way to pay, alongside cash. They choose which: a card terminal, a mobile app such as Payconiq, or a bank transfer. Cash payments remain possible.³

Brussels households had the lowest average consumption of Belgium's three regions in 2024, €41,533 a year against €45,234 in Flanders, yet Brussels residents spend the largest share of their budget, 35%, on housing.⁷ If you earn in dollars or pounds, the euro rate decides how far that goes.

Rent, groceries and your transport pass are all paid in euros, so if you earn in dollars or pounds, the exchange rate decides what Belgium costs you each month. Within the EU, your bank must charge you the same for a payment in euros to another EU country as for an equivalent domestic one,¹⁰ so a euro account elsewhere in Europe works for Belgian spending too.

Transferring money to Belgium

• Payments by SEPA transfer or direct debit can't be refused just because your account is in a different EU country, as long as the payee accepts them from domestic accounts.¹⁰ A euro account elsewhere in the EU can pay Belgian bills.
• When you convert from your earning currency into euros, compare the exchange rate you get, not just the fee.
• Convert a month of euro spending at a time, so rent day never depends on that day's rate.

Borderless Budget tracks all of your accounts, your home-country bank, your Belgian bank, and services like Wise or Revolut, in a single dashboard. Exchange rates update daily, so your budget always reflects where things actually stand.

• Belgium taxes its residents on their worldwide income, whatever their nationality. For income year 2025, federal rates run from 25% to 50%, with 50% applying to net taxable income above €49,840.¹¹
• Municipalities add a communal tax of 0% to 9% of the income tax due, 7% on average.¹¹
• Employees pay social security contributions of 13.07% of gross pay, with no cap. Under the Belgium/US social security agreement, employees sent to Belgium by a US employer for up to five years who stay covered by the US scheme are fully exempt from Belgian social security.⁸
• Belgium has a special tax regime for inbound taxpayers and researchers. The law of 18 December 2025, applying to pay earned from 1 January 2025, raised the maximum share of costs proper to the employer from 30% to 35%, abolished the €90,000 annual ceiling, and lowered the minimum salary for inbound taxpayers from €75,000 to €70,000 a year.¹²
• The Belgian tax year runs from 1 January to 31 December, and the return for one year's income is filed during the following year.¹³
• US citizens and resident aliens are taxed on worldwide income from all sources, whether they live in the United States or abroad.¹⁴

1. Budget your Belgian life in euros. Rent, groceries and your transport pass are all in EUR, and converting each one in your head adds noise, not clarity.
2. Plan for the deposit. In Brussels it can't exceed two months' rent, excluding bills, and a landlord can't ask for it in cash.⁵
3. Ask what a flat's charges cover before you sign. In Brussels they averaged €112.50 a month on top of the median rent in 2025.⁴
4. Interest in an ordinary Belgian savings account is tax-free up to €1,050 for income year 2025, and taxed at 15% above that.¹¹ Keep that in mind when you decide where your emergency fund sits.
5. Keep home-country bills, like subscriptions, loans and phone plans, in their own currency, so you can see what Belgium itself costs you.

Connect your Belgian and home-country banks

Link your BNP Paribas Fortis, KBC, Belfius, or other Belgian bank alongside your home-country bank. Transactions from all accounts sync automatically into one dashboard.

Budget in EUR and your home currency

Your budget is set in your home currency, and Borderless Budget automatically converts every transaction, whether it's in euro or your home currency. You can toggle any transaction to see the original currency amount. Exchange rates update daily, so your budget always reflects reality.

Automatic categorization

Transactions from Belgian merchants are automatically categorized. Categorization improves as you use the app, learning your patterns across both currencies, so you spend less time sorting transactions and more time living your life in Belgium.

See the impact of exchange rates

When exchange rates shift, your combined budget view updates automatically. You'll see exactly how currency movements affect your overall spending, no surprises, no guesswork.