As long as you have not taken the necessary steps, the advance tax levy must be paid in Belgium.
What are the basic conditions to benefit from the status of cross-border worker?
A cross-border worker is a wage earner who, regardless of their nationality:
- Has their only permanent residence in the French border area
- Exercises their salaried activity in the Belgian border area
- Does not carry out this activity outside the Belgian border area for more than thirty days per calendar year
Learn more: check the information on cross-border workers on Lex4You
Any worker who benefits from the cross-border regime is exclusively taxable in France (and not in their state of employment, namely Belgium).
No Belgian advance tax levy should therefore be withheld from the remuneration of the cross-border worker.
A necessary formality: the 276 Front./Grens. certificate
To prove their status as a cross-border worker, the worker must, on their own initiative, complete and have completed the 276 Front./Grens. form (see annex) in two copies.
However, we advise you to accompany your workers in this process. If this formality is not fulfilled, the advantageous cross-border regime will not apply and the remuneration may be taxed in both states (in Belgium AND in France).
Step-by-step procedure: how to complete and have this document completed?
- The worker completes the frame I of the form (in two copies) and hands these two copies to you.
- As the employer, you complete the frame II of the form and return the two copies to the worker.
- The worker submits the two copies to the tax inspector they are subject to in France.
- The French tax inspector completes the frame III of the 276 form. They thus certify that the worker is considered a cross-border worker for the application of French taxes.
- They then hand the second copy back to the worker.
- Finally, the worker must transmit this copy to you, their Belgian employer.
When must this form be submitted?
The second copy of the 276 Front./Grens. form (duly completed by all parties) must be handed to you before the payment of the first remuneration of the year 2026.
This is absolutely necessary for the collaborator to maintain their status as a cross-border worker. Since this status is not automatically extended, this request must be renewed every year.
What should you do while waiting for the duly completed form?
Based on the certificate from the French tax inspector, you may refrain from withholding and paying the advance tax levy.
As long as the worker has not provided you with the completed form, the advance tax levy must be withheld and paid as if they were a non-cross-border worker. If the aforementioned formalities are not (yet) fulfilled, do not fail to inform your Securex Client Advisor. The tax authorities will carry out systematic checks on this matter.
What are the other formalities to be completed?
Certificate of effective occupation of a residence and declaration of exit from the border area
Due to the high number of requests, the French tax services are not always able to carry out sufficient checks.
This is why workers claiming the application of the cross-border regime must each year provide you, along with the 276 form, a document certifying the effective occupation of a residence in the French border area (water, gas, electricity bill…).
Keep the required documents available for the administration
As an employer, you must keep the following documents available for the administration, throughout the year and at the location where the worker usually carries out their activities:
- The 276 Front./Grens. form duly completed and endorsed by the French administration.
- The document certifying the effective occupation of a residence in the French border area.
- A record of the days during which the worker exits the border area, stating the reason for each of these exits.
The aforementioned formalities are not (yet) fulfilled?
In this case, do not fail to inform your Securex Client Advisor. As long as you have not received the second copy of the 276 Front./Grens. form (duly completed by all parties), an advance tax levy must indeed be withheld from the remuneration of the cross-border worker.
The tax authorities will carry out systematic checks on this matter.
