The cross-border regime can only be applied if the worker has provided you with the required documents before the first payment or payroll calculation of the relevant year. Otherwise, the advance tax levy must be paid in Belgium.
What are the basic conditions to benefit from cross-border worker status?
A cross-border worker is a salaried worker who, regardless of their nationality:
- Has their sole permanent residence in the French border zone
- Performs their salaried activity in the Belgian border zone
- Does not perform this activity outside the Belgian border zone for more than thirty days per calendar year
Learn more: consult the information on cross-border workers on Lex4You
Any worker benefiting 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 assist your workers in this process. If this formality is not fulfilled, the advantageous cross-border regime does not apply and the remunerations 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 box I of the form (in two copies) and hands these two copies to you.
- As an employer, you complete box II of the form and return the two copies to the worker.
- The worker sends the two copies to the tax inspector to whom they report in France.
- The French tax inspector completes box III of form 276. This certifies that the worker is considered a cross-border worker for the application of French taxes.
- They then hand over the second copy 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 2027.
This is absolutely necessary for the employee to retain their cross-border worker status. As this status is not automatically renewed, 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 handed you the completed form, the advance tax levy must be withheld and paid as if they were a non-cross-border worker. If the above formalities are not (yet) fulfilled, be sure to inform your Securex Client Advisor. The tax authorities will carry out systematic checks on this matter.
What other formalities must be completed?
Certificate of actual occupation of a dwelling and declaration of exit from the border zone
Due to the high number of requests, the French tax services are not always able to carry out sufficient checks.
That is why workers claiming the application of the cross-border regime must each year provide you, together with form 276, with a document certifying the actual occupation of a dwelling in the French border zone.
In case of an audit, the tax administration does not limit itself to verifying the declared address; it looks for concrete elements proving actual occupation of the dwelling.
For this purpose, the worker can notably produce gas, electricity or water bills. Other documents demonstrating normal consumption of the dwelling may also be accepted insofar as they constitute serious evidence of effective residence.
On the other hand, documents such as a lease contract, a deed of ownership or a certificate of residence, although establishing a right of occupation or an official address, are not sufficient to prove the actual occupation of the dwelling.
Recent bills
Moreover, the administration pays particular attention to the recent nature of the supporting documents. We therefore recommend providing documents dated December 2026 or January 2027.
These documents will demonstrate that the worker effectively occupied their dwelling at the beginning of the income year, at the time when the cross-border regime is applied.
The bills must indicate normal consumption and be issued in the name of the worker or a member of their family.
In case of bills issued in the name of a family member of the worker, proof of cohabitation must also be provided.
Each worker must also provide their own supporting documents. The proofs must be individualised and cannot be replaced by a document common to several workers.
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 place where the worker usually performs their activities:
- The duly completed 276 Front./Grens. form, endorsed by the French administration
- The document certifying the actual occupation of a dwelling in the French border zone
- A statement of the days on which the worker leaves the border zone, with mention of the reason for each of these exits
Important
During a tax audit, the administration may ask you to demonstrate that the worker effectively occupied a dwelling in the French border zone at the beginning of the relevant year. Therefore, make sure to obtain the supporting documents before the first payroll calculation and keep them with the 276 Front./Grens. form.
Are the above formalities not (yet) fulfilled?
In this case, be sure 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.
What does Securex do for you?
Does your company employ cross-border workers? If so, we will send you a new 276 Front./Grens. form at the beginning of December.
