DAC7 Is Now Live: When Your Airbnb, Uber, Vinted, and Bolt Income Lands on Your Tax Return

Here is the new reality. Since January 2023, every EU online platform — Airbnb, Bolt, Uber, Deliveroo, Vinted, eBay, Etsy, Marketplace, Drivy — sends a complete list of payments it made to you to your tax authority once a year. The Belgian FOD started using this data systematically for audits in 2025. Whatever you earned on a platform in 2024 and 2025 is already in their system.

The question is not "will they find out." The question is "does my tax return match what they already know."

How big does it have to be before they care?

For goods sales (Vinted, eBay, Marketplace): under 30 sales and under €2,000 per platform per year, you are not reported. Cleaning out your wardrobe with 20 items for €800: invisible. The same wardrobe with 40 items for €3,000: reported.

For everything else (Airbnb, Bolt, Uber, Deliveroo): no threshold. One Airbnb night, one Bolt shift, one Deliveroo delivery — reported.

Which bucket does your money go in?

Three buckets, three tax outcomes:

Bucket 1 — Occasional / diverse income (Art. 90 of the tax code). Flat 33% on the net amount (after costs). This is for one-off or sporadic activity. Renting your apartment for two weeks while you are on holiday: bucket 1. Five Bolt shifts to fund a trip: bucket 1.

Bucket 2 — Professional / self-employed income. Taxed at your progressive rate (up to 50%) + social security (~20%) + communal tax (~7%). Effective rate easily 60%+ on the top slice. This is once you do it regularly, with intent to profit, with organisation. Driving Bolt every Saturday night for a year: bucket 2.

Bucket 3 — Real estate income. Applies only if you rent unfurnished, long term, with no service (no breakfast, no cleaning). Airbnb-style short stays are never bucket 3.

The line between bucket 1 and bucket 2 is the most important and the most contested. There is no magic euro number. A judge or an inspector looks at frequency, organisation, intent. If you have any doubt at all, get a written position from your accountant. It costs €150 and protects you against a €5,000 reassessment.

What the FOD pre-fill looks like in practice

You log into MyMinFin to do your 2025 return. You see a section "Income reported by digital platforms" that already lists:

• Airbnb Belgium: €4,200 (38 nights)
• Vinted: €3,100 (47 sales)
• Bolt: €0 (you stopped in March)

You can accept, modify, or refuse — but if you refuse without explanation, an inspector gets a flag.

The four mistakes that get people audited

1. Declaring nothing. The platforms reported €4,200 of Airbnb and your return says zero. Instant flag.
2. Putting Airbnb in the wrong bucket. Most short-term hosts try to declare under "real estate income" because the rate looks better. Wrong. With cleaning and check-in, it is service income — diverse or professional.
3. Crossing the €25,000 VAT threshold without registering. If your platform income + your other professional income exceeds €25,000 per year, you must register for VAT. The FOD will register you retroactively if you do not.
4. Mixing the diverse and professional pattern. Five Bolt shifts followed by twenty more next quarter and ten the quarter after that — you stopped being occasional. The whole year may get reclassified.

What to do this week

1. Log into every platform you have ever used. Download your annual statement / DAC7 report.
2. Add up what you actually received across all platforms for 2025 and 2026 to date.
3. Match it to your bank account. Differences are usually platform fees and refunds.
4. Pick a bucket for each platform activity. Be honest — the FOD already knows the numbers.
5. If you crossed €25,000 total, talk to an accountant about registering for VAT before they do it for you.

The good news: most platform income that is truly occasional gets taxed at 33% net, which is competitive. The bad news: there is no longer a hidden corner of the economy. Plan accordingly.

Legal basis: Council Directive (EU) 2021/514 (DAC7), transposed in Belgium by the Law of 21 December 2022, codified in Art. 321quater to 321septies CIR/WIB and the Royal Decree of 19 December 2022. First reporting period: calendar year 2023, with first transmission deadline 31 January 2024.

Scope (Art. 8ac DAC, transposed Art. 321quater CIR)

Reporting Platform Operator (RPO): any platform that allows reportable sellers to be connected to other users for the supply of reportable activities. RPOs are based in the EU or registered in the EU as non-EU platforms.

Reportable activities:

1. Rental of immovable property (residential, commercial, parking).
2. Personal services (task-, time-, or work-based).
3. Sale of goods.
4. Rental of any mode of transport.

Excluded sellers (Art. 321sexies, §2 CIR):

• Listed entities.
• Government bodies.
• Large hotel operators (>2,000 stays/year per property).
• Goods sellers below €2,000 and fewer than 30 transactions per year per platform.

Data collected and reported

Per seller, per quarter, per reportable activity:

• Identification: name, address, TIN, VAT number, date of birth (natural person) or business registration number (legal person).
• Bank account or other payment account used.
• Total consideration paid by the platform to the seller during the quarter.
• Number of relevant activities for which consideration was paid.
• Any fees, commissions, or taxes withheld by the platform.
• For immovable property: address, land registry number, number of days rented.

Transmission: by 31 January of year N+1, in XML schema (CESOP-aligned), to the competent authority of the Member State of identification of the platform; exchanged with other MS via the EU Common Communication Network.

Belgian FOD use (post-2024)

The FOD has issued administrative guidance (Circulaire 2024/C/22 and subsequent) confirming systematic cross-referencing of:

• Personal income tax declarations (Form 1 / Form 2).
• VAT returns (Form 625).
• Diverse income declarations (Code 1200 / 2200).
• Cross-border DAC1–DAC7 data feeds.

Audits triggered by DAC7 mismatches are now a significant portion of small-taxpayer audits, particularly in:

• Brussels Region (short-term rental).
• Antwerp and Liège (gig delivery and ride-hailing).
• Online second-hand goods (Vinted/eBay sellers crossing the €2,000 / 30-transaction threshold).

Classification framework

Diverse income (Art. 90 CIR)

Flat 33% on net taxable amount.

• Art. 90, 1°: occasional profits and gains arising outside the exercise of a professional activity. The standard catch-all for one-off or sporadic platform income.
• Art. 90, 5°: "income from sub-rental" — applies to short-term sub-letting of property (relevant for tenants renting on Airbnb).
• Art. 90, 1°bis: introduced for the now-defunct collaborative economy regime, mostly historical.

Professional income (Art. 23 et seq. CIR)

Progressive rate up to 50% + social security (~20% self-employed, ~13.07% RSZ employee equivalent for managers) + communal additional taxes (~7% average).

Belgian case law (Cass., several rulings 2019–2024) treats the following as professional:

• Regular, organised activity with a profit motive.
• Use of professional resources (a dedicated apartment, multiple vehicles).
• Frequency above a "casual" pattern.
• External signalling (business name, dedicated bank account, advertising).

Real estate income (Art. 7 CIR)

Applies only to unfurnished, long-term lease without personal services. Once breakfast, cleaning, concierge, or any service is added, the income falls in diverse or professional.

VAT consequences (Code TVA / BTW-Wetboek)

• Sale of goods, professional: standard VAT regime; small-business exemption up to €25,000 annual turnover (post-2025 reform).
• Short-term rental with services: taxable at the 6% reduced rate if qualifying as service-augmented accommodation (paragastronomy regime, Art. 73 KB n°1).
• Personal services on a platform: B2C or B2B classification of the supply; pending ViDA deemed-supplier rule (1 Jan 2030, earlier opt-in possible from 1 Jul 2028).

Sanctions (Art. 444 et seq. CIR / VAT Code)

• Late declaration: administrative fine €50 to €1,250 per infraction.
• Late VAT registration: VAT payable retroactively + 10–20% surcharge + 0.8%/month interest.
• Non-declaration of taxable income (Art. 444 CIR): proportional fine 10–200% of the tax avoided.
• Recurring or fraudulent omission: criminal sanctions Art. 449 CIR, up to 5 years imprisonment.

Audit defence file (recommended)

For each platform-driven activity, prepare:

1. Annual platform statement (the DAC7 copy the platform must give the seller).
2. Bank reconciliation (platform payouts vs. bank deposits).
3. Activity log (number of nights / shifts / sales per month).
4. Cost ledger (where claiming diverse income net of costs).
5. Classification note (one-page memo justifying diverse vs. professional treatment, dated and signed).