Belgium Extends Tax Return Deadline to July 19 After Tech Outage

The Belgian Federal Public Service Finance (FOD Financiën) has extended the deadline for filing income tax returns via Tax-on-web from July 15 to July 19, 2026, following a technical incident that disrupted access to the online platform over the weekend.

According to VRT NWS, the FOD Financiën announced the extension on Monday, July 13 — just two days before the original deadline — after a technical incident on Friday, July 10 caused persistent access problems for users throughout the weekend.

Technical Problems Trigger Extension

“The problems are related to a technical incident that occurred on Friday, and which also caused inconvenience for certain users over the weekend,” the FOD Financiën stated, as reported by VRT NWS. “To give citizens enough time to correctly submit their declaration via Tax-on-web or to modify their simplified declaration proposal online, the deadline is therefore exceptionally extended from July 15 to and including July 19.”

The outage affected the MyMinfin portal, which serves over 6 million users according to Business AM. Users reported being unable to log in using itsme or MyGov digital identity systems, with the website becoming completely unreachable at times.

HLN reported on Sunday, July 12 that multiple readers had contacted their tipline about the outage. One reader described it as a “yearly recurring problem,” noting that Tax-on-web had gone down just days before the deadline yet again.

Filing Progress and Statistics

As of July 12, the FOD Financiën had received approximately 1.8 million tax returns — roughly half of all expected submissions. Of those, 1,456,691 were filed via MyMinfin (Tax-on-web), 49,009 were filed by FOD employees, and 296,386 were submitted through an authorized representative (mandataris), according to HLN.

The extension applies to both filing a new tax return and modifying a simplified declaration proposal (voorstel van vereenvoudigde aangifte) online. For taxpayers with specific income types — such as self-employed individuals or those with foreign income — the deadline remains October 16, 2026. The paper filing deadline had already passed on June 30.

Broader Context and Government Response

The FOD Financiën stated it is taking additional measures to ensure the stability of its digital applications going forward. The government service emphasized its commitment to providing accessible and reliable digital services.

This is not the first time technical problems have forced a deadline extension. Similar incidents occurred in previous years, including 2018, when a cable break caused Tax-on-web to be unavailable. The recurring nature of these outages has raised questions about the platform’s capacity and reliability during peak filing periods.

As the official FOD Financiën website confirms, the new deadline of July 19 now applies to all online filers. Taxpayers who have already submitted their returns are unaffected.

What Taxpayers Should Know

For the estimated 1.8 million Belgian taxpayers who have yet to file, the four-day extension provides additional time to complete their submissions. The FOD Financiën advises taxpayers to file as soon as possible to avoid last-minute issues, and recommends using the MyMinfin platform, which remains operational following the resolution of the technical incident.

Taxpayers who encounter persistent problems are encouraged to contact the FOD Financiën directly for assistance. The government has not yet published a detailed post-mortem of the technical incident, but has committed to implementing measures to prevent similar disruptions in the future.