• Ideas

  • Country specific IBAN

Open a country specific IBAN.
For example: I live in Belgium and as far as I know non-Belgian IBANs can't be used for salary and government refunds (taxes etc).

So Belgian IBANs in Belgium, German IBANs in Germany etc.

    @johannes#193311 Ow damn. My own government said I have to own a Belgian IBAN. Is there a European contact possiblity? It was my government who rejected my BUNQ IBAN.

      @Fluffysss#193314 Johannes already listed some info on this. Just wanted to add, that in the German state I live in my local authorities pay my salary to bunq with no problem. Same goes for everything to do with taxes. Of course, that information might not help you with your Belgian authorities, but it goes to show that there is no general need for a country-specific IBAN (and as Johannes already explained, the opposite is true).

      Wish you luck!

        @Fluffysss#193310 Hi Bryan, I live in Belgium too. I was successful in entering my bunq NL IBAN in this year's tax forms (online tax-on-web) and they accepted it without any issues. Also till date, I have never faced and discrimination regarding IBANs in either the governmental websites (both Belgian and Flemish) or elsewhere like electricity/gas or salary from employer. If indeed there are a few places which doesn't accept NL IBANs, do let me know. I can then forward it to my circle here to maybe send an email to the relevant authorities.

          @Sayon#193327 Strange, I contacted them and they refused because it's a dutch one. I could forward the mail to you?

            @Fluffysss#193354 Could you let me know which government was this, or who exactly refused this? Was it the FPS Finance (FOD Financiën/SPF Finances) or was it a local tax attorney? If you go by the official federal government's website, they do accept all IBANs. If you are submitting the paper version, then don't worry, just put your NL IBAN and it will be processed.

            If it is some local agency, or another company which processes your taxes, you can then notify them about the IBAN discrimination laws and also that FPS will accept them (maybe they aren't aware).

              @Sayon#193362 It's a bit personal, but I'm "disabled" (not actually but I have Autism etc) and I have my salary from "Directie Generaal voor Personen met een Handicap"/ FOD Sociale Zekerheid (how do you even Translate it in English?)
              They refused to change my Belgian IBAN (18/9/20) to a German one (N26) i changed a couple of months ago to BUNQ.

                @Fluffysss#193365 Hi Bryan. I tried but couldn't find any official document from the Sociale Zekerheid website about payments to other IBANs.
                But I did find this in the FOD Financien website about using other IBANs apart from BE, for tax returns.

                https://financien.belgium.be/sites/default/files/downloads/111-toelichting-deel-1-vg-2020.pdf
                Under "Vak I - BANKREKENING EN TELEFOONNUMMER(S)" in page 4, it is mentioned

                Als er in vak I geen rekeningnummer afgedrukt is, als het afgedrukte rekeningnummer niet (meer) correct is of als u een andere rekening wil laten gebruiken, vermeld dan in vak I, rubriek 1 het IBAN- ekeningnummer en, als het een rekening in het buitenland is, de BIC-code van de rekening waarop de belastingdienst die teruggaven voortaan mag overschrijven. U vindt het IBAN-rekeningnummer en de BIC-code doorgaans op uw rekeninguittreksels. Als dat niet het geval is, kunt u ze ook navragen bij uw bank.

                They do allow, officially, payments to other accounts, even non European ones too. As both of these branches are a part of FOD, I would assume the department you are requesting from, is slightly misinformed and are using the old rules of BE only IBANs. You can try to make a request stating this is your primary bank and you intent to use this only, and that this is legally allowed as stated in the FOD website. I am sorry that you have to go through all the trouble, but sometimes, the people responding to our queries are just mis-informed!

                  3 months later

                  Egal ob es rechtlich theoretisch richtig ist, dass eine NL IBAN überall gleich gut funktionieren soll, in der Praxis gibt es immer wieder Schwierigkeiten.

                  Die Einführung nationaler IBAN würde den Wechsel in ein premiumkonto und zur Hauptbankverbindung wirklich befördern.

                    a month later

                    Sehe das genauso. Gibt es Absichten andere IBANs zu haben? In Deutschland ist es de facto auch schwierig ohne DE IBAN.

                      9 months later

                      I couldn't get an internet contract because my IBAN is not belgian. Orange only accepts Belgian IBANs (starting with BE)

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