That’s called “free circulation”.
Appalling thing, but I expect the same kind of measures everywhere in Eurocrat-land 
There is ‘pax fee’ which is charged by every airport where GA PIC+PAX go through x-ray machines and/or police gates…I am sure I have paid it in Beauvais, Lille, Bergerac, Nantes…you have to pay it even when going via some security backdoor but it’s not applicable if you sneak via aeroclub gates, you MAY get it waived if you declare everybody as crew, say it’s local flight, maintenance flight, instruction flight…or whatever BS you want to add to flatten the discussions during hot afternoons in busy airport
It’s unfair, just like getting charged MTOW for landing when you are flying 1pob on low actual weight !
It’s applicable when the granny escorts one to the parking aircraft without flying…
Peter wrote:
Greece has had such a tax for many years but it was applied only to N-regs; possibly also to non-SX regs
Wait, doesn’t that contradict Article 15 of the Chicago convention?
AOPA.nl is warning people about this
https://www.aopa.nl/index.php?page=1583&sid=1
They mention that the ‘airline’ can designate anyone as crew, after all, passengers in small planes are helping with spotting traffic and other tasks ;-)
The Belgian law is using the word “airline” (luchtvaartmaatschappij) as the one that is responsible for the tax on passengers being transported. But it is not legal to be an airline transporting passengers without an AOC.
They are saying in this tax law that an airline or their representative could be an individual, and in that case to register with their name and tax number. But I’m not convinced that they can with that single sentence decide on their own that you are now an airline, while EASA forbids anyone from running an airline without a lot of extra paperwork.
Some clarification, you should not read “airliner” as you would normally do but as defined in the according law.
Legal reference: Chapter 3 is the one concerned
https://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/eli/loi/2022/03/28/2022031434/moniteur (in french)
https://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/eli/wet/2022/03/28/2022031434/moniteur (in dutch)
Free translation:
4° air carrier: an undertaking whose activity is wholly or partly the transport of persons by aircraft, as well as anyone else in whose name an aircraft is entered in the register referred to in Article 2 of the Royal Decree of 15 March 1954 regulating air navigation, or in a foreign register of aircraft;
Details and FAQ can be found on the site of the Ministry of Finance https://finances.belgium.be/fr/entreprises/autres-taxes/taxe-embarquement-aeronef
sugarcube wrote:
There seems to be a new aviation tax in Belgium : “embarkation tax” since April 1st. I heard yesterday that apparently GA is not exempt
Have flown to Belgium 6 times in the past 3 weeks from the UK, no sign of any “embarkation tax” either in or out
Well, there does not have to be any sign. As a tax, it’s not something that airports collect. The operator must declare the tax himself. See here.
That link also has the forms which have a few extra notes: https://financien.belgium.be/sites/default/files/downloads/124-aangifte-taks-inscheping-luchtvaartuig-tilea.pdf one of which is that “airlines” that have less than 2 flights with passengers per year don’t need to register. And then only need to submit a tax form before operating a flight with passengers.
So as long as you declare everyone a crew member and never fly with any passengers you can forget all about this tax.
Thomas28 wrote:
So as long as you declare everyone a crew member and never fly with any passengers you can forget all about this tax.
Maybe thats why, my wife usually flies the outbound flight and I fly the return.
