Belgian tax on interest

[civillib]

When a Belgian bank charges "taxes and duties" on interest, what kind of tax is it? Is it VAT?

I'm surprised to discover this, because I often hear that Belgium does not tax capital gains.

[Maciamo]

Indeed, Belgium has a 15% tax on bank account interests and profits from securities (25% for some stocks). This is called précompte mobilier in French (a type of withholding tax). It's not VAT. There is a tax exemption on the first 1.770 €* of interest for every person residing in Belgium.

* indexed every year - this is the amount for 2011.