To start an economic activity or sell a property, users must submit study reports prepared by experts, as well as other documents (soil certificates, etc.), to the Soils Subdivision of Environment Brussels, as part of the implementation of legislation on contaminated soils.

Until 2015, these documents were introduced in paper form, which required a considerable amount of time to receive, analyze and encode them in the internal database of Environment Brussels. This sometimes resulted in significant delays in the issuance of permits and real estate transactions.

In order to shorten processing times and reduce administrative burdens for applicants, the “Brusoil” web platform was set up in 2015. Initially, it was made available to the experts, to enable them to upload the study reports (about 5,000 per year). It was then opened up to notaries and real estate agents, allowing them to request soil certificates and exemptions from obligations (about 40,000 documents per year), and then to permit issuing authorities, so that they could consult the soil condition map, the studies carried out and the restrictions imposed. Finally, the platform was extended to companies and individuals, allowing them to request exemptions, soil certificates, bonuses, etc.

The Brusoil platform offers the following advantages:

• Saving time and money for applicants: throughBrusoil, a study report is received in a few minutes, compared to nearly 10 days previously. In addition, applicants save about €300,000 per year in registered mail costs, and no longer have to travel to the post office and send a registered letter.
• Reduction in file processing times: the average processing time for soil certificates, for example, has been reduced from 30 days to 10 days, and 45% of certificates are even issued within 24 hours.
• Improved communication with experts and applicants: they immediately receive an receipt with the contact details of the processing agent.
• Comfort for users: the platform is easy to handle, and includes all the tools and information the user needs (legislation, procedures, forms, soil condition map, etc.)

Access the Brusoil platform by clicking here.

Would you like to know more about the Brusoil platform?

Saïd El Fadili, Head of the Soils Subdivision

02/499 866 932

[email protected]

In 2019, Brussels Fiscality launched MyTax.brussels, a free plateform allowing the taxpayers of Brussels to manage online their taxes related to the Brussels Region. Currently, MyTax only covers management of the property tax, but new functionalities will be added to it in the years to come.

Today, communication channels such as counters, postal mail, phone and emails are no longer enough for the diverse types of interactions with customers. Taxpayers also expect to be able to carry out certain operations related to their fiscal file themselves, digitally.

The MyTax platform offers the following features:

• Online, 24/7 operations: need to request a reduction, an exoneration or a payment plan? It is now possible online on MyTax. It’s even possible to follow the progression of the request. Do you need an immediate response? You no longer need to go to a physical counter and wait in line. You can now use MyTax at any time.
• One single contact point for all taxpayers: all fiscal files and administrative procedures related to the property tax are now gathered in a single place.
• On-demand copies: no more wasting time looking for the copy of a document! You can download all your fiscal documents on MyTax.
• Customer self-service for taxpayers: you have a question on the property tax? Thanks to the complete FAQ and the Fixs chatbot, taxpayers can find answers to their questions, 24/7.

Access MyTax by clicking here. MyTax is also available as a free smartphone app, through the App Store and the Google Play Store.

To connect to MyTax, the user only needs their Belgian ID card and an Internet connection. If you don’t have a card reader, the Itsme app will let you login online through a smartphone.

Would you like to know more about the MyTax platform?

[email protected]

To support businesses within its territory, the Brussels-Capital Region offers them a whole series of subsidies, covering different stages of a company’s life: creation, location, installation, recruitment, investments, works, exports, etc.

A company wishing to benefit from such a subsidy must submit an application to Brussels Economy and Employment, the competent administration for this topic.

To simplify this procedure, Brussels Economy and Employment launched the digital platform MyBEE in December 2018. This platform is part of the reform of Brussels’ economic expansion aid, which came into force between December 2018 and September 2019, and aims in particular to modernize and strengthen aid by refocusing it on the needs of VSEs and SMEs.

MyBEE allows businesses to:

• Submit and manage subsidy applications online, without the need for a paper form.
• Continuously monitor the evolution of requests.
• Have an overview of all applications submitted.

In 2018, 5,323 subsidy applications were submitted, at the time in paper form, by Brussels entrepreneurs. The digitizing potential of the MyBEE platform is therefore considerable.

Throughout 2019, new subsidies were gradually added to MyBEE and were made available to companies in digital format.

Access MyBEE by clicking here.

Would you like to know more about the MyBEE platform?

Ibrahim Ban Abdellah

[email protected]

David De Ridder

[email protected]

Since July 2019, Vivaqua has been offering Brussels residents who so wish the opportunity to pay their water bills monthly, instead of a single annual payment.

This monthly payment is offered via the Doccle platform, a free service designed to be simple and accessible. Doccle allows you to view, pay and archive these monthly invoices, simplifying the process for users.

By November 2019, nearly 8% of Vivaqua users had switched to monthly billing.

For more information, visit Vivaqua’s website.

Would you like to know more about Vivaqua’s monthly invoicing?

[email protected]

Bruxelles Formation has designed an online management platform for individual vocational training (FPIE) and end-of-training work placements: formerenentreprise.brussels.

In order to participate in individual vocational training or an end-of-training work placement, companies must submit their request to Bruxelles Formation. The requests are reviewed from an administrative and learning perspective:

• the administrative information includes the requesting company, the learner and the organisational data for the request;
• the learning information relates to the tasks that the learner will have to complete within the company.

Until April 2019, requests were submitted to Bruxelles Formation in paper or email format. For Bruxelles Formation, this generated a large number of emails and led to repeated encoding of the same data, much back and forth to process requests, overprinting on paper and a significant workload in terms of filing. For the companies, it raised many questions about the documents to be completed, who to contact and the progress of the review process for requests.

The platform, developed and launched by Bruxelles Formation in May 2019, now offers the following advantages:

• Administrative simplification and time saving due to the automation of the submission and review process for requests: no need for repeated encoding of the same data, a better understanding of the nature of the information to be provided to Bruxelles Formation by companies.
• A significant reduction in the processing times for requests: the review of a properly submitted request could previously take up to 3 weeks. Now, it can be completed in 10 days or even less.
• Improved tracking of the progress of requests: transactional messages are sent to the companies and Bruxelles Formation to notify the stakeholders of progress.
• Intuitive and user friendly: the tool is easy to use and simplifies the task for users.
• Provides potential candidates for companies: Bruxelles Formation gives companies access to a candidate database containing the CVs of candidates likely to satisfy the companies’ requirements. Bruxelles Formation provides information about training courses that are shortly coming to an end and the contact persons.
• Submission of a request without a candidate by companies: companies can submit a request without a candidate which is sent to Actiris. Actiris, in line with its employment role, is likely to contact companies in order to submit potential candidates to them.
• Reduced environmental footprint: less paper consumed.

Click here to access the formerenentreprise.brussels platform.

Would you like more information about the online business tool?

Grégory Gere, Product Owner
+32 (0)2 371 76 29
[email protected]