Company-provided family allowance – exempted from social security contributions
Companies can, for example within a flexible reward plan, opt to grant their employees (with children) a so-called ‘family allowance’, which is an additional child benefit on top of the statutory child allowance. Recently, the Belgian Supreme Court has decided that such allowances are not to be considered as “salary” for social security purposes. Consequently,
PwC’s dialogue with Private Equity investors reveals growing interest in responsible investment
There is a growing need for General Partners (GPs) to demonstrate responsible investment behaviour and manage their exposure to environmental, social and governance (‘ESG’) risks in their engagement with Limited Partners (LPs). This trend is also based on the belief that addressing ESG factors will protect value by either improving returns or reducing risk. PwC’s
Final list of tax havens published
On 10 and 11 March 2016, the final Royal Decrees regarding the revised list of tax havens that apply for the so-called dividends received deduction (‘DRD’) and the reporting obligation for payments (to tax havens) have been published in the Belgian Official Gazette. The Royal Decrees did not make any changes to the lists included in
EU Member States reach agreement on mandatory automatic exchange of financial information on country-by-country reporting (CbCR)
On 8 March 2016, the Member States of the European Union reached a political agreement on the automatic exchange of country-by-country reporting (CbCR) at a meeting of the Ministers of Economic and Financial Affairs in Brussels. The CbC reports contain tax-related financial information of multinational companies. The agreement is, however, still subject to the scrutiny
30% ruling and 150 km rule: no systematic overcompensation according to Dutch Supreme Court
According to the Dutch Supreme Court, the 150 kilometre criterion under the 30% ruling for employees hired from abroad (expats) is EU proof. The limits of the ruling (the ‘30% of the taxable base’ and the ‘150 kilometre distance from the Dutch border’) were set in such a way that the 30% ruling does not
The Rulings Commission publishes ruling request templates
The Belgian Rulings Commission has recently published ruling request templates. These templates have been prepared in an effort (i) to facilitate access to tax rulings and (ii) for transparency purposes. Ruling request templates have been made available in Dutch and in French for the following relevant transactions: Mergers, Partial demergers, Contribution of a line of
The Belgian Savings Deposits again before the Court of Justice!
After having been sentenced in 2013 for ‘discriminatory’ tax treatment, the since then modified prima facie non-discriminatory legislation comes back before the CJEU, as a ‘restrictive’ measure this time. On a side note, the question arises whether some other Belgian provisions might actually constitute equally applicable measures with restrictive effects infringing some of the EU