Belgian companies having a 31 December year-end should deposit their statutory BEGAAP financial statements with the National Bank of Belgium (“NBB”) at the latest by 31 July 2025. Late filing results in a number of negative consequences from a financial, director’s liability and corporate income tax perspective (see below).
If the company’s statutory financial statements are not yet to be finalized and filed, urgent action is required.
Late filing of the statutory financial statements results in a number of consequences:
- increased filing costs are being charged by the NBB as from the ninth month after the company’s financial year-end closing (i.e. as from September);
- potential director’s liability may arise for mismanagement and violation of the articles of association and the Code on Companies and Associations;
- any interested party, the Public Prosecutor or a business investigation chamber may claim the dissolution of a company before the Commercial Court (however, the court may grant a regularization period).
Also, the annual corporate income tax return due date of 30 September 2025 is approaching rapidly. Filing a complete timely and well-documented tax return is important to safeguard deductions and tax incentives applied and avoid unnecessary scrutiny by the Belgian tax authorities.
To qualify as a complete return a copy of the duly dated and signed corporate legal documents i.e. annual report of the Board of Directors, Report of the Statutory Auditor and Minutes of the Annual General Shareholders meeting need to be included. If not yet published it is best practice to also include a copy of the approved statutory financial statements.
Please be informed that, the Belgian Tax Authorities have stepped up their efforts in taking measures to enhance (filing) compliance. In this respect, we wish to emphasize that -in case of late or incomplete filing of a Belgian corporate income tax return- the Belgian tax authorities can impose several sanctions, namely:
- an ex-officio assessment, in which case the burden of proof shifts towards the taxpayer;
- an administrative penalty;
- an increase of the taxes and possible refusal to off-set tax attributes;
- an extension with one year of the investigation and assessment period.
We experience that the filing of an incomplete corporate income tax return, de facto based on provisional figures, is a driver for Belgian tax authorities to initiate an in-depth corporate income tax audit (often combined with VAT) which very often requires a significant investment to reconcile financial data in order to be able to sustain the reliability of the accounting records and to respond to the queries of the Belgian tax authorities’ audit team in short notice.
How can we help?
Our experts are ready to assist you with:
- The year-end closing and preparation of the statutory BEGAAP financial statements;
- The preparation of a well-documented tax return and the transfer pricing form 275 LF if applicable;
- A discussion on and the assessment of the tax audit readiness of the company.
Please feel free to contact your regular contact person to discuss the above. He/she will be happy to support you or refer you to one of our specialists if needed.
Contacts: Joeri Aertssen – Karl Struyf – Stefaan Dewachter
