A surcharge is due on the final amount of Belgian corporate income tax payable upon assessment in case a company doesn’t settle its Belgian corporate income taxes due by means of timely advance tax payments during the financial year concerned.
Please be advised that the global surcharge will be increased to 9% for assessment year 2025, (accounting periods starting as of 1 January 2024) whilst it was 6,75% for previous years.
Therefore, it is more than ever advisable to accelerate the timing of the advance tax payments with a view of managing the surcharge.
The advance tax payments needed to avoid the surcharge can be made in quarterly instalments entitling the company to a credit, which can be offset against the surcharge. This credit depends on the timing of payment: the sooner the advance tax payment is made, the higher the tax credit. If the total amount of credits exceeds the surcharge, no surcharge is due, but the excess is not further taken into account for the final tax computation. The taxpayer can choose to either have the excess reimbursed by the tax authorities or used as an advance tax payment for the next year.
Advance tax payments can be made no later than the 10th day of the fourth, seventh and tenth month of the financial year and the 20th day of the last month of the financial year. Consequently, the respective credits linked to the due dates to make an advance tax payment for a financial year ending on 31 December 2024 read as follows:
- 12% = payment received by the Belgian tax authorities on 10 April 2024 at the latest
- 10% = payment received by the Belgian tax authorities on 10 July 2024 at the latest
- 8% = payment received by the Belgian tax authorities on 10 October 2024 at the latest
- 6% = payment received by the Belgian tax authorities on 20 December 2024 at the latest
Considering the above, it is highly recommended to consider making an advance tax payment in the first quarter. Such first quarter advance tax payment generates a credit of 12% which means that a company should make less advance tax payments as compared to paying in a later quarter (e.g. the fourth quarter only gives rise to a credit of 6% of the advance tax payment made) in order to avoid a surcharge.
When calculating a company’s forecasted taxable basis for assessment year 2025, one should consider special transactions and exceptional events which may occur during the year.
How should you make the first advance tax payment?
Please note that there are now two options for proceeding to the payment of a first advance tax payment:
- Via bank transfer on the bank account of the Belgian tax authorities IBAN BE61 6792 0022 9117 (BIC: PCHQ BEBB). The payment procedure, including the structured communication to be used, remains the same as in prior years (even in case of a first advance tax payment);
- Also MyMinfin offers the possibility to generate a wire transfer with the required reference.
Finally it may however be important to note that in order to request for a refund, to request for a transfer of advance tax payments to a subsequent assessment year or to have an overview of the advance tax payments made in relation to a specific assessment year, the taxpayer needs to access a specific module on the MyMinfin platform (which requires a Belgian e-ID or a specific login tool like ‘Itsme’).
Note: Pillar 2 advance tax payments
As you probably already know, Belgium approved on 14 December 2023 the final law introducing a minimum tax for multinational companies and large domestic groups (‘Pillar 2 law’). The law includes a coordinated system of rules designed to ensure that large (domestic/MNE) groups with a consolidated revenue exceeding EUR 750 million for at least two of the four previous years, are subject to a minimum effective tax rate of 15%.
In the Pillar 2 law, Belgium introduces a domestic minimum top up tax ((Q)DMTT) and includes Pillar 2 in the existing tax prepayment schedule. As a result of this, companies in scope of Pillar 2 will be required to consider advance tax payments specifically for Pillar 2.
The system of advance tax payments which is already applicable for the Belgian corporate income tax wil, to a certain extent, also apply to the new minimum effective tax.
In the event that no advance tax payments would be made, an increase of 9% would thus be due on the new minimum effective tax due for assessment year 2025. However, specifically for assessment year 2025, a tolerance is provided on the basis of which all advance tax payments will be deemed to have been made during the first quarter (i.e. a credit of 12% will be applied on the amounts paid) for all payments made before 20 December 2024.
Consequently, the credit linked to the due dates to make an advance tax payment for a financial year ending on 31 March 2025 are as follows:
- 12% = payment received by the Belgian tax authorities on 20 December 2024 at the latest;
- 8% = payment received by the Belgian tax authorities on 10 January 2025 at the latest;
- 6% = payment received by the Belgian tax authorities on 20 March 2025 at the latest.
How can we help?
Our experts are ready to assist you in:
- Computing and optimizing the advance tax payments to be made for assessment year 2025 in relation to Belgian corporate income tax; and/or
- Providing further guidance on how to access/use the specific module on the MyMinFin platform, and/or
- Providing further information on the application of the minimum effective tax rate of 15% and the calculation thereof in order to compute and optimize the advance tax payments to be made in relation to the 15% minimum effective tax rate.
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: Tim Pieters – Karl Struyf – Koen De Grave for Pillar 2.
