Fraud can undermine the binding nature of an A1 form
On 6 February, the Court of Justice of the EU presented its highly anticipated judgement in the case n° C-359/16 ‘Altun’. In its judgement, the CJEU ruled that, in case of posting, the courts of the host Member State can disregard an A1 form issued by the competent authorities of the home Member State provided
Newcomers statement and obligation to prove integration – continued
Due to a technical legislative mistake the Belgian Official Gazette published again on 8 February 2017 (it was also published on 26 January) the text regarding the Act imposing the ‘newcomers statement’ and the obligation to prove integration. The newcomers statement concerns the statement whereby the signer pledges to respect and comply with the values
Important changes to Overseas Social Security System
The Belgian Federal Government has drafted a Royal Decree modifying the system of Overseas Social Security substantially. The changes will apply to the pension pillar, which constitutes the cornerstone of Overseas Social Security. The Royal Decree was scheduled to enter into force on 1 February 2017, but we were recently informed by the authorities that
New legislation on posting of employees adopted by the Belgian Chamber of Representatives
In the Belgian Official Gazette of December 20th, the Act of December 11th, 2016 laying down several provisions with respect to the posting of employees was published. This Act transposes the Enforcement Directive 2014/67/EU (“Enforcement Directive”) of the Posting Directive 96/71/EC (“Posting Directive”) into Belgian law and includes, among other measures, a number of additional
Increase of purchasing power of employees for 2016 and 2017
We hereby inform you that the industrial partners have concluded a new sectoral agreement for Joint Committee (JC) 200 for the years 2016 and 2017. This JC replaces the previous JC 218 and is applicable to your firm in Belgium. After the index leap and the limited maximum margin for wage increase for 2014 and 2015 (see
Progress regarding implementation of Single (work and residence) Permit Directive
The EU Single Permit Directive 2011/98/EU requires the member states to adopt a single combined work and residence permit application procedure, and it needed to be transposed into national legislation by 23 December 2013. In Belgium, the implementation of the Directive suffered quite some delay. The reason for this is that the residence permit related
End of year is approaching: rules of the game for gift vouchers
One option to reward employees in a tax-friendly manner at the end of this year is to provide them with a gift, i.e. gifts in kind or in cash, or vouchers for books, sporting and cultural events, movies, etc. As a general rule, gifts are in principle considered as remuneration and thus subject to social
Indexation of minimum required salary for work permit of highly-qualified and managerial employees
In order to obtain a Belgian work permit for individuals in the capacity of highly qualified or managerial employees, a specific minimum salary has to be observed, as provided under Belgian immigration law. This minimum salary is indexed every year. Our office was informed by the immigration authorities of the Brussels Region about the indexation of
