De Wever I – Federal government agreement – Main considerations from a tax perspective
Further to the new Belgian federal government agreement which was reached on 31 January 2025, various new tax measures and related changes can be expected soon. Hereafter we will provide you with a (non-exhaustive) overview of the key changes included in said agreement. Note that all of these announced measures can still be subject to
New Belgian Federal Government Agreement and Upcoming Tax Reform and its impact on Entrepreneurship & Economic Climate in Belgium
On January 31, 2025, Belgium presented a new federal government agreement announcing major tax policy changes that will affect entrepreneurship and competitiveness. Some first key highlights based on the info currently available: Competitiveness: labour costs for low and middle incomes will be reduced, but the impact might be mitigated due to updated compensation practices related
Belgian Minister of Finance confirms intention to mandate B2B e-invoicing
In his policy note, the Belgian Minister of Finance, Mr Van Peteghem, confirmed the intention to gradually make electronic invoicing mandatory for businesses-to-business (B2B) transactions. The measure is aimed at reducing the Belgian VAT gap, which is the difference between the expected VAT revenues and the VAT revenues that are effectively collected. For the year
Reduced VAT rates for online newspapers, magazines and e-books have been approved in last session of the Federal Parliament
As from 1 April 2019 reduced VAT rates for online newspapers, magazines and e-books are applicable in Belgium. The EU Council has agreed in October 2018 on a VAT Directive to allow the EU Member States to apply a reduced (or even 0%) VAT rate to electronic publications, in order to modernise VAT for the digital economy
Solutions for mandate e-invoicing and Making Tax Digital
The challenge As you may be well aware by now, as from 1 January 2019, e-invoicing becomes mandatory for transactions carried out between taxpayers resident or established for VAT purposes in Italy. This means that as from this date, your IT solution needs to exchange e-invoices in a specified XML format, bidirectionally through the government run Interchange System (so-called
No VAT deduction on deal fees for an intended (not realized) sale of shares
The holding company C&D Foods Acquisition, part of the Arovit group, incurred deal fees in relation to an envisaged but not realised sale of all shares of its sub-subsidiary. C&D Foods acquisition provided taxable services to its sub-subsidiary and claimed input VAT deduction on the costs incurred. The CJEU referred to the Becker case (C-104/12,
VAT deduction on deal fees for an aborted transaction
Ryanair incurred considerable deal fees in relation to an envisaged takeover of a competitor. The takeover failed. Ryanair claimed input VAT deduction on the professional costs incurred based on its intention to perform taxable transactions with input VAT credit. In relation to deal fees, generally, input VAT deduction is allowed if management services against consideration
VAT deduction on the services linked to the sale of shares: positive arrest of the Court of Appeal
The sale of shares is exempt from VAT and therefore the VAT authorities generally reject the VAT deduction on the costs linked to such sale. This position was moderated by the CJEU (Skatteverket c/ AB SKF Case, C-29/08), who confirmed that there is a right to deduct input VAT on the costs related to a
