COVID-19 #1 Debt waiver: beware for a tax cash out
Next to having a huge impact on our personal and family lives, the outbreak and spreading of the coronavirus (COVID-19) is likely to result in a slowdown of economies across the globe. In the coming weeks, we will keep you informed on various tax (re)structuring related topics that may help you in combating the virus
Articles 442bis BITC and 93undeciesB VAT-code abolished and replaced
On 30 April 2019, a law of 13 April 2019 was published in the Belgian Official Gazette, introducing a new “Code of the amicable and enforced collection of tax and non-tax debts”. This new legislation entered into force on 1 January 2020 (Article 139 of the law).The idea behind the new code is the harmonization
Tax neutral merger possible in Belgium in case of negative accounting net equity
When a merger is performed between two Belgian legal entities whereby the acquired company has a negative accounting net equity, the question pops-up whether such merger is possible and feasible to perform tax-free. Given that Belgian law does not explicitly require a positive net equity, it can be assumed a contrario that a merger should
Limitation of tax losses in case of partial demerger
A partial demerger is a transaction whereby part of the assets and liabilities of the partially demerged company are transferred to another (acquiring) company, which (in principle) issues shares to the parent company of the partially demerged company. In case of a tax-neutral partial demerger, the carried forward tax losses of the partially demerged company
Asymmetric debt-equity swap: Court of Appeal rules in favor of tax authorities
On 26 February 2019, the Court of Appeal of Ghent ruled on the income tax treatment of an asymmetric debt-equity swap. The Court decided that both the contributing company and receiving company have to apply the same value. In the case at hand, a company A had a receivable of 1000 on its subsidiary B,
Positive ruling on deductibility of interest costs on loans contracted in order to finance capital reduction in case of an ‘over-capitalised’ company
The Belgian ruling office recently published a positive decision deciding that interest costs related to the intercompany loan are deductible for tax purposes since the costs are borne by the company with the purpose to preserve or generate taxable income. In the case at hand, a factoring company with ‘an excessive amount of equity’ is
Loss limitation in case of a tax neutral merger: Supreme Court dots the i’s and crosses the t’s
Carried forward tax losses of both the absorbed and absorbing company are subject to limitation upon a tax neutral merger. As regards tax losses of the absorbing company, it is generally accepted by tax practitioners that the loss limitation rule only applies to prior year tax losses (i.e. losses reported in the latest tax return
Negative ruling highlights pitfalls of pre-deal carve-outs through partial demergers
In a recent decision, the Belgian ruling office rejected a pre-deal carve-out of real estate through a tax neutral partial demerger followed by a tax exempt transfer of shares of the operating company. Though the ruling does not particularly divulge novel views, it has the merit of highlighting common pitfalls related to these type of
