The Belgian Supreme Court ruled that income derived from a received abnormal or gratuitous benefit constitutes a minimum tax base
If an intra-group transaction is considered as “abnormal or gratuitous” – i.e. not being arm’s length –, Belgian tax law prescribes a transfer pricing adjustment. An abnormal or gratuitous benefit received by a Belgian company from an affiliated enterprise cannot be offset against tax losses and other deductible items available to the Belgian company, such
Belgium – budgetary control 2016: reform of corporate tax regime announced
On 9 April 2016, the federal government reached an agreement on additional budgetary and recovery measures following the 2016 budgetary control exercise. To keep the budget on track, among others the following tax measures have been agreed: Reform of the Belgian corporate income tax regime. The corporate income tax regime will be reformed in order
Final list of tax havens published
On 10 and 11 March 2016, the final Royal Decrees regarding the revised list of tax havens that apply for the so-called dividends received deduction (‘DRD’) and the reporting obligation for payments (to tax havens) have been published in the Belgian Official Gazette. The Royal Decrees did not make any changes to the lists included in
European Commission proposes Anti-Tax Avoidance Package
On 28 January 2016, the EU Commission presented its Anti-Tax Avoidance Package. The continuing political will to address tax avoidance may result in the 100% consensus required by EU Member States to effect the proposed tax changes. The EU-28 governments will have to decide if they are willing to go further than the G20/OECD BEPS
Lists of tax havens revised
On 27 November 2015 the Council of Ministers revised the lists of tax havens that apply for the purposes of the so-called dividends-received deduction (‘DRD’) and the reporting obligation for payments (to tax havens). Two draft Royal Decrees have been approved that add or delete certain countries to or from the lists following changes to
Luxembourg, Cyprus and Seychelles removed from OECD’s list of uncooperative tax havens
On 30 October 2015, the OECD’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (‘Global Forum’) announced that Cyprus, Luxembourg and the Seychelles are no longer deemed to be non-compliant with the OECD Exchange of Information standard and assigned a new overall rating of ‘Largely Compliant’, following significant changes to their legal
Belgium: new agreement on Tax Shift
On 10 October 2015, the Belgian federal government reached a new agreement on the so-called “tax shift”. The tax shift is the shift from tax on labour to other taxes. The objectives of the tax shift are: To respect the budgetary engagements; A revival of the economy by creating more jobs; Reducing labour taxes to
Notional interest deduction rate for tax year 2017 is 1,131%
The Belgian NID rate for tax year 2017 (accounting years ending between 31 December 2016 and 30 December 2017, both dates included) would be 1,131%. For SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), the NID rate would be 1,631% for tax year 2017. According to article 205quater, §2 of the Belgian Income Tax Code (“BITC”), the NID
