Last Friday, 8 December, the Council of Ministers reached an agreement on the final details of the major tax reform announced earlier in July 2017. This agreement comes after the advice from the Council of State and will in the coming weeks be debated in Parliament. The final acts are expected to be published by the end of December.
An important part of the measures will enter into force on 1 January 2018, starting with the decrease in the corporate tax rate of 33% to 29% and to 25% as from 2020. Corporate tax consolidation would already be possible as from 2019, i.e. one year earlier then first announced. On the other hand, also the implementation of the ATAD I and II Directives into Belgian legislation (i.e. rules on interest limitation, CFC, exit taxation and hybrid mismatches) would be advanced with one year to 2019.
From a personal income tax perspective, one of the last changes made increases the new exemption for dividends to 800 EUR as from 2019, compared to the initial exemption of 627 EUR for 2018. Though not retroactive, anti-abuse measures will have to ascertain that the estimated return from the annual tax of 0,15% on securities accounts equal to or exceeding 500,000 EUR is reached.
Finally, on another note, the Council also reached an agreement on the cash for car regime. In addition, by the end of January, draft legislation is expected on a mobility budget.
Join us on Monday 11 December at 16:00 CET for our next Webinar during which we will discuss the latest details on the corporate tax reform! You can register here.
Regular updates can also be found on our tax reform website.
For any specific questions you can contact your local PwC contact, Evi Geerts or Philippe Vanclooster.
