In our headline of headline of 22 January 2019 we informed you about the fact that the parliamentary finance commission has approved the draft law introducing a reporting and wage withholding tax obligation in the hands of Belgian employer/companies, in case affiliated foreign companies grant taxable benefits to employees or company directors working for a Belgian company.
Once adopted by the parliament in plenary session, the Belgian employer will thus have the obligation to report any grant made by such foreign company to its employees/directors.
Based on the initial draft legislation, taxable benefits granted in 2018 would already need to be reported on the 2018 salary statement (to be submitted with the Belgian tax authorities by 1 March 2019 at the latest).
By way of update, we can inform you that amendments were introduced. Based on these amendments it now seems that the anticipated reporting for income year 2018 will be abolished and that the withholding tax obligation for the income taxable in 2019 will only enter into force as from 1 March 2019. Of course, taxable benefits granted as from 1 January up to 28 February 2019 (period still without a withholding tax obligation) will need to be reported on the 2019 salary statement (fiche 281.10/281.10), which will need to be submitted with the Belgian tax authorities in 2020.
Please note that the above still needs to be approved by the parliament.
