Ruling: guidance on how amendments to an existing ruling are treated
In its last newsletter published on 13 July, the Belgian Rulings Office has given an interesting clarification on how requests to obtain an amendment to an advance decision (so-called ‘Avenants’) will be treated. This often refers to situations where after the decision was granted certain critical facts change and that comfort is sought on the
Belgian UBO-register on its way
According to the fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (2015/849), adopted by the European Parliament on 20 May 2015, one of the obligations of all EU Member States was to establish a national register of ultimate beneficial owners (UBO) before 26 June 2017. Through the introduction of this register, the Member States will have an additional tool
Rulings Office releases 2016 Annual Report
The latest annual report of the Belgian Ruling Office was issued on June 21st. Looking at the statistics, it is clear that 2016 was a positive year with an increase in both the number of rulings granted and the number of pre-filing meetings held. The increase in the number of positive decisions combined with the
OECD releases the draft contents of the 2017 update to the OECD Model Tax Convention
The OECD announced that earlier this week, on 11 July 2017, the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs released the draft contents of the 2017 update to the OECD Model Tax Convention (‘MTC’) prepared by the Committee’s Working Party 1. The draft contents of the 2017 update to the OECD MTC has not yet been approved by
2017 edition of the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations
On 10 July 2017, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) announced that it released the 2017 edition of the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations (OECD TPG). The 2017 edition is a consolidated version of the various changes resulting from the OECD/G20 BEPS Project. In this respect, in particular the following
EU Parliament adopts resolution on public CbCR
In the fight to crack down on corporate tax avoidance, the European Parliament has voted in plenary that multinational companies should disclose tax information in each country they operate. Consequently, multinationals with a worldwide turnover of minimum EUR 750 million should publicly disclose how much tax they pay and where, including taxes paid outside the EU. Large firms
Catch-all clause: new practice note
Article 228, §3 BITC has been amended by the Act of 18 December 2016. The amendments brought retroactively enter into force on 1 July 2016. These changes are commented in the practice note of 30 June 2017. In a previous newsflash, we summarised the main changes brought by the recent legislative change. The practice note
Ruling Office “up and running again”
On 28 April 2017, the Belgian Council of State annulled the nomination of the French-speaking Board members of the Ruling Office, due to a complaint by a previous Board member (see our newsflash of 8 May 2017). As a result of the judgment, the Ruling Office was not able to take any formal decisions because
