OECD releases public discussion draft on the multilateral instrument to implement the tax treaty related BEPS measures and asks the public for input
On 31 May 2016, the OECD released its public discussion draft on Action 15 (Development of a Multilateral Instrument to Implement the Tax Treaty related BEPS Measures) of the BEPS Action Plan. Action 15 of the OECD’s BEPS Action Plan called for the development of a multilateral instrument in order to allow countries to swiftly amend their
Country-by-Country Reporting approved, Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive vote postponed
On 25 May 2016, the EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) approved the implementation of the Country-by-Country Reporting (CbCR) rules for multinational companies. However, the vote on the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD) proposal of the European Commission was postponed to the next council’s meeting, taking place on 17 June 2016. The directive implementing the
Preparing your business for imminent new reporting obligations
Belgian entities of foreign- or Belgian-headquartered multinational groups with annual revenues exceeding 50 million euros need to assess whether they will be subject to the transfer pricing documentation obligations that will be introduced soon. Given the increased scrutiny, it’s also imperative to check the consistency of transfer pricing arrangements with actual conduct. Three layers of
EU Commission Notice on notion of State aid
On 19 May 2016, the EU Commission (EC) published its final Notice on the notion of State aid. The Notice updates the EC’s Notice on the application of the State aid rules to various measures including those relating to direct business taxation (98/C 384/03), which essentially sets out the EC’s view on how State aid
New single annual bank tax announced
On Friday the 13th, the Council of Ministers approved a draft bill of law establishing a new single annual bank tax replacing four different existing taxes, with a view to a better distribution of the tax burden between small and large banks. Overall, it leads to a tax increase of EUR 55 million. As a
European Commission proposes an EU Directive on public Country-by-Country reporting
As already referred to in our newsflash of 13 April 2016, the European Commission has developed a proposal for a directive which, if approved by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers, will require public country-by-country reporting (CbCR) of tax and other financial data by large companies in the European Union (EU). The proposed directive will amend the existing
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
