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
EU Member States reach agreement on mandatory automatic exchange of financial information on country-by-country reporting (CbCR)
On 8 March 2016, the Member States of the European Union reached a political agreement on the automatic exchange of country-by-country reporting (CbCR) at a meeting of the Ministers of Economic and Financial Affairs in Brussels. The CbC reports contain tax-related financial information of multinational companies. The agreement is, however, still subject to the scrutiny
The Rulings Commission publishes ruling request templates
The Belgian Rulings Commission has recently published ruling request templates. These templates have been prepared in an effort (i) to facilitate access to tax rulings and (ii) for transparency purposes. Ruling request templates have been made available in Dutch and in French for the following relevant transactions: Mergers, Partial demergers, Contribution of a line of
The Belgian Savings Deposits again before the Court of Justice!
After having been sentenced in 2013 for ‘discriminatory’ tax treatment, the since then modified prima facie non-discriminatory legislation comes back before the CJEU, as a ‘restrictive’ measure this time. On a side note, the question arises whether some other Belgian provisions might actually constitute equally applicable measures with restrictive effects infringing some of the EU
MiFID II entry into force delayed for one year!
On 10 February 2016, the Commission has proposed a one-year extension for the entry into force of the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, i.e. MiFID II. Given the previous statements by ESMA Chairman, Steven Maijoor and MiFID II Rapporteur, Markus Ferber, the proposed extension does not come as a surprise. The reason for the
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
Insurance Distribution Directive published in Official Journal of the EU
Directive (EU) 2016/97 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 January 2016 on insurance distribution was published in the Official Journal on 2 February 2016. 1. In general The Directive (EU) 2016/97 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 January 2016 on insurance distribution (IDD) (previously named ‘Insurance Mediation
IFRS 16 – Leases Standard
The International Accounting Standards Board (‘IASB’) announced a new leasing standard that will come into effect on 1 January 2019 (earlier application permitted for accounting periods ending on or after 1 January 2017). This new standard requires lessees to recognise nearly all leases– with an exemption for short-term and low-value asset leases – on the
