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
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
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
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
Belgium – Reduced dividend withholding tax rate of 1.6995% for minority corporate shareholders
The Belgian withholding tax act has been recently modified as a result of the European ‘Tate & Lyle’ case. The new Act limits the withholding tax on dividends distributed to foreign minority corporate shareholders by Belgian companies to 1.6995% instead of 27%, if certain conditions are met. In 2012, the European Court of Justice ruled that the Belgian dividend
Lists of tax havens revised
On 27 November 2015 the Council of Ministers revised the lists of tax havens that apply for the purposes of the so-called dividends-received deduction (‘DRD’) and the reporting obligation for payments (to tax havens). Two draft Royal Decrees have been approved that add or delete certain countries to or from the lists following changes to
Belgium: new agreement on Tax Shift
On 10 October 2015, the Belgian federal government reached a new agreement on the so-called “tax shift”. The tax shift is the shift from tax on labour to other taxes. The objectives of the tax shift are: To respect the budgetary engagements; A revival of the economy by creating more jobs; Reducing labour taxes to
