On 28 July 2025, the Belgian tax authorities issued a circular letter, providing guidance on the amendments to Article 444 of the Belgian Income Tax Code (WIB 92) introduced by the Programme Law of 18 July 2025.
The revised rules, applicable to tax assessments issued from 29 July 2025 onwards, introduce a rebuttable presumption of good faith for taxpayers committing a first offence without intent to evade tax.
Key takeaways include:
- For a first offense, if committed in good faith and without intent to evade taxes, the tax increase is waived. Good faith is presumed for the taxpayer in the case of a first offense (when no similar offence has been committed in the preceding 4 assessment years), unless the tax authorities can prove otherwise. This presumption does not apply in cases of ex-officio assessment (where the tax authorities estimate the tax due because the taxpayer failed to file its tax return).
- The severity and recurrence of offenses affect the percentage of the tax increase. The first offense (without intent to evade) is generally exempt from a penalty, the second offense is penalised at 20%, the third at 30%, and from the fourth offense onwards, the penalties are more severe. If the offense is committed with intent to evade taxes, the increases/penalties are much higher (starting at 50% for the first offense).
- Even when no tax increase is applied, first time infringements will still be taken into account for determining the level of tax increases/penalties for future infractions;
- The same principles also apply to (payroll) withholding taxes.
Taxpayers should ascertain that:
- When similar offenses of the same nature and severity are simultaneously established for multiple due dates, years, or assessment years for one and the same taxpayer (for example: an audit covers multiple assessment years), only one offense is retained. The corresponding increase percentage should then be applied to each of the involved due dates, years, or assessment years.
- Any application of a tax increase is properly motivated and explained including the legal basis, the nature and seriousness of the offense, and its order.
- With the upcoming filing due date of 30 September 2025 the corporate income tax return for Assessment year 2025 is duly filed, complete with the required mandatory enclosures (including the reports to and of the annual shareholders meeting) to avoid an ex-officio taxation which would still imply a tax penalty or increase. We also refer to our recent alert in this respect.
- For assessments received before 29 July 2025 a careful ad hoc analysis should be made relying on favourable jurisprudence to manage the best possible outcome.
This circular provides welcome clarity for taxpayers. If you would like to explore the implications of this circular in more detail, you can reach out to Tim Pieters or Karl Struyf or your regular PwC contact.
