Amendments to the Parent-Subsidiary Directive implemented under Belgian tax law
On 1 December 2016, a Bill was published in the official Belgian Gazette implementing into Belgian tax law two amendments to the Parent-Subsidiary Directive. The first amendment to the Parent-Subsidiary Directive aims at tackling situations which would result in ‘double non-taxation’ by introducing a rule against hybrid instruments. Under this new rule, dividends received by
Fund structuring – Impact of BEPS
One of the most important decision-making factors that an asset manager (General Partner – GP) considers in setting up a fund is to ensure that the investment structure is tax neutral for its investor (Limiter Partners – LPs) and provides for the most reliable regulatory framework. The complexity of setting up international investment vehicles pooling
Allocation of acquisition debt: economic rationale is key!
In today’s tax world, having a strong economic rationale to support an entity’s leverage is key. In our recent experience, the tax authorities look at a company’s gearing in 3 ways: Business purpose test: what is the motivation for each entity taking a loan? TP principles: Is the interest rate at arm’s length considering the
Is your upper-tier structure BEPS-proof?
The OECD BEPS Action Plan and parallel developments impact each layer of a multinational structure, including the upper tier. Specifically, having insufficient relevant substance at upper tier level could cause your return on investment to decrease significantly (by up to 25% based on the current Belgian withholding tax rate). On top, we expect that the
OECD recommendations on BEPS proposals for G20 and wider take-up
On 5 October 2015, multinational enterprises (“MNEs”) received final recommendations from the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (“BEPS”) project. This week, the G20 Finance Ministers are likely to agree on these OECD recommended changes to the international tax rules and to implementation plans. A number of non-G20 countries have also been involved in work
Belgian Court of Appeal: substance is also key for VAT
In the case at hand, the Belgian Court of Appeal ruled that a Luxembourg transportation company had an establishment in Belgium for VAT purposes as the company was mostly operating from Belgium and had limited substance in Luxembourg. Consequently, the Luxembourg company had to apply Belgian VAT on its operations. This judgment is in line
