The EU is preparing for an overhaul of the EU’s energy market: Flemish and EU incentives can help companies thrive in this new energy landscape
Europe is currently facing a double energy crisis. On the one hand, the geopolitical tensions with Russia have substantially reduced the supply of natural gas, putting into jeopardy the block’s ability to meet its energy demand. On the other hand, climate change and the need for a more sustainable energy future has become a pressing
Mergers and (partial) demergers in case of negative net equity
Mergers and (partial) demergers in case of negative net equity Although nothing in Belgian company law or tax legislation explicitly indicates that companies with a negative net equity are not allowed to participate in a merger (or demerger or partial demerger), legal doctrine is divided as to whether such a transaction is possible if
Country-by-country reporting goes public!
On 1 June 2021, representatives of the European Parliament and the Council under EU Portuguese Presidency negotiated a Draft Directive on public country-by-country reporting (‘Public CbCR’) for big multinational groups. They provisionally reached a compromise agreement. Once this political agreement is endorsed, it requires European or non-European multinational groups or standalone undertakings to publicly disclose
Debt waivers without a tax cash out (?)
Last week, Belgian Minister of Finance Van Peteghem announced to extend the scope of the existing Belgian tax exemption for debt waivers to non-judicial debt reorganizations. This is very relevant for debt restructurings involving Belgian debtors, especially as the 2018 Belgian tax reform introduced a cap on the amount of certain tax attributes (such as
Brexit does not only impact fishing territories but also M&A transactions
During the holidays and after lengthy negotiations, the EU and the UK agreed on a Brexit – deal. As foreseen, on 1 January 2021, the transition period during which the UK was still considered a Member State of the EU and European Economic Area (EEA) has ended. Among a variety of topics, this is
New solidarity tax on security accounts?
Although the text is still in an early draft phase and still needs to be approved by the council of ministers, it was made public in the press that the idea of the new security tax seems to be a tax on the ownership of security accounts. The text of the pre-proposal is not yet
High net worth individuals on the radar of Vivaldi!
One of the measures announced by the newly formed government (“the Vivaldi coalition”) is the taxation of the major financial transactions (“MFTT”). Although only the main principles of this tax are known at this stage, the purpose would be to tax high net worth individuals. The impact of the tax is estimated between 150 to
Carry-back of losses: law published – listen to our podcast
On 1 July 2020, the law on the temporary tax exemption of profits in anticipation of tax losses realized in the COVID-19 period (the so-called tax loss “carry-back” system) was published in the Belgian Official Gazette. The new law aims to strengthen the liquidity and solvency of companies that were in a sound condition but
