Latest news & developments
Circular letter on exit taxation
On 11 August 2017, an administrative circular letter was issued with respect to the Belgian exit taxation rules. Belgium amended, via the Act of 1 December 2016, the Belgian tax provisions on exit taxation largely in line with the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD) requirements on exit taxation. More precisely, the Act introduced amongst others the option
Insights into the EU proposal on mandatory disclosure of tax information by taxpayers and intermediaries
The European Commission, on 21 June 2017, published a draft Directive that would impose mandatory reporting by taxpayers and intermediaries to the tax administrations of EU Member States for various cross-border transactions and arrangements, and the automatic exchange of this information among Member States (see previous coverage). Taxpayers and intermediaries (such as consultants, banks, and
Legislation reform inheritance law published
On Friday 1 September 2017, the legislation concerning the reform of inheritance law was published in the Official Gazette. Belgian inheritance law, still mainly derived from the Napoleonic Code of 1804, will be updated due to the publication of these new texts. The three main topics of the reform are the following: Modification of the
Insights into the OECD final report on branch mismatch structures
The OECD, on 27 July 2017, released its report, Neutralising the Effects of Branch Mismatch Arrangements Action 2 (see previous coverage). The report recommends domestic law changes to neutralise the effect of certain payments or deemed payments involving branches. These recommendations are not a minimum standard, but some countries may choose to adopt all or
Act published modifying the Belgian Net Asset Tax
Update – As announced in our Newsflash of 27 June 2017, the Belgian annual tax on undertakings for collective investment (the Belgian ‘Net Asset Tax’ or ‘NAT’) would be adapted with the following measures: Introduction of a reduced tax rate of 0.01% on institutional share classes of foreign undertakings for collective investment (provided the units
Refund requests of Belgian WHT filed by non-residents: administrative guidance published
The Belgian tax administration has just published on its website a guidance (FR/NL) related to refund requests of Belgian WHT on dividends, interest and royalties filed by non-resident taxpayers. In particular, the Belgian tax administration has made a distinction between refund requests of Belgian WHT based on Double Tax Treaties and those based on Belgian
