Since 2010 Belgian companies and permanent establishments of foreign companies must report in their annual tax return all (direct and indirect) payments they have made to tax havens (art. 307 ITC 1992) for a total of EUR 100,000 or more. If they are not reported, these payments are not tax deductible. When reported, such payments are only tax deductible if the taxpayer can justify that …
Belgium updates list of tax havens
In two Royal Decrees dated 1 March 2016 (published in the Belgian State Gazettes of 10 and 11 March 2016), the Minister of Finance has updated the list of countries which are deemed to have an advantageous tax regime. The first list relates to the participation exemption, the basis for the Belgian holding company regime.Ā OneĀ of the conditions for the participation exemption or dividend received deduction …
Switzerland, as a direct democracy, organises about five referendums every year. Ā On Sunday, Swiss voters have rejected proposals to restrict immigration and to abolish the favourable tax regime for wealthy foreigners living in Switzerland. The major issue in the referendum of 30 November was the initiative āSave Our Swiss Goldā, that would have obliged the government to increase its gold reserves, and to shore up …
Belgium adapts legislation to take account of personal and family circumstances
On 11 September 2015, the tax authorities published an addendum to Practice NoteĀ Ci.RH.331/575.420Ā (AOIF 8/2008) with respect to the granting of benefits linked to a taxpayer’s personal or family situation. The addendum is issued in response to a reasoned opinion issued by the European Commission on 16 July. The Commission asked Belgium to adapt its rules on tax benefits connected to the personal or family situation …
Belgium lists Luxembourg and Cyprus as tax havens …
… but says not to take it too seriously. The tax authorities have published an addendum to their practice note Ci.RH.421/607.890 (AAFisc nr. 64/2010) to comment on the list of states that have not effectively or substantially implemented the OECD exchange of information standard. Since 1 January 2010 Belgian companies and permanent establishments of foreign companies must report in their annual tax return all (direct …
Belgium reorganises audits of large enterprises
On 1 July 2015, theĀ Ministry of FinanceĀ has set up 7 regional offices āLarge Enterprisesā that will be in charge of the audit and the dispute resolution for some 15,000 large enterprises and non-profit organisations.Ā As of 1 July 2016, the Ministry will stop auditing these large enterprises based on the type of tax due (company income tax, VAT) and organise audits on the basis of …
European Commission refers Belgian to European Court of Justice
On 18 June 2015 the European CommissionĀ announcedĀ that it is referring Belgium to the Court of Justice of the European Union because it taxes Belgian residents differently on property abroad and at home. If a Belgian resident earns income from property located abroad, that is taxed at a higher value than that from comparable property in Belgium. The Commission does not criticize the way Belgium assesses …
About shifty tax shifts
The buzz word in Belgian politics these days is ātax shiftā. Forget about reducing taxes or cutting expenditure, the tax burden is to be shifted. The question is how and where. For many years, AmCham Belgium has been lobbying the government to reduce employment costs. As Eurostatās figures show, Belgium has theĀ highest labor cost within the eurozone, and within the EU, Belgium comes second after …
Report your overseas bank accounts online
Since today you can declare your overseas bank accounts online with the Central Point of Contact National Bank of Belgium. Why? Belgium has banking secrecy rules that prevented the tax administration from asking banks for information about Belgian taxpayers.Ā In 2011, Parliament made it easier for the taxman to set these rules aside in certain situations (see below, What is left of the banking secrecy?) However, …
Belgium publishes draft FATCA Guidelines
On 4 May 2015, the Belgian tax administration released a draft of its FATCA guidelines on its e-services web page (http://financien.belgium.be/nl/E-services/fatca). FATCA orĀ Foreign Account Tax Compliance ActĀ is US legislation that targets global tax evasion by US citizens. FATCA requires financial institutions outside the United States to send certain information about their clients who are US citizens, to the US tax authorities, the IRS. On 23 …