Belgium needs to shore up its finance, lower tax rates, and introduce better eco tax measures, in order to protect itself from future economic disturbances. Throughout the financial turmoil of recent years, Belgium has been praised for its handling of the downturn, having felt only a relatively minor impact from the disturbances, which was followed by a quick recovery. However the country is now at an impasse, seeing its debt-to-GDP ratio increase to 97 percent, which is putting an indefinite delay on the ... Read More

Belgian tax authorities have clarified their standing on a one-year old tax law on fund transfers to tax havens, after tax professionals claimed that the new rules were unclear and in need of more specifics. Recently the tax authorities of Belgium released a long-awaited circular intended to clarify a tax law that was introduced into the Belgian tax code on December 23rd 2009. The law concerned the reporting requirements for Belgian resident and non-resident business entities operating in the country which transfer ... Read More

Belgium has launched a campaign to attract greater numbers of foreign investors, predominantly by advertising the willingness of tax authorities to work with investors to create tailored tax packages which could lower effective corporate tax rates to below 25 percent. At a recent conference co-hosted by the Belgian Government and the European Commission, representatives of Belgian tax authority explained several beneficial aspects of the Belgian tax system and the country’s propensity for accommodating innovative and environmentally conscious companies. Delegates at the conference were ... Read More

An agreement has been reached by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Council of Europe to amend the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (CMAAT). On April 6th the OECD and Council of Europe released a media statement announcing that the CMAAT will be updated in order to bring it up to currently agreed upon standards of international tax transparency. The Convention, opened for signing in 1988, is an international framework which provides facilitation of multinational exchange ... Read More

The European Commission (EC) has formally requested that the Belgian Government alter its legislation regarding taxation of interest and dividends received by foreign investment funds. On January 28th the EC placed an official request to the Belgium Government to address its tax treatment of dividends and interest distributions to foreign owned investment funds, as it claims the current treatment is discriminatory and restricts the freedoms mandated by the Treaty of the European Union. Under current legislation, distributions made by a Belgian company to ... Read More