Tax Insights

DAC 7 new reporting obligation transposed in belgian legislation

Ultimately on 1 July 2023 all mixed VAT payers must notify the Belgian VAT authorities electronically of their option to (continue to) apply the direct attribution method for the determination of the right to deduct input VAT.

As from the 1st of January 2023 the application of the reverse charge mechanism in case of immovable work will be applicable as soon as the customer is filing periodical VAT returns.

The Belgian VAT legislation will be amended as from 1 January 2023 regarding the statute of limitation, the retention period and applicable interest rate. In addition, a draft law is approved and should modernize the VAT chain and the processing of periodic VAT returns as from 2024.

Prefiling and ruling requests for transfer pricing and innovation deduction relating to financial year 2022 must be filed by 30 November 2022  

In addition to the various domestic options to avoid VAT liquidity problems (accelerated refund, review of the filing periodicity of the returns, etc.), the foreign VAT refund is often overlooked. 

INTRODUCTION  On 22 December 2021, the European Commission unveiled a Directive proposal aiming at promoting an efficient and fair business tax system for the European Union. 

As a reminder, companies, non-profit associations, foundations, trusts and other constructions established in Belgium are required to disclose information about their beneficial owner(s)to the UBO Register.

As from 1 July 2022, non-EU taxpayers will have to request the refund of Belgian VAT electronically. The main goal of this new VAT refund procedure is to be able to process the refund requests from British companies more efficiently. This implies that the refund procedure will be largely harmonized with the refund procedure for EU companies. 

Earlier this year the ‘law on various tax provisions of 21 January 2022’ was published in the Belgian Official Gazette. Within this month’s Tax Insights, special attention is paid to one of these provisions which drastically alters the existing regulations on the annual preparation of the fee forms 281.50 aiming to reduce the administrative burden for companies.

By the end of last month, the Belgian tax authorities finished determining the notional rental value or so-called ‘cadastral income’ (hereafter referred to as NRV) of foreign real estate properties owned by Belgian tax residents and notifying the Belgian property owners hereof.

The increasing popularity of company cars in Belgium is tightly intertwined with the high tax burden levied on typical gross salary payments.  

Belgium aligns with the opinion of the Court of Justice (ECJ, C-288/16) and restricts the scope of the exemption applicable to export-related transport services.

The law of 25 November 2021 regarding the tax and social greenification of mobility leaves little to the imagination. Carbon emission company cars will be fiscally discouraged and will in all likelihood gradually disappear from the street scene.

As from 1 January 2022, the VAT recovery on imports into France is transferred from the Customs Authorities (DGDDI) to the Directorate General of Public Finances (DGFIP).   Here are the key elements of this change.