Belgium: New Fairness Tax
The Belgian Government has approved a new tax, the so-called “Fairness Tax” or “Equity Tax”, and published it in the Belgian Official Gazette on 1 August 2013.
The new tax is a special contribution or tax of 5.15% on the difference between the distributed dividends that originate from the profit of a given year and the taxable amount after the application of the notional interest deduction or tax losses carried forward.
The contribution of 5.15% should not be deductible and may typically impact large Belgian companies and large foreign companies with a permanent establishment in Belgium.
However, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that meet the conditions listed in article 15 of the Corporate Tax Code would be excluded from this special contribution.
The Fairness Tax will apply as of the fiscal year 2014 (on annual revenues paid as from 1 January 2014).
Given the circumstances that the Fairness Tax impacts Belgian issuing companies but is not deducted at source in addition to the 25% “précompte mobilier”, the new tax has no impact on our current procedure.
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