Communication is key. Starting the conversation during your lifetime and making clear agreements with your heirs will in many cases mean that conflicts are avoided. In this article, we look at a number of tools for starting the conversation and documenting a number of agreements in a family context.
“Discover how to calculate the taxable benefit in kind (BIK) for company cars for the 2025 income year. Use our handy tool and understand the flat-rate valuation of your BIK.”
The importance of corporate compliance: peace of mind in a complex legal landscape
On 21 June 2024, the Law amending social criminal law and introducing various employment law provisions was published in the Belgian Official Gazette. Most of the changes concern measures to combat illegal work and social security fraud. As well as amendments to the Social Criminal Code, provisions are also included on the organisation of the subcontracting chain and joint and several liability for payroll debts. As the latter provisions will not enter into force until 2025, we will discuss them at a later date. This article focuses on the main changes to the Social Criminal Code.
Since the beginning of 2024, many more Belgian companies have faced a specific transfer pricing (‘TP’) audit, and the number of audits is increasing all the time. Such audits are very thorough and labour-intensive and involve in-depth scrutiny of the company’s analytical figures. In this article we discuss recent developments relating to TP audits and share our experiences in this regard.
A well-considered ESG approach is increasingly important for your business value. We explain how to go about it as a large or small company.
In a new ‘On a roll’ managing director Olivier Waleffe shares how Grant Thornton assisted the dramatic transition of Duferco. Watch the video!
This contribution continues the series of articles about the new tax treaty between Belgium and the Netherlands, which was signed on 21 June 2023 (‘the Treaty’). The Treaty is expected to enter into force in 2025. In this article we consider the taxation of dividends.
The Belgian tax administration announced last week that they provide an administrative tolerance for groups of multinational enterprises (MNE) and large-scale domestic groups that will not carry out advance payments in 2024 for the domestic top-up tax or the IIR. These groups may submit their notification for registration in the Belgian Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE) until 16 September 2024 (included) instead of 13 July 2024. However, in case these groups wish to carry out tax prepayments in 2024, the filing deadline remains 13 July 2024! Affected taxpayers should immediately determine whether they want to make Pillar 2 tax prepayments. If not, the group can rely on the extended deadline.
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has issued amendments to IFRS 9 ‘Financial Instruments’ and some amendments have also been made to IFRS 7 ‘Financial Instruments: Disclosures’, following a post-implementation review (PIR) of IFRS 9. The amendments also include consequential changes to IFRS 19 ‘Subsidiaries without Public Accountability: Disclosures’ to reflect the amendments made to IFRS 7.
Belgian company law has followed the wider trend towards digitisation in recent years – albeit only gradually. Below we take a brief look at some examples of this and the benefits it can offer in practice.
Japanese company Yusen Logistics is growing in Benelux. In ‘On a roll’ , Finance Director Timmy Adriaens reveals Grant Thornton’s help in takeovers and mergers.
Employers are now required to register all formal and informal training in a separate database, the Federal Learning Account (FLA).
Discover the significant changes in Belgian insolvency law following the implementation of the Law of 7 June 2023, which transposes the European Restructuring Directive. Key reforms include enhanced roles for the Chamber for Companies in Difficulty, updated extrajudicial amicable agreements, new private agreement procedures, and the introduction of silent bankruptcy. These changes aim to provide more options for entrepreneurs in difficulty, ensuring the continuity of economically viable businesses. Learn more about these developments and their impact on the Belgian insolvency landscape
The home working trend continues to grow and has significant tax implications. The Netherlands and Belgium recently reached an agreement on the interpretation of the concept of "permanent establishment" in the tax treaty between the two countries. This agreement is intended to provide employers with more clarity as to whether and under what circumstances remote working can be deemed to create a permanent establishment.
Following last month’s release of IFRS 18 ‘Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements’, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has published another new standard — IFRS 19 ‘Subsidiaries without Public Accountability: Disclosures’ (the Standard). The new Standard creates a reduced set of disclosures that certain in-scope entities can elect to apply instead of the disclosure requirements set out in other IFRS. IFRS 19 will work alongside other IFRS, with eligible subsidiaries applying the measurement, recognition and presentation requirements set out in other IFRS and the revised disclosures outlined in IFRS 19. The objective of the Standard is to alleviate the reporting burden for subsidiaries without public accountability.
On 9 April 2024 the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) published a new standard, its first since 2017. The new standard, IFRS 18 ‘Presentation and Disclosure in Financial Statements’ (the Standard) replaces IAS 1 ‘Presentation of Financial Statements’ and will impact every reporting entity that currently uses International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The objective of the Standard is to improve how information is communicated in an entity’s financial statements, particularly in the statement of profit or loss and in its notes to the financial statements.
On 19 December 2023, Belgium implemented the Pillar 2 legislation introducing a minimum effective tax rate of 15% for multinational enterprise groups (MNEs) or large domestic groups with consolidated annual revenues exceeding €750 million. The rules are applicable for financial years commencing on or after December 31, 2023.
For multinationals, transfer pricing is a tremendous challenge. In a new ‘On a roll’ video, Head of Tax Arnaud Thienpont explains the approach at AGC.