Belgium

Corporate taxation

The corporate tax rate in Belgium is

2013 33.99%
2014 33.99%
2015 33.99%
2016 33.99%
2017 33.99%
2018 29.00%
2019 29.00%
2020 29.00%
2021 25.00%

Special corporate tax incentives

Belgium has been known to make unilateral tax deals with MNE’s resulting in illegal State Aid.
Belgium also offers special patent box rules, known as a patent income deduction (PID). The last revision applies from July 2016. This PID allows a company, liable to pay Corporation Tax in Belgium, to deduct from its taxable income 85% of gross patent income. The remaining 15% of gross patent income is taxed at the standard corporation tax rate of 34% (including a 3% surtax). This results in an effective tax rate of 5.1% on the qualifying income.[

Transfer pricing

Transfer pricing is regulated by Article 185 of the ITC. Article 185, paragraph 2 of the ITC allows for a unilateral adjustment to the Belgian tax basis, similar to the corresponding adjustment of Article 9 of the OECD Model Tax Convention.
In addition, the authorities can make use of other more general provisions in the ITC to challenge transfer prices. For example, in some cases where the Belgian tax authorities raise the issue of transfer pricing, the general rules on the deductibility of business expenses are invoked. Furthermore, the ITC contains provisions that tackle artificial inbound or outbound profit shifting. These are the so-called provisions on abnormal or gratuitous benefits.

Links

Transfer Pricing Case Law

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Cases involving Belgium

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