Guidelines with respect to the new annual tax on credit institutions have been published
Guidelines new annual tax on credit institutions
By Law of August 3, 2016, Belgium has introduced a new annual tax on credit institutions replacing the four existing bank levies. The law did however not provide any practical guidelines with respect to the filing of the tax return nor payment instructions. Today, the long-awaited Royal Decree containing these guidelines has been published in the Belgian Official Gazette.
The aforementioned law stipulated that a first tax return including the name of the bank, the taxable base, tax rate and the amount of tax due should in principle have been filed by November 15, 2016 at the latest. However, due to the delay in publication of the Royal Decree, the Minister of Finance has granted an extension until November 30, 2016.
The Royal Decree now provides instructions on the filing and payment of the new annual tax including a tax return template. In addition, a template for the reclaim of excess payments has been included.
We understand that the tax authorities will also publish a circular letter with more details shortly.
Draft program law implementing Budget 2017 approved
The federal government has approved a draft program law implementing the Budget 2017. The text has been sent to the Council of State for advice (subject to change).
The draft contains the following tax measures which are relevant for the financial sector:
- Withholding tax: increase from 27 to 30% for movable income paid or attributed as from 1 January 2017 (and from 17 to 20% in case of early distribution of liquidation reserves constituted as from assessment year 2018). The reduced withholding tax rate of 15% will still be applicable for certain well defined income.
- Speculation tax: to be abolished for capital gains realized as from 1 January 2017. Capital gains realized by a Belgian individual investor on listed shares held for a period of less than 6 months will in principle no longer be taxed as from 1 January 2017, except if the Belgian individual investor acts beyond the normal management of his private estate.
- Tax on stock exchange transactions: doubling of the ceilings::
— 1.600 EUR for purchase/sale of shares
— 4.000 EUR for transactions with capitalization funds
— 1.300 EUR for all other transactions (including bonds)
In addition, an extension of its application has been foreseen to transactions for which a Belgian resident gives the order to an intermediary abroad. In that case, the Belgian resident person who gives the order becomes the debtor of the tax, unless he can prove that the tax has been paid by the foreign intermediary. The foreign intermediary can appoint a responsible representative in Belgium to fulfill the necessary formalities. Entry into force: 1 January 2017.
In case you would like our assistance with the filing of the tax return of the new bank tax or have any further questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with your KPMG contact.
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