Withholding tax return for 2022 – Deadline extension

Wage withholding tax returns for 2022 were submitted during the year, but corrections and adjustments may still be made to these returns during the following year through the Finprof portal. This could for example include corrections regarding the R&D wage withholding tax exemption, for night- and shift labour, overtime, etc.

In principle, the deadline is 31 August of the year following the year of income (i.e. 31 August 2023 for 2022). Due to the introduction of a new withholding tax declaration system in June, the tax authorities have decided to grant a delay, and only close access to Finprof for 2022 income on 1 October 2023.

You therefore have the opportunity to amend your withholding tax until 1 October 2023. After that deadline, a correction will have to be made by submitting a tax claim.

This extension will also give you until 1 October 2023 to do corrections on the applied withholding tax exemptions, including the R&D exemption, the exemption for the construction sector, the exemption for night and shift labour, etc. 

In recent years, the conditions for claiming these withholding tax exemptions have been tightened. For example, we refer you to our newsflash concerning the new circular of FOD Financiën/SPF Finances on the strict interpretation of the obligation to register all the R&D activities on Belspo for the R&D exemption.

The tax authorities are still carrying out numerous tax audits to check the conditions under which these various exemptions apply. We would strongly recommend you take the opportunity of this extension of the deadline to review the application of the exemption to the 2022 income year while it is still possible to do so.

The experienced team at KPMG can assist you in amending your withholding tax returns and following up with your payroll agency if necessary. For more information, don’t hesitate to contact us.