Corporate Tax and Legal

When you run a business, you also need to consider and comply with legislative and regulatory requirements, including taxation. Accordingly, your decisions cannot solely be based on economic considerations alone. While you may be fully compliant with the tax rules, your business operations may warrant different corporate tax positions in Belgium. Furthermore, Belgium offers a comprehensive set of tax and financial incentives, especially for R&D activities, which you can take advantage of. Would you appreciate professional advice that helps you assess the Belgian corporate tax implications of your business and plans, and improve your tax position?

KPMG’s Corporate Tax Experts have vast experience and can assess your current corporate tax position, advise you on actions to improve your position and analyze the potential tax implications of your business plans. Depending on your needs, we can work with multidisciplinary teams consisting of tax and legal experts, accountants, asset management specialists and engineers who understand the specific characteristics of your business. 

More specifically, we can help you:

• Evaluate your current business activities and plans for tax optimal outcomes, quantify potential savings and feasibility;
• Obtain an advance tax ruling providing upfront certainty on your tax position;
• Develop supporting documentation required for tax and regulatory purposes, including transfer pricing;
• Apply tax incentives and other financial incentives;
• Regularize your tax position and support you in discussions with the tax authorities;
• Navigate your tax audits and assist you in dispute resolution.

The public are requiring greater transparency about your company’s tax affairs, while governments and tax administrations are increasing compliance requirements for transfer pricing. In Belgium, transfer pricing documentation and filing requirements apply in line with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) recommendations. The Belgian Tax Authorities understand the relevance of these filings and deploy specialized resources to monitor compliance and perform audits based on the submitted documentation. It is therefore important to ensure that the transfer pricing policies are thoughtfully designed and effectively implemented, and the documentation reflects consistent transfer pricing positions.

We can help you to develop and articulate transfer pricing policies which also fit the wider commercial objectives of your business. We also offer transfer pricing solutions which are sustainable and in line with international guidelines. Our Transfer Pricing Team consists of experts with international experience, offering a multidisciplinary approach and a wide range of services.

While an optimal application of national corporate tax rules is not always evident, understanding and optimizing the tax implications in an international context is even more challenging.

The globalization of business activities and supply chains also triggered the globalization of international taxation rules. These rules are complex and impact both national tax provisions and tax treaties. In the fight against base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS), several international initiatives have been taken, mostly lead by the OECD. These initiatives have resulted in additional anti-tax avoidance rules, increased reporting obligations as well as enhanced administrative cooperation between tax administrations. At the same time, these developments have also created higher compliance burdens and risks for taxpayers. 

Furthermore, international work is ongoing to address the challenges posed by digital transformation to the principles of taxation. New rules are necessary to ensure that income is taxed in the country where value is created. While joint international solutions are promoted by the OECD, several countries implement national tax measures to address the issues.

Do you fully comprehend the international taxation aspects of your business? Have you assessed your opportunities to optimize your tax position and reduce your compliance risks? Would you like to understand how your business may be impacted by the current trends in international taxation?

Our international taxation experts can assist you with tailored advice and introduce you to recent developments in the field of international taxation. We can help you understand the current and future impacts on the tax position of your business.  

Successful growth can be created by internal development, but a corporate development strategy may also require a merger or acquisition, a partnership or joint-venture, or even a divestment. In all these scenarios, tax can play an important role and create or destroy value. It is therefore necessary to address the tax aspects of any M&A transaction in a timely and effective manner.

Our Mergers & Acquisitions Tax & Legal team can help your firm create real value from your deals. Whether merging, acquiring a new business, or divesting from a business, we can guide you through the tax and legal implications of each deal.

Our broad experience with deals and focus on value can help you secure the maximum from your M&A transaction. Having worked on many M&A transactions, we understand the mechanics of acquisitions and disposals in a competitive environment so that we can help you maximize the efficiency of your M&A process.

Closely integrated into KPMG’s global M&A network, we combine global understanding and deal experience with local knowledge of tax and legal jurisdictions. We can help you to address both local as well as cross-border tax challenges and opportunities in the area of M&A.

• Pre-deal tax structuring advice
• Tax and legal due diligence
• Tax structuring, modelling and post deal advice
• Legal and regulatory advice
• Drafting necessary transactional documents within the M&A process

Your real estate assets are important and crucial to your business. Whether you own, rent or otherwise use or control real estate, it will have various financial implications for you, including tax considerations. In Belgium, the tax implications of your real estate are many, depending on the location of your real estate and the legal arrangements.

Are you entering into a new real estate arrangement or do you need help with the tax implications of your current real estate assets?  Understanding the consequences for taxation can help you comply as well as facilitate financially advantageous solutions.

Our KPMG real estate experts can advise you on all tax and legal implications related to real estate, supporting you in designing an arrangement that best suits your purposes and helping you comply with all relevant taxes, including income taxes, VAT, real estate taxes, and transaction taxes.

When you have built up a business and gathered disposable wealth, you may want to plan your succession. You will have different options available from both a legal and taxation perspective. These options are likely to have different financial consequences for all parties involved. Therefore, it is important to assess and determine the best strategy at the lowest tax costs. Our specialized experts can advise you on the possible options and the associated tax costs, both in Belgium and in a cross-border context.

Financial services are paramount to facilitate investment, utilize savings and manage financial risks related to assets and business operations. While financial services were traditionally provided by banks and insurance companies, with the technological evolution in the financial sector, today many other businesses provide financial services, such as financing solutions, financial asset management and payments. These also include intra-group entities which assume the role of an in-house financial institution.

The increasing diversity of financial service providers and the complexity of financial products have led to enhanced regulatory measures. For taxation purposes, financial assets, products and services are subject to several specific taxation, compliance and disclosure rules. 

Are you confronted with the complexity of taxation related to financial services? Or, do you need to meet additional disclosure or compliance requirements in this respect?

Our multidisciplinary team of financial services experts has sector specific knowledge, follow relevant developments and know the tax technicalities of these services. We can assist you with all your queries related to the taxation, compliance or disclosure aspects of financial services. We provide you tailored advice and help you optimally comply with the rules.

When your Belgian business operations are strongly interconnected with certain countries, you may prefer to talk to tax experts who are familiar with those tax systems as well. This is a valid expectation which can be fully met by our Country Desk specialists. 

For example, our experts in the German and Dutch Desks are knowledgeable about the Belgian taxation system as well as the German and Dutch systems. We can provide you tailored advice whereby the implications of these tax systems have been simultaneously considered and can elaborate on the broader context of your tax position.