Belgium: Mandatory disclosure rules (DAC6) upheld (Constitutional Court decision)
Directive’s reporting obligations were challenged but found compliant with EU principles
The Belgian Constitutional Court on April 30, 2025, issued four decisions upholding the validity of mandatory disclosure rules (Council Directive 2018/822 (DAC6)) as applied in Belgium, following the decision of the Court of Justice for the European Union (CJEU) that the DAC6 rules were consistent with EU law (case C-623/22).
The CJEU determined that the DAC6 directive's concepts, while broad, were sufficiently clear and precise, aligning with EU law and not breaching the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. The directive's reporting obligations, covering all taxes under the DAC, were challenged but found compliant with EU principles of equality and non-discrimination.
The clarity of terms like "arrangement" and "intermediary," along with the 30-day reporting period, was upheld. The requirement for intermediaries to notify others of reporting obligations, even under legal professional privilege, was deemed acceptable, and the obligations were found not to infringe on the right to respect for private life.
The Belgian Constitutional Court dismissed proceedings by Belgian tax professional bodies seeking to nullify related regional decrees and ordinances from 2020.
Read a May 2025 report prepared by KPMG’s EU Tax Centre