Belgium: VAT chain reform measures effective May 1, 2026
Belgium confirms effective date of VAT chain reform measures after years of postponement.
The federal administration on March 2, 2026, announced that the postponed value added tax (VAT) chain reform measures will become effective as of May 1, 2026.
The reform of the VAT chain was initially introduced on March 12, 2023, but was subsequently postponed in phases until January 1, 2025. However, implementation of the new rules was still not feasible at that time, so a transition period was introduced until October 1, 2025, but was later prolonged indefinitely.
One of most important changes in the reformed VAT chain is the replacement of the existing VAT current account by the VAT provision account. The recent announcement clarifies that amounts on the VAT current account will be transferred to the VAT provision account if all periodic VAT returns have been filed on April 30, 2026. The announcement also clarifies that when the box to request a refund of the VAT credit is ticked in the periodic VAT return, this will only relate to the VAT credit resulting from that return (in other words, the amount mentioned in box 72). If a taxable person wishes to receive an outstanding VAT credit from the VAT provision account, a separate request will have to be submitted via MyMinfin.
Read an April 2026 report prepared by the KPMG member firm in Belgium