Factsheet for measure
BE-2020-13/847
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Updated
– measures in Belgium
Regional measures on the deferral or cancellation of tax and bills payments
Regionale maatregelen voor uitstel/annulatie van betaling van belastingen en rekeningen
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Country
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Belgium
, applies regionally
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– BE1 RÉGION DE BRUXELLES-CAPITALE/BRUSSELS HOOFDSTEDELIJK GEWEST
– BE2 VLAAMS GEWEST
– BE3 RÉGION WALLONNE
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Time period
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Open ended, started on 27 March 2020
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Context
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COVID-19
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Type
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Legislations or other statutory regulations
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Category
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Supporting businesses to stay afloat
– Deferral of payments or liabilities
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Author
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Dries Van Herreweghe (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) and Eurofound
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Measure added
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14 May 2020 (updated 09 August 2021)
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Background information
Aside from the measures that were taken on the federal, level the different regions (Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels) have decided to undertake different fiscal measures as well to support businesses in need. A large part of these measures consist of delayed payments of different taxes that businesses are required to pay and can add up to significant amount. The delay of payment should give business the opportunity to have more financial breathing room.
Content of measure
Flanders:
The Flemish Tax Administration will only send the property tax assessment notices for the assessment year 2020 as from September 2020 instead of May. This measure applies to companies that are legal entities.
Wallonia:
Financial assistance of €2 million will be granted to municipalities which decide to suspend municipal taxes from the affected sectors.
Brussels:
The Brussels tax administration has decided to extend the deadline for the payment of property tax by two months for the assessment year 2020. The payment conditions for the repayment plans have also been relaxed. The Brussels-Capital Region suspends payment of the City Tax (tax on tourist accommodation) for the 1st half of 2020. However, tourist accommodation operators still have to submit their monthly declaration during this period.
Updates
The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.
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03 December 2020
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Flanders:
The broad socio-economic support package on which the Federal Government decided on the 6th of November 2020 also includes the extension of the following fiscal measures:
The possibility to obtain individual tax deferrals without fines and interest on late payment.
In addition, the Minister of Finance decided to grant a postponement until 30 November 2020 for the submission of corporate income tax returns, non-resident companies tax and legal entities tax.
Brussels:
The Brussels Government has decided to extend the exemption from the city tax for hotels until 30 June 2021. The city tax is a hotel tax of €4 per night per room occupied and is now being extended for the third time. In addition, the collection of the 2020 property tax for entrepreneurs will also be suspended until the end of April next year.
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Use of measure
The measures are taken in each of the different regions, it therefore applies to a almost all businesses. Concrete numbers are not available at the time of writing.
Target groups
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Workers
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Businesses
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Citizens
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Does not apply to workers
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Applies to all businesses
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Does not apply to citizens
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Actors and funding
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Actors
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Funding
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Local / regional government
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Regional funds
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Social partners
Social partners' role in
designing the measure
and form of involvement:
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Trade unions
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Employers' organisations
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Role
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Unknown
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Unknown
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Form
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Not applicable
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Not applicable
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Social partners' role in the
implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
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Unknown
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Main level of involvement: Unknown
Involvement
The measures mainly involve taxation, which generally is not the competence of the social partners.
Views and reactions
Employers' association UNIZO is pleased with the measure. They state that it was something they advocated to support enterprises in liquidity problems. They believe it buys these enterprises some time to pay their suppliers.
Sources
