In its second action plan against tax and social fraud, of 1 April 2022, the Belgian government announced that the Belgian tax authorities have been reviewing the initial DAC6 reports (filed by intermediaries and taxpayers since January 2021) and that the first tax audits will begin as from September 2022.
The Belgian tax authorities are following in the path of the tax authorities of other Member States. By way of illustration, the Luxembourg tax authorities already started an investigation, at the end of 2021, into the internal procedures implemented by Luxembourg tax intermediaries in order to comply with the mandatory disclosure rules.
Needless to say, DAC6 will be at the top of the agenda for Belgian tax practitioners in the coming months. In this context, they are facing, on a daily basis, the following dilemma: “Is the arrangement in which I am involved reportable?”
In my contribution published in the last issue of European Taxation, I tried to provide some tools for intermediaries to help them answer this question. I assess the impact of DAC6 on several well-known planning structures in the Belgian and international tax practice, for example, arrangements involving the use of holding vehicles (for example, transfer of shares by Belgian individuals to a Luxembourg SOPARFI), estate planning entities (for example, foundations, trusts, etc.), fund structures (for example, Luxembourg SICAV, et seq.), management incentive schemes (stock option plans, etc.), corporate restructurings (transfer of seats, business restructurings, etc.).
Denis-Emmanuel Philippe
