Advance Tax Payments – What you need to know

The Belgian tax law provides with a (non-mandatory) tax prepayment system which enables Belgian companies and branches in a tax paying position to make quarterly tax prepayments during their financial year. These tax prepayments are calculated on the provisional profits, but the final settlement is based on the taxable profit of the financial year as reported in the corporate income tax return.
 

Tax increase for insufficient tax prepayments

If no or insufficient tax prepayments are made, the corporate income tax due will be increased with a non-tax-deductible surcharge. For tax year 2025, financial years starting as of 1 January 2024, the surcharge has been increased and amounts to 9,00%.

Based on the fact that each prepayment will provide the company with a so-called tax credit which can be deducted from the overall surcharge, the aforementioned surcharge can be reduced by making timely corporate income tax prepayments on a quarterly basis.
 

Ultimate dates of payment and credit percentages

For financial years ending per 31 December 2024 (i.e. when financial year coincides with the calendar year, respectively in cases where the financial year consists of more than 12 months and where the financial year ends per 31 December), the following due dates and credit percentages are applicable. 

It should be noted that the tax prepayment dates will differ from the above, in case a change in financial year took place or in case the financial year deviates from the calendar year.
 

MyMinFin

MyMinFin is an overarching way to offer more and more services electronically to the taxpayer (consultation of assessment notices, tax prepayments made, tax forms, refunds etc.).

Legal representatives with a Belgian e-ID card can easily access the MyMinfin portal of their company. In case of legal representatives without a Belgian e-ID card, a specific procedure should be followed in order to obtain access to MyMinfin.

Online tax prepayments

From now on, you can easily make tax prepayments online via MyMinFin (MyMinFin.be). This way you will automatically transfer the tax prepayments to the correct bank account number and with the correct structured reference.

Requests for rectification, repayment and transfer of prepayments possible up to 3 months after the closing of the financial year

The deadline for submitting requests for rectification, reimbursement, or transfer of prepayments must be received by the 'Collection Center - Advance Payment Service' no later than the last day of the third month following the taxable period to which the deposits or transfers relate. For a company with a financial year ending per 31 December 2023, it is therefore possible to submit such requests up to and including 31 March 2024.

It is in principle only permitted to submit the request for rectification, reimbursement or transfer electronically via MyMinFin. Exceptionally, subject to approval from the tax administration, these requests can be submitted via e-mail. -

Furthermore, we would like to emphasize that a tax refund on a corporate income tax assessment notice can also qualify as a tax prepayment. If you are entitled to a tax refund on the basis of a tax assessment notice, this tax refund can be transferred as a tax prepayment for e.g. financial year 2024 if you file the request before the settlement date. Said request should be made by e-mail or via the contact form on the website of the FPS Finance.

Use of platform ‘MyMinFin’

Taxpayers can at any time consult the latest status of the their tax prepayments via MyMinFin. As a result, the certificate with respect to the tax prepayments are no longer sent by mail, except for taxpayers with no access to MyMinFin. Such taxpayers can submit a request to the Tax Administration via e-mail in order to obtain the certificate by email.
 

Pillar 2 tax prepayments

Further to the OECD Pillar Two model rules and the EU Pillar Two Directive (EU Directive 2022/2523), Belgium implemented a minimum tax for multinational companies and large domestic groups (‘Pillar 2 ’).

The Pillar 2 regime is designed to ensure that large (domestic/MNE) groups with a consolidated revenue exceeding EUR 750 million for at least two of the four previous years, will be subject to a minimum effective tax rate of 15%.

In Belgium, a (qualified) domestic minimum top up tax ((Q)DMTT), subject to tax prepayments, is effective for fiscal years starting on or after 31 December 2023. Consequently, companies in scope of Pillar 2 will be required to consider tax prepayments specifically for Pillar 2, in addition to the ordinary tax prepayments for corporate income taxes.

Via the qualifying domestic top-up tax, a minimum top-up tax is calculated taking into account the excess profits of constituent entities located in the jurisdiction and increases the domestic tax liability to the minimum rate on the domestic excess profits for a fiscal year.

Within groups of companies with multiple Belgian entities, the QDMTT is calculated on a jurisdictional basis and not on entity level. In order to accommodate levying the QDMTT and making accompanying tax prepayments, a separate Tax Identification Number will be issued. At this moment, the precise modalities of the new Tax Identification Number are not yet published, therefore it is not yet possible to effectively make advance tax payments.

In the event that no tax prepayments would be made, an increase of 9% would be due on the new minimum effective tax due for tax year 2025 (financial years closing on 31 December 2024 or later). Specifically for tax year 2025, a tolerance is provided on the basis of which all tax prepayments will be deemed to have been made during the first quarter (i.e. a credit of 12% will be applied on the amounts paid) for all payments made in the course of calendar year 2024 and before 20 December 2024.