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Belgium: Royal Decree Pillar Two Notification Form published starting the countdown for the first Pillar Two compliance requirement, with the earliest submission due by 13 July 2024.
On 29 May 2024, the Royal Decree of 15 May 2024 was published in the Belgian Official Gazette starting the countdown for multinational enterprises and large-scale domestic groups subject to Pillar Two (having either a Belgian ultimate parent entity or one (or more) Belgian constituent entity(ies)) to file a Pillar Two Notification Form in Belgium. This registration is required to obtain a Pillar Two identification number (P2 TIN) (link to the publication in the Belgian Official Gazette in French / Dutch).
For more information on this notification, please refer to our Tax Alert: Belgian tax authorities issue a specific Pillar Two notification form, which requires immediate action (ey.com).
The Royal Decree enters into force as from 31 December 2023 and is applicable for reporting periods starting on or after 31 December 2023. As such, the Royal Decree does not implement new rules or provide additional guidance as such but confirms that the Pillar Two Notification Form should be filed with the Belgian Tax Authorities (BTA) by one of the following dates, whichever is the latest:
- Within 30 days following the start of the financial reporting year for which the MNE group or the large-scale domestic group enters into the scope of Pillar Two.
- Within 45 days following the publication of the Royal Decree of 15 May 2024 in the Belgian Official Gazette. As the Royal Decree has been published on 29 May 2024, this date is in principle set for Saturday 13 July 2024. We do appreciate that this due date is a Saturday, but it seems at this point unlikely that this due date will be deferred to the next business day. We therefore recommend to respect 13 July 2024 as the due date until further notice.
For the avoidance of doubt, a Pillar Two Notification Form should also be filed in case an in-scope taxpayer may benefit from the transitional safe harbor rules in Belgium.
The Royal Decree confirms that once a Pillar Two Notification Form has been submitted, the BTA will review the form and will inform the respective taxpayer if the form is incomplete or is missing specific information, allowing the latter to make the required amendments.
Taxpayers who will make the election to make Pillar Two advance tax payments will receive priority in the allocation of a P2 TIN.
Furthermore, in case of late or incorrect filing of the Pillar Two Notification Form, no specific penalties have been laid down in the Royal Decree. However, the Report to the King states that a late or incorrect filing will lead to a later registration and that such later registration cannot be invoked as a mitigating circumstance for any resulting sanctions (for example, in case a taxpayer is unable to (timely) submit a QDMTT return or any other Belgian Pillar Two obligation due to the lack of a P2 TIN).
Pillar Two related questions
The BTA also published specific points of contacts for Pillar Two related questions. For any content-related questions, taxpayers can submit their question(s) to goge.beheer.gestion3@minfin.fed.be whereas any technical (IT) related issues can be addressed to spoc.pillar2@minfin.fed.be.
In addition, the BTA also published additional practical guidelines in case a taxpayer would like to present and discuss a Pillar Two tax technical related question with the BTA. It seems that a FAQ will be published and updated regularly.
Implications to businesses
It is clear that the required information to complete the Pillar Two Notification Form requires a good understanding of the Pillar Two scope of the multinational enterprise or large-scale domestic group, including the Pillar Two qualification of each entity.
In case you need any assistance with the completion of the Pillar Two Notification Form, any tax technological assistance to help you gathering the required information in order to facilitate filing, the practical electronic submission of the form or more in general with any Pillar Two related questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us or to your dedicated contact person.