2023-10-13 04:30:00
What exactly are we talking regarding? Since August 2016, Belgians with an account abroad, with black money, have had the possibility of regularizing their situation, via the DLU-4 or permanent DLU. This regularization or amnesty procedure allows the taxpayer to avoid criminal prosecution, upon payment of a tax on the regularized capital. It is, in a way, regarding buying a criminal amnesty. In accordance with the Vivaldi agreement, the permanent DLU must end on December 31, 2023.
But the Ministerial Committee for the fight once morest tax and social fraud has already imagined a successor to the permanent DLU. Indeed, this Committee proposed putting in place a “permanent administrative approach”, allowing the tax authorities to tax tax-prescribed capital. As a reminder, tax-prescribed capital is normally beyond the reach of the tax authorities. On the other hand, the prosecution can still carry out criminal proceedings. And it is the court which must decide on possible sanctions, following the prosecution’s investigation.
The tax authorities no longer let taxpayers and companies breathe
The tax authorities will be able to tax at 45%
In the third plan to combat tax and social fraud, the Ministerial Committee proposes to allow the tax authorities to tax prescribed black capital at 45%. This body specifically targets black money detected in accounts abroad, as well as black money repatriated to Belgium from August 1, 2016.
Before acting, the tax authorities must consult with the public prosecutor’s office. If the administrative route is chosen following this consultation, the tax authorities may apply this 45% taxation. This is in accordance with the Una Via principle: it is either the public prosecutor’s office that handles the file or the tax authorities. Once the 45% tax has been paid, criminal proceedings can no longer be initiated.
“Unbazooka”
This proposal is already making the majority cringe. At MR, we believe that it goes too far. “There is a reversal of the burden of proof, it would be up to the taxpayer to prove to the tax authorities that the money repatriated to Belgium was correctly taxed,” explains a liberal source. How do you want to prove that your money was taxed in the 70s? People don’t keep their documents for that long, that’s why there are limitation rules.”
“There is no threshold,” adds this liberal source. We can imagine that the tax authorities would request information on any sum repatriated to Belgium from France and Luxembourg. It’s an aggressive measure, a real bazooka.”
The left demands to see
On the left wing side of Vivaldi, we also find things to complain regarding. While the De Croo government has decided to put an end to the permanent DLU, this new system would also make it possible to avoid criminal prosecution, upon payment of a 45% tax. “We are told that it is not the same thing as DLU-4, but I ask to see,” explains an environmentalist source.
According to our information, this third anti-fraud plan will be discussed informally by the government next week. In total, this plan contains around twenty measures once morest fraud. According to our information, the other measures should not pose too many problems.
“Fraudsters massively use cryptocurrencies”
In addition to a new tax regularization procedure, the Ministerial Committee for the fight once morest tax and social fraud is proposing other measures once morest fraud. Here are a few.
The Ministerial Committee thus notes that criminal organizations are increasingly using cryptoassets for money laundering. This body therefore proposes to train tax inspectors in the detection of fraud via cryptoassets, including cryptocurrencies. “It’s a good measure,” a liberal source explains to us. Fraudsters massively use cryptocurrencies.”
Furthermore, since January 1, 2010, Belgian companies must declare the payments they make to tax havens, when these reach an annual total of more than 100,000 euros. In 2020, Belgian companies spontaneously declared more than 265 billion euros in payments to tax havens. However, an audit by the Court of Auditors revealed the poor quality of the controls carried out by the tax authorities on these gigantic payments. Note that this is not necessarily fraud on the part of companies.
The Ministerial Committee nevertheless recommends carrying out a study “in order to better understand these payments and possibly better detect fraudulent payments”. The tax authorities will also have to experiment with “new methods” to detect companies that do not declare their payments to tax havens.
In addition, the Ministerial Committee notes that disputes regarding pre-taxation considerably delay tax procedures, leaving the tax authorities to face the problem of limitation periods. The Ministerial Committee therefore wishes the limitation period to be frozen during the processing of the pre-taxation dispute. This freeze should prevent taxpayers from initiating such disputes, just to extend the duration of the tax procedure in the hope of exceeding the limitation period.
Finally, companies often enter numerous activity codes with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (BCE), even though they sometimes only carry out one activity. This erroneous information can lead to unnecessary checks. The Ministerial Committee therefore proposes the establishment of a working group to resolve this problem of incorrect activity codes.
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