On 19 December 2023, Belgium implemented the Pillar 2 legislation introducing a minimum effective tax rate of 15% for multinational enterprise groups (MNEs) or large domestic groups with consolidated annual revenues exceeding €750 million. The rules are applicable for financial years commencing on or after December 31, 2023.
In order to be able to comply with those Pillar 2 rules (or so-called GloBE rules), the Belgian companies forming part of a domestic or multinational group that fall in scope of the Pillar 2 legislation, must register at the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (Kruispuntbank van Ondernemingen / Banque Carrefour des Entreprises) via a specific notification form. The purpose of this registration is to obtain a new and specific Pillar 2 (tax) identification number to be used for example to make specific Pillar 2 tax prepayments.
The notification form consists of the following 4 parts:
Unique name of the group (i.e., must be different from the one of the Ultimate Parent Entity), fiscal year, address and contact details of the Ultimate Parent Entity.
Type of consolidated financial statements according to GloBE definition, applied accounting standard, currency and publication.
Overview of the entities that are (an) ultimate parent entity/ies (UPE), intermediate parent entity/ies (IPE), partially-owned parent entity/ies (POPE) and their subsidiaries. For each listed entity, the GLoBE status must also be indicated (this GloBE status in aligned with the information that will have to be submitted in the GloBE Information Return).
To know which group entity must file the notification form, the following rules are foreseen:
For the appointment of an entity, a specific mandate form has been published on the website of the Belgian tax administration.
In principle, the notification must be made no later than 30 days after the start of the fiscal year for which the multinational or large domestic group enters into the scope of the Pillar 2 legislation. For example, if the first fiscal year starts on 1 January 2025, the notification has to be done by 30 January 2025 at the latest.
As most companies could already be subject to the Pillar 2 legislation since 1 January 2024, it is foreseen that the notification will need to happen before 13 July 2024 (!) by the Belgian companies which financial year started on or after 1 January 2024.
The specific notification form must be prepared via the xml-generator tool that is available on the website of the Belgian tax administration. Once the information is completed, the generated xml file must be submitted on the MyMinFin platform of the company through a new specific Pillar 2 section (same procedure as for the TP BEPS13 forms). Upon valid notification, the Belgian tax administration will register the group with the Belgian Commercial Register. The enterprise number for the group is then sent by e-mail to the entity that notified the group.
As the timeframe to fulfill the notification requirement is very short and the deadline approaches very soon, we advise you to start preparing and gathering information as soon as possible.
Grant Thornton can assist you with collecting the right information needed, the preparation of the notification form itself and/or filing the form on behalf of your company.
If you would be interested in our service offering, we can always schedule a free of obligation meeting to discuss this new notification requirement and our service offering.