17 MAI 2004. - An Act to amend section 194ter of the Income Tax Code 1992 relating to the tax shelter regime for audiovisual production (1)

ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 78 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. The following amendments are made to section 194ter of the Income Tax Code 1992, inserted by the Program Act of 2 August 2002 and replaced by the Program Act of 22 December 2003:
1° § 1^erParagraph 1^er, 3°, 1^er the following changes are made:
(a) the words "a telefilm of long fiction" are inserted between the words "film exploitation" and the words "a television collection of animation";
(b) the word "accredited" is replaced by the words "accredited". »;
2° § 2 is replaced by the following:
Ҥ2. In the head of the company, other than a resident audiovisual production company and that a television undertaking, which concludes in Belgium a framework agreement for the production of a licensed Belgian audiovisual work, the taxable profits are exempt, under the conditions and within the limits set out below, to a maximum of 150 p.c., or amounts actually paid by that company in execution of the framework agreement, or to pay the sums
The amounts referred to in paragraph 1^er may be assigned to the execution of the framework agreement either by granting loans, provided that the company is not a credit institution, or by acquiring rights related to the production and operation of the audiovisual work. "
3° § 3 is supplemented by the following paragraph:
"The exemption that is claimed because of the amounts actually paid under § 2, paragraph 1^er, and the deferral referred to in paragraph 2 shall be granted no later than for the taxation year that relates to the tax period preceding that in which the last of the certificates referred to in § 4, paragraph 1^er, 7° and 7°bis, is received. "
4° to § 4, paragraph 1^er, the 1° and 2° are completed by the words "up to the date the last of the certificates referred to in the 7° and 7°bis are received".
5° § 4, paragraph 1^er, 6°, is replaced by the following provision:
"6° the company that claims the exemption gives a copy of the framework convention, as well as a document by which the Community concerned certifies that the work meets the definition of an approved Belgian audiovisual work referred to in 1^er of § 1^erParagraph 1^er3°, within the prescribed time limit for the filing of the tax return on the income of the taxable period and annex these documents to the return; "
6° § 4, paragraph 1^er, 7°, is replaced by the following provision:
"7° the company that claims the maintenance of the exemption gives a document by which the control of the resident society of audiovisual production of the approved Belgian audiovisual work attests at the latest within four years of the conclusion of the framework convention, on the one hand, the respect of the conditions of expenditure in Belgium in accordance with § 1^er, 3° and 4°, by this resident audiovisual production company for the purposes provided by the framework convention for the production of an audiovisual work, as well as the conditions and ceilings provided for in 4° and 5°, and on the other hand, that the company which claims the grant and maintenance of the exemption has effectively paid the sums referred to in § 2, paragraph 1^erto the resident audiovisual production company within eighteen months of the date of conclusion of this framework agreement; "
7° in § 4, paragraph 1^er, it is inserted a 7°bis, written as follows:
"7°bis. the company that claims the maintenance of the exemption submits a document by which the Community concerned certifies, at the latest within four years of the conclusion of the framework agreement, that the realization of this work is completed and that the overall funding of the work carried out under this article complies with the conditions and ceilings provided for in the 4th; "
8° In § 4, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following provision:
"In the event that one or the other of these conditions ceases to be observed or fails for any tax period, the previously immunized profits are considered to be profits obtained during that taxable period. In the event that the company claiming the exemption has not received the certificates mentioned in the 7th and 7th grades, within four years after the conclusion of the framework agreement for the production of an audiovisual work, the benefit exonerated before is considered to be profit of the taxable period during which the four-year period expires. »;
9° It is inserted a § 4bis, as follows:
§ 4bis. By derogation from § 4 and as far as the certificates referred to in § 4, paragraph 1^er, 7° and 7°bis, be received within the four-year period provided for in § 4, paragraph 1^er, 7° and 7°bis, amounts temporarily exempted in accordance with §§ 2 to 4 are permanently exempted from the taxation year that relates to the tax period in which the last of these certificates was received. "
10° § 5, 7°, is replaced by the following provision:
"7° the guarantee that each Belgian resident corporation or establishment of a taxpayer referred to in section 227, 2°, identified in accordance with the 2° is not a resident audiovisual production company or a television broadcasting company and that lenders are not credit institutions; "
Art. 3. In article 416, paragraph 2, of the same Code, inserted by the programme law of 2 August 2002 and replaced by the programme law of 22 December 2003, the words "3° to 7°" are replaced by the words "3° to 7° bis".
Art. 4. This Act applies from the 2004 taxation year.
"Article 2, 1°, a), comes into force on 1^er January 2006. However, the King may, by deliberate order in the Council of Ministers, provide that this article shall enter into force on a previous date. "
Promulgate this law, order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 17 May 2004.
ALBERT
By the King:
Minister of Finance,
D. REYNDERS
Seal of the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. L. ONKELINX
____
Note
(1) Documents of the House of Representatives:
51-730 - 2003/2004:
N° 1: Bill by MM Monfils, Jeholet, Mathot, Mme Deom, MM. Goris and Daems and Ms. Roppe and Baeke. - N^bones 2 and 3: Amendments. - Number four: Report. - No. 5: Text adopted by the commission. - No. 6: Text adopted in plenary and transmitted to the Senate.
Full record: 1^er April 2004.
Documents of the Senate:
3-607 - 2003/2004:
No. 1: Project not referred to by the Senate.