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21 JULY 2016. - Act to establish a permanent system of fiscal and social regulation (1)

PHILIPPE, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
CHAPTER 1^er. - General provision
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 74 of the Constitution.
CHAPTER 2. - Tax regulation
Art. 2. For the purposes of the provisions of this chapter, the following means:
1° "Contact Point": the Contact Point created within the Federal Public Service Finance;
2° "declaration-regularization": the return of income, amounts, transactions T.V.A. and capital made with the Federal Public Service Finance for the purpose of obtaining a certificate-regularization for payment of the levy due under this chapter;
3° "physical persons": residents of the Kingdom subject to the tax of natural persons on the basis of section 3 of the Income Tax Code 1992 and non-residents of the Kingdom subject to the tax of non-residents on the basis of section 227, 1°, of the same Code;
4° "legal persons": resident corporations subject to corporate tax under section 179 of the above-mentioned Code, civil corporations or associations without legal personality referred to in section 29 of the same Code, legal persons subject to corporate tax under section 220 of the same Code, as well as foreign taxpayers subject to non-resident tax under section 22,
5° "regulated income": incomes that are the subject of a return-regularization introduced to the Contact Point, by a natural person or a legal person, when they have the nature of income that are normally subject to income tax for the year in which they were obtained or collected.
Also considered to be "regulated income": income that must be declared, in accordance with Article 5/1 of the Income Tax Code 1992, by a founder or other beneficiary of a legal construction, the income of a foreign account referred to in Article 307, § 1^er, paragraph 2, of the same Code and the income of foreign life insurance contracts referred to in Article 307, § 1^er, paragraph 3, of the same Code, which are the subject of a declaration-regularization filed with the Contact Point;
6° "regulated sums": the sums and values that are the subject of a declaration-regularization made at the Contact Point, by a legal person or by a natural person, when the person demonstrates that these amounts and values do not have the nature of income that are normally subject to income tax for the year in which they were obtained or collected but fall under the application of the Rights Code^erthe special law of 16 January 1989 on the financing of communities and regions, or under the application of the Code of Miscellaneous Duties and Taxes;
7° "regulated T.V.A. transactions": transactions subject to the T.V.A. referred to in section 51 of the Value-Added Tax Code that are the subject of a declaration-regularization to the Contact Point, by a legal person or by a natural person;
8° "declaring": the natural person or legal person who introduces a declaration-regularisation either personally or through an agent.
9° "mandataire": a person or company referred to in sections 2 and 3 of the Act of 11 January 1993 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for money laundering and the financing of terrorism;
10° "priced": the total amount due to regularization;
11° "fiscally prescribed" capital: the capitals referred to in this chapter in respect of which the tax administration can no longer exercise at the time of the introduction of the declaration-regularisation of the power of perception in the head of the one in whose name the declaration-regularisation is introduced following the expiry of the time limits, as the case may be, referred to either in Articles 354 or 358, § 1^er, 1°, of the Income Tax Code 1992, i.e. sections 81, 81bis or 83 of the Value Added Tax Code, i.e. sections 214, 216, 217¹ and 217² or 218 of the Code of Registration, Mortgage and Registry Rights provided that these articles relate to registration rights that are not mentioned in section 3, paragraph 1^erthe special law of 16 January 1989 relating to the financing of communities and regions, namely, articles 202⁸ or 202⁹ Code of various duties and taxes.
Art. 3. § 1^er. Regularized revenues that are the subject of a return-regularization in accordance with the provisions of this chapter shall be subject to a debit at their normal rate of income tax that is applied for the tax period during which such income has been obtained or raised by 20 points.
When determining this deduction, no tax reductions or tax credits shall be taken into account, nor an imputation of prepayments, advance payments or the deduction for the State of Residence.
§ 2. Regularized amounts that are subject to a declaration-regularization in accordance with the provisions of this chapter shall be subject to a levy at the normal rate of taxation in accordance with the normal rules applicable to such amounts for the taxable period in which such amounts were obtained or collected, plus 20 points.
§ 3. The regulated T.V.A. transactions that are the subject of a declaration-regularization in accordance with the provisions of this chapter are subject to a levy to the T.V.A. at the rate that is applied for the regularized operations at the time the operations took place, increased by 20 points to the exclusion of the cases in which the declaration-regularization already gives rise to the regularization of these operations in §^er.
Art. 4. If the declaration-regularization has been made in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, the final payment and made without any reservation of the levies referred to in Article 3 shall, therefore:
- income referred to in Article 3, § 1^er, are no longer or may no longer be for the surplus subject to income tax as provided for in the Income Tax Code 1992, including tax increments, fines and late interest set out therein;
- the amounts referred to in Article 3, § 2, are no longer or may not be for the surplus subject to any rights or taxes as provided for in the Code of Registration, Mortgage and Registry Rights, provided that they relate to the registration fees not mentioned in Article 3, paragraph 1^erthe special law of 16 January 1989 relating to the financing of communities and regions or the Code of Miscellaneous Duties and Taxes, including fines and late interests provided for in the Act;
- the transactions referred to in Article 3, § 3, are no longer or may not be, for the surplus, subject to any T.V.A. or to any additional penalty or fine provided for in the Value-Added Tax Code.
Art. 5. Tax-prescribed capital from tax offences defined in Article 10, § 1^erwhich are the subject of a declaration-regularization in accordance with the provisions of this chapter shall be subject to a levy at a rate of 36 points on capital.
Tax-prescribed capital in the form of life insurance that is the subject of a declaration-regularization in accordance with the provisions of this chapter shall be subject to a 36-point rate on capital.
Tax-prescribed capital of foreign accounts referred to in Article 307, § 1^er, paragraph 2, of the Income Tax Code 1992, which is the subject of a declaration-regularization in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, shall be subject to a levy at a rate of 36 points on capital.
The prescribed tax capital of a legal construction referred to in Article 2 of the above-mentioned Code which is subject to a declaration-regularization in accordance with the provisions of this chapter shall be subject to a levy at a rate of 36 points on capital.
Art. 6. Neither the declaration-regularization, nor the payment of the levies, nor the certificate-regularization referred to in this Act, shall produce effects if:
1° the revenues, amounts, transactions T.V.A. or regularized capital are derived from an offence referred to in section 505 of the Criminal Code, except where they have been acquired exclusively by offences referred to in sections 449 and 450 of the Income Tax Code 1992, sections 73 and 73bis of the Value added Tax Code, sections 206 and 206bis of the Code of Registration, Mortgage and^erthe special law of 16 January 1989 on the financing of communities and regions and articles 207 and 207bis of the Code of Miscellaneous Duties and Taxes;
2° incomes, sums, transactions T.V.A or regularized capital come from an offence referred to in Article 5, § 3, of the law of 11 January 1993 relating to the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering and the financing of terrorism with the exception of the offence referred to in Article 5, § 3, 1°, eleventh dash, of the same law, and of the offence of "
3° before the introduction of the declaration-regularization, the declarant was informed in writing of specific investigative acts under way by a Belgian court, by a Belgian tax administration, a social security institution or a Belgian social inspection service or the SPF Economie;
4° a declaration-regularization has already been filed in favour of the same registrant since the date of the coming into force of this Act.
Art. 7. The declaration-regularization is filed with the Contact Point by means of a declaration form that is prepared by the King. This reporting form includes the name of the declarant and, where appropriate, the name of the declarant's agent, the amount of income, amounts, T.V.A. transactions, and the taxly prescribed capital reported and the date of filing of the return.
The underlying parts can be introduced up to 6 months after the introduction of the declaration-regularization. The Contact Point may examine the underlying documents that accompany the reporting-regularization and that are related to the regularized amounts, in view of their consistency with the reporting-regularization data.
Parts that are produced as a result of a declaration-regularization and that are not related to regularized amounts are deemed not to be part of the declaration-regularization and thus cannot be objected to as a result of an administrative or judicial proceeding or a national or foreign financial institution.
In the cases referred to in sections 3 and 5, the declaration-regularization is accompanied by a brief explanation of the scheme of fraud, as well as the extent and origin of income, amounts, transactions T.V.A. and regularized capital, of the period during which they appeared and of the financial accounts used for the regularized amounts.
Upon receipt of the declaration-regularization, the Contact Point shall inform by mail, the applicant or his agent of the admissibility of the declaration. The Contact Point shall set in the same mail the amount of the levy due under this chapter.
The payment of the debit must be carried out definitively and without any reservation within 15 calendar days after the date of sending this mail and is definitively acquired from the treasury.
At the time of receipt of the final payment and made without any reservation, the Contact Point shall transmit to the declarant or his agent a certificate-regularization whose model is fixed by the King, which shall include: the name of the declarant and, where appropriate, the name of his agent, the amount of the debit, the amount of income, amounts, transactions T.V.A. and regularized capital.
As soon as the certificate-regularization has been transmitted to the declarant or his agent, the Contact Point informs the Financial Information Processing Unit established by the Act of 11 January 1993 above of the regularization that has been concluded and sends a copy of the certificate-regularization and the data referred to in paragraph 4 with the exception of the fraud scheme.
Statements made at the Contact Point are numbered and retained. The Contact Point also maintains a list of certificates-regularization issued with a reference to the number of the declaration-regularization.
Public servants and staff members who are active in the Contact Point are held in professional secrecy under section 458 of the Criminal Code.
They may also not disclose information collected on the occasion of the declaration-regularization to other services of the Federal Public Service Finance.
Art. 8. In any case in which it is a federal tax or a regional tax for which the federal authority provides the service and for which the cooperation agreement referred to in section 18 is concluded, the declaration, the subsequent payment of the levy and the certificate referred to in section 7, paragraph 7, cannot be used as an index or indication to conduct investigations or controls of a fiscal nature, to declare possible tax offences or to exchange
Art. 9. Within the limits of the provisions set out in sections 4 and 6 and in all cases where it is a federal tax or a regional tax whose service is provided by the federal authority and for which the cooperation agreement referred to in section 18 is concluded, the certificate-regularization may be used as a means of proof before courts and tribunals, before administrative courts, as well as against any public service.
Art. 10. § 1^er. Persons who have committed offences under sections 449 and 450 of the Income Tax Code 1992, sections 73 and 73bis of the Value-Added Tax Code, sections 206 and 206bis of the Registration, Mortgage and Registry Code, provided that these articles relate to registration rights that are not mentioned in section 3, paragraph 1^erof the special law of 16 January 1989 relating to the financing of communities and regions, articles 207 and 207bis of the Code of miscellaneous duties and taxes, or of offences referred to in section 505 of the Criminal Code, to the extent that they relate to the property rights derived directly from the aforementioned offences or the property and values that have been substituted for them or the income of those benefits invested, as well as persons who are co-authorized or complicit
§ 2. For all offences, other than those defined in § 1^erpersons referred to in § 1^er may always be subject to criminal prosecution.
Persons who have been guilty of the offences defined in articles 193 to 197, 489 to 490bis, 491 and 492bis of the Criminal Code, in article 16 of the Act of 17 July 1975 on the accounting of enterprises, in article 12 of the Royal Decree of 5 October 2006 on certain measures relating to the control of the transborder transport of liquid money, to the various criminal provisions of the Code of corporations, and who have been §^er or resulting from offences defined in § 1^er, shall remain for such offences exempt from punishment, if they have not been the subject before the date of the introduction of the declaration-regularization in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, of any information or judicial instruction of the head of these offences, if they have made a declaration-regularisation under the conditions of this Act and have paid definitively and without any reservation the withdrawal due in accordance with this chapter.
The provisions of subparagraphs 1^er and 2 are not applicable to co-authors and accomplices who have not filed a declaration-regularization.
The above provisions do not affect the rights of third parties.
§ 3. Members of the Contact Point and members of his staff, as well as other officials seconded to him, are not required to report as provided for in Article 29 of the Code of Criminal Investigation.
Art. 11. The declarant must demonstrate in his or her statement, through written evidence, if any, supplemented by other evidence derived from common law, with the exception of witness oath and evidence, that income, sums, T.V.A. transactions and tax-prescribed capital have been subject to their ordinary tax regime.
Subject to paragraphs 3 and 4, income, sums, T.V.A. transactions and prescribed tax funds, or the portion thereof, of which the registrant may not demonstrate that they have been subject to their ordinary tax system in the manner provided for in paragraph 1, shall be regulated.
The amounts referred to in paragraph 2 are regulated only as long as the declarant demonstrates, through written evidence, supplemented, if any, by other means of evidence derived from common law, with the exception of the witness oath and evidence, the nature of the tax and the tax category, and the period to which the revenues, sums, transactions, and tax-prescribed funds were not subject.
Without prejudice to section 10, income, sums, T.V.A. transactions and related capital cannot be regulated:
- terrorism or the financing of terrorism;
- organized crime;
- illicit drug trafficking;
- illicit trafficking in arms, goods and goods, including anti-personnel mines and/or submunitions;
- the smuggling of illegal labour;
- trafficking in human beings;
- the exploitation of prostitution;
- illegal use of hormone-effect substances or illegal trade in animals;
- illicit trafficking in human organs or tissues;
- fraud against the financial interests of the European Communities;
- the diversion of persons in public service and corruption;
- serious environmental crime;
- counterfeit currency or bank notes;
- counterfeit property;
- to piracy;
- a stock market offence;
- an irregular public appeal to savings or the provision of investment, foreign exchange or transfers of funds without approval;
- a scam, a hostage-taking, a robbery or extortion or an offence related to a bankruptcy.
The amounts regulated pursuant to paragraph 3 are subject to regularization only for federal taxes and regional taxes, for which the federal authority provides service and for which a cooperation agreement referred to in section 18 is entered into.
CHAPTER 3. - Regularization of contributions
social income for self-employed workers
Art. 12. § 1^er. The declarer within the meaning of Article 2, 6°, may, with a final payment without any reservation of a supplementary social debit, extend his declaration-regularisation referred to in Article 2, 2°, with a view to obtaining a certificate-regularisation social that covers the professional income that should have been subject to the payment of social contributions, not prescribed, due under Royal Decree No. 38 of 27 July 1967 organizing the independent social status.
For quarterly contributions due to quarters prior to 2015:
- final and interim contributions are considered to be prescribed after five years, effective 1^er January following the year for which they are due, in accordance with Article 16, § 2, paragraph 1^er, of the aforementioned Royal Decree No. 38 as it was applied until December 31, 2014 inclusive;
- the regularization contributions referred to in Article 16, § 2, paragraph 2, of the above-mentioned Royal Decree No. 38 as applicable until December 31, 2014, are considered as prescribed in 1^er January of the eighth year following that of the beginning or of the resumption of the activity as an independent worker, in accordance with Article 49 of the Royal Decree of 19 December 1967 enforcing the above-mentioned Royal Decree No. 38 as it was applicable until 31 December 2014 inclusive.
For quarterly contributions due to quarters of the 2015 and subsequent years:
- interim contributions are considered to be prescribed after five years, effective 1^er January following the year for which they are due, in accordance with Article 16, § 2, paragraph 1^er Royal Decree No. 38 above;
- the regularization contributions referred to in Article 11, § 5, of the aforementioned Royal Decree No. 38 shall be prescribed by five years from 1^er January of the third year following the year of assessment, in accordance with Article 16, § 2, paragraph 2, of Royal Decree No. 38 above.
§ 2. The non-prescribed social contributions within the meaning of Royal Decree No. 38 above, due to these professional incomes, are, however, considered to be regulated only after the final payment without any reservation of a supplementary social withdrawal corresponding to 15 p.c. of these professional incomes.
§ 3. If the declaration of regularization has been made in accordance with the conditions set out in this chapter, the payment of the levy referred to in this article shall, therefore, no longer be subject to the payment:
- dues fixed by Royal Decree No. 38 above;
- majorations referred to in Article 11bis of Royal Decree No. 38 above;
- majorations referred to in articles 44, § 1^er, and 44bis of the Royal Decree of 19 December 1967 bringing general regulation in execution of the aforementioned Royal Decree No. 38; and
- administrative fines referred to in Article 17bis of Royal Decree No. 38 above.
The payment of the debit referred to in this article shall not open any entitlement to benefits referred to in Article 18 of the aforementioned Royal Decree No. 38.
Art. 13. With respect to professional income regulated in accordance with Article 12, the tax declaration-regularization of Chapter 2, introduced to the Contact Point referred to in Article 2, 1°, will be supplemented by the amount of professional income that should have been subject to the payment of social contributions, not prescribed, due under the aforementioned Royal Decree No. 38 as well as by the amount of supplementary social withdrawal. It will be introduced, along with a brief explanation of the period during which professional revenues were generated. The underlying parts can be introduced up to 6 months after the introduction of the declaration-regularization.
The letter referred to in Article 7, paragraph 5, from the Contact Point, will also include the amount of the debit due under this chapter.
The final payment without any reservation of the debit must be effected within 15 calendar days after the date of sending this mail and is definitively acquired from the Treasury.
At the time of receipt of the payment, the Contact Point shall transmit to the declarant or his agent a certificate-regularization, the model of which shall be fixed by the King, including the name of the declarant and, where appropriate, the name of the declarant's representative, the amount of the levy made and the amount of the regularized professional income.
The Contact Point also transmits a copy of each social certificate-regularization to the National Institute of Social Insurance for Independent Workers who will communicate it to the social insurance fund of the declarant.
Officials and staff members of the National Institute of Social Insurance for Independent Workers and the social insurance fund of the declarant are required to keep, outside the performance of their duties, professional secrecy about the facts, documents or decisions, of which they were aware on this occasion. They do not have the obligation to denounce as provided for in article 29 of the Code of Criminal Investigation.
Art. 14. Neither the declaration-regularization referred to in section 12 nor the certificate-regularization referred to in section 13 produce any effect:
1° if, prior to the introduction of the declaration-regularisation, the declarant was informed in writing of specific investigative acts under way by a Belgian judicial service, by a Belgian tax administration, a social security institution or a Belgian social inspection service or the SPF Economy
2° if a declaration-regularization has already been filed in favour of the same registrant on the date of the coming into force of this Act.
Art. 15. In the case of application of Article 12, the declaration may not be used as an indication or indication to conduct investigations or inspections in the context of the social status of the independents, except in respect of the amount of sampling due to the declaration.
Art. 16. Within the limits of the provisions set out in articles 12 and 13, social certification-regularization may be used as a means of proof before courts and tribunals, before administrative courts, as well as against any public service.
Art. 17. Persons who have committed offences with respect to inaccurate or incomplete statements concerning social contributions as an independent, referred to in Article 234, § 1^er, of the Social Criminal Code, shall be exempt from criminal proceedings of the Chief if they have not been the subject of, before the date of the introduction of the statements referred to in this chapter, information or judicial instruction of the Head of these offences and if a social declaration-regularization has been made under the conditions of this chapter and if the amounts due to this declaration-regularization have been paid definitively and without any reservation.
CHAPTER 4. - Final provisions
Section 1^re. - General
Art. 18. The regularization of a regional tax that is serviced by the federal authority is only possible when a cooperation agreement is reached with the region concerned.
Section 2. - Abrogatory provision
Art. 19. The Act of 31 December 2003 establishing a single release declaration, as amended by the Acts of 14 December 2004 and 26 March 2005, and sections 121 to 127/6 of the Programme Act of 27 December 2005, as amended by the Act of 11 July 2013, are repealed.
Section 3. - Change in rates
Art. 20. From 1^er January 2017, the rates in this Act are increased as follows:
- with respect to Article 3: 20 points become 22 points;
- in relation to Article 5: 36 points become 37 points;
- with respect to Article 12: 15 p.c. become 17 p.c.;
From 1^er January 2018, rates obtained after application of paragraph 1^er are increased by 1 point;
From 1^er January 2019, rates obtained after application of paragraph 1^er are increased by 2 points;
From 1^er January 2020, rates obtained after application of paragraph 1^er are increased by 3 points.
Section 4. - Entry into force
This Act comes into force on the first day of the month following that of its publication to the Belgian Monitor.
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 21 July 2016.
PHILIPPE
By the King:
Minister of Finance,
J. VAN OVERTVELDT
Seal of the state seal:
Minister of Justice,
K. GEENS
____
Note
(1) House of Representatives (www.lachambre.be):
Documents: 54- 1738
Full report: 20 July 2016.