Belgium Implements EU VAT Directive on Vouchers

Article
BE Law

The proper value-added tax (VAT) treatment of vouchers in Belgium has been the subject of many debates and disputes over time. Are vouchers merely a means of payment or should they be assimilated to the underlying taxable transaction?

These and other questions have been answered by Council Directive (EU) 2016/1065 (the Directive) of June 27, 2016 , which had to be transposed by December 31, 2018. In Belgium this was done with the Law of February 11, 2019 which entered into effect retroactively on January 1, 2019, and which is applicable to vouchers issued after December 31, 2018. To mitigate this legislative tardiness, the Belgian VAT administration proactively published FAQs on the subject on December 7, 2018 providing further clarification on the new set of rules.

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Reproduced with permission from Copyright [2019] The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) www.bna.com.

Originally published by BBNA on the 12th of April 2019.