During recent years, the Belgian tax authorities notify the tax payers of the issues, that will be audited by them and that are triggered by certain parameters or events.

This year, the following issues come up:

Individual tax payers

1.  Cross border employees, who have exempt their income in Belgium under a tax treaty, where the tax authorities believe that they were not entitled to the related special tax regime (grensarbeidersregime);
2. Directors of companies, who have deducted actual business expenses from their taxable income instead of the standard cost allowance;
3. If certain indications of a higher standard of living can be observed, that are not in line with the taxable income of the tax payer;
4. Automated data processing of the tax return may reveal that
   • certain children are no longer tax dependents;
   • not all professional income was properly reported;
   • not all real estate was properly reported;
   • total commuting expenses, paid by the employer, were exempt by tax payers, who did not make use of public transportation

Companies

Companies will be audited when:

• their profit margin is lower than the one of comparable companies or when the margin goes down in an unexpected way;
• authorities suspect that VAT was unduly claimed or booked for refund;
• a corporate structure was used for tax planning for directors (management companies) or of a group of companies;
• VAT activities were discontinued or if a change of status took place from a regular VAT regime to a regime of exemption from VAT filing