Towards more administrative simplification for entrepreneurs and their advisers
May 2025 - In the federal coalition agreement, the theme of administrative simplification runs like a thread through the various policy measures. Eliminating unnecessary (business) taxes and adjusting or scrapping administrative formalities must become a top priority.
Increasing demand for administrative simplification
That the need for administrative simplification is high is shown, among other things, by the results of the latest member survey of the ITAA, the Belgian institute for accountants and tax advisers. In November 2024, as many as 92 per cent of surveyed accountants and tax advisers said they struggle with administrative burdens. ITAA president Bart Van Coile puts it as follows: ‘We often hear that the administrative tasks we have to perform today are disproportionate to the added value they bring to entrepreneurs or the government. Take for instance filling in the UBO register, or the mandatory reporting of commercial leases, when we already register them anyway - that's duplication of effort.’
Government digital tools also cause frustration more often than time savings. They do not always work correctly or are cumbersome to use, complicating the work of accountants and driving up costs for entrepreneurs.
Ambitious federal coalition agreement
De Wever I's federal coalition agreement contains a number of important promises aimed at easing the work of entrepreneurs and their (tax) advisers. A selection of the most important measures:
Abolition of Annex No 270 MLH (Rent Annex): this document will be deleted and replaced by a less burdensome alternative.
Simplify or abolish the daily receipt book and various VAT registers: these documents are in many cases obsolete in a digital context. They create additional paperwork with no audit benefit.
Abolition of the nil customer list: this is the mandatory submission of a blank list if there are no customers above a certain threshold. This measure will be abolished as part of the introduction of e-reporting.
Simplification of transfer pricing documentation for SMEs: currently, SMEs also have to provide complex documentation on transfer pricing within their group. The federal government wants to differentiate here and relax the rules for SMEs.
Reform of the UBO register: much of the information that needs to be entered manually today is already available from notaries or in the CBE. The federal government wants this data to flow automatically to the UBO register, without additional costs or obligations for entrepreneurs.
Filing NPO annual accounts via the NBB: until now, NPOs had to file their annual accounts via the court registry - an administratively cumbersome and often pointless procedure. From now on, all NPOs will be able to do this through the NBB's balance sheet centre, just like companies. For small NPOs, even the filing fee would disappear.
Digitalisation and e-courts: the federal level promises a coordinated approach with the regions to streamline the digital landscape.
In addition to these measures, the following yards are also planned:
The development of an SME plan to develop a more attractive business environment for small and micro-enterprises.
The possibility for entrepreneurs to request a preliminary ‘comfort letter’ from a regulator or supervisory authority. In this way, enterprises obtain maximum certainty about the correct implementation of legislation.
The scrapping of the much-discussed Federal Learning Account.
The discontinuation of the runway requirement.
The development of an ICT environment for publications in the Belgian Official Gazette, which can be submitted directly online using a clear and accessible form.
To be continued no doubt...
