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Transfer Pricing - BEPS 13

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Transfer Pricing – BEPS13

  • Context

    As part of the BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) project, in October 2015 the OECD and the G20 presented a series of reports containing concrete measures. These measures are designed to combat international tax avoidance or evasion situations involving tax base erosion or profit shifting.

    Subsequently, the Council of the European Union, in turn, adopted Directive 2016/881 of May 25, 2016 amending Directive 2011/16/EU on the automatic and compulsory exchange of information in the field of taxation (DAC4). This directive draws heavily on the BEPS 13 action plan, and more specifically with regard to country-by-country reporting (CBC-reporting).

    Both the OECD BEPS action plan 13 and the European directive were transposed into Belgian law in the Programme Law of 01.07.2016 (articles 53 - 64, Belgian Gazette 04.07.2016). In addition, there are also the three royal decrees of 28.10.2016 containing the concrete content and form of the three-part mandatory documentation structure (master file, local file and country-by-country report) as well as a form concerning the notification obligation regarding the country report. These RDs were subsequently amended by the RDs of 16.06.2024 (BG 15.07.2024).

    Countries concerned should impose a standardised approach to transfer pricing documentation requirements. This is made up of a three-tier structure consisting of:

    • a Master File containing standardized information relating to all members of the multinational group concerned;
    • a Local File referring specifically to the local taxpayer's significant transactions;
    • a Country-by-Country report containing certain information on the worldwide distribution of the multinational enterprise's profits and taxes, together with certain indicators concerning the location of the multinational group's activities.

    The administration draws attention to the fact that the expression “Belgian constituent entity” (described in article 321/1 CIR 92) effectively covers every constituent entity that is taxed in Belgium either for corporate income tax or for non-resident corporate income tax.

  • OECD Documentation

    As jurisdictions have entered the implementation phase, some questions of interpretation have arisen. In the interests of consistent implementation and certainty for tax administrations and taxpayers, the Inclusive Framework on BEPS has published guidance to answer some key questions. This guidance is regularly updated. A compilation of approaches adopted by jurisdictions is also available, in cases where the guidance offers some flexibility.


    Download the report Guidance on the implementation of CbC Reporting (PDF)

    Belgian application of OECD guidelines

    I. Introduction

    II. Issues relating to the definition of items in the template for the CbC report

    1. Definition of revenues (April 2017, September 2017)
    2. Definition of related parties (April 2017)
    3. Aggregated data or consolidated data to be reported per jurisdiction  (July 2017)
    4. Amount of Income Tax Accrued and Income Tax Paid (September 2017)
    5. Fair value of accounting (November 2017)
    6. Positive and negative figures in completing Table 1 (November 2017, October 2022)
    7. Treatment of dividends for purposes of “profit (loss) before income tax”, “income tax accrued - current year” and “income tax paid (on cash basis)” in Table 1 (September 2018, November 2019, May 2024)
    8. The use of the shortened or rounded amounts in preparing Table 1 (September 2018, November 2019)


    III. Issues relating to the entities to be reported in the CbC report

    1. Application of CbC reporting to investment funds (June 2016)
    2. Application of CbC reporting to partnership (June 2016)
    3. Accounting principles/standards for determining the existence of and membership of group (April 2017)
    4. Treatment of major shareholdings (April 2017, September 2018)
    5. Treatment of an entity owned/or operated by more than one unrelated MNE Groups (July 2017)
    6. Deemed listing provision (November 2017, November 2019)
    7. Reporting permanent establishment information (October 2022)

    IV. Issues relating to the filing obligation for the CbC report

    1. Impact of currency fluctuations on the agreed EUR 750 million filing threshold (June 2016)
    2. Definition of total consolidated group revenue (April 2017, November 2017, February 2018)
    3. Short accounting periods/long accounting periods (September 2017, November 2017, February 2018)
    4. Information with respect to the sources of data in Table 3 (November 2019)
    5. Common errors made by MNE groups in preparing CbC reports (November 2019)

    V. Issues relating to the sharing mechanism for the CbC report (EOI, surrogate filing and local filing)

    1. Transitional filing options for MNEs (“parent surrogate filing”) (June 2016, April 2017)
    2. CbC reporting notification requirements for MNE Groups during transitional phase (December 2016)
    3. Non-compliance with the confidentiality, appropriate use and consistency conditions and Systemic Failure (February 2018)
    4. Local filing (November 2019, December 2019)
    5. Lodging a unilateral declaration for the purposes of exchanging CbC reports (November 2019)

    VI. Issues relating to Mergers/Acquisitions/Demergers

    1. Treatment in case of Mergers/Acquisitions/Demergers (November 2017)
    2. Table summarising the interpretation on Mergers/Acquisitions/Demergers (September 2018)

    Belgian application of OECD instructions - update follow-up

    In October 2022, the OECD published a further update of the instructions. The following topics are covered:

    1. Positive and negative figures in completing Table 1
    2. Reporting permanent establishment information
    3. Short/long accounting periods

    In May 2024, the OECD published a further update of the instructions Treatment of dividends for purposes of “profit (loss) before income tax”, “income tax accrued (current year)” and “income tax paid (on cash basis)” in Table 1.

    Multinational groups are invited to implement the above instructions as soon as possible and certainly to apply them for reporting periods beginning on or after 01.01.2025.

  • Belgian-level documentation

  • Country-by-country Report

    Which companies are affected?

    The relevant obligations apply to multinational groups which, for the reporting period immediately preceding the last closed reporting period, have achieved consolidated revenues, as expressed in the group's consolidated annual accounts for that previous reporting period, of at least EUR 750 million.

    Effective date

    01.01.2016

    Submission deadline

    Within 12 months of the last day of the group's reporting period.

    Form – specimen

    Country-by-country reporting-form - English

    Public Country-by-Country Report

    For any further questions regarding the public Country-by-Country Report, please contact the FPS Economy.

  • Master File

    Which companies are affected?
    The documentation obligation applies to each Belgian constituent entity of a multinational group which, as appears from its statutory accounts for the accounting period immediately preceding the last closed accounting period, has exceeded at least one of the following criteria:
    • a total of 50 million euro in operating income and financial income, excluding non-recurring income ;
    • a balance sheet total of one billion euro;
    • an average annual workforce of 100 full-time equivalents.
    Effective date
    01.01.2016 (previous version)
    01.01.2025 (new version)
    Submission deadline
    Within 12 months of the last day of the group's reporting period.
    Royal Decrees of 16 June 2024 - New transfer pricing rules in Belgium
    On 15 July 2024, three Royal Decrees (dated 16 June 2024) were published in the Belgian Gazette. These decrees update the transfer pricing (‘TP’) documentation requirements in Belgium. The aim is to increase transparency at national and international level and to clarify interpretation. The changes apply to qualifying taxpayers for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025. 
    The Royal Decrees replace those published on 28 October 2016 concerning transfer pricing documentation (Article 321/4 § 4, Article 321/5 § 4 and Article 321/2 § 5 CIR 92).
    The changes to the Master File (275.MF) are as follows:
    • a more detailed description of the value chain (in 4 steps) and functional analysis with a focus on profit distribution (step 3) and a comparison with transfer pricing results (step 4) 
    • a description (in 6 steps) of the analytical framework regarding the DEMPE (‘Development, Enhancement, Maintenance, Protection, Exploitation’) functions of intangible assets 
    • information on Hard-To-Value Intangibles (‘HTVI’) that have been transferred or used during the reporting period 
    • minimum standards for disclosures on the Group's general transfer pricing policy for financing arrangements.
    Form – specimen

  • Local File

    Which companies are affected?

    The documentation obligation is applicable for each Belgian constituent entity of a multinational group which, as appears from its statutory accounts for the accounting period immediately preceding the most recently closed accounting period, has exceeded at least one of the following criteria:

    • a total of 50 million euro in operating income and financial income, excluding non-recurring income ;
    • a balance sheet total of one billion euro;
    • an average annual workforce of 100 full-time equivalents.

    The information document to be attached to the local file only needs to be completed when, for at least one of the operating units within the Belgian constituent entity, the total value of cross-border transactions with constituent entities exceeded the threshold of 1 million euro during the last closed accounting period. In this case, the information form must be completed for each operating unit that exceeds this threshold.

    A materiality requirement of 25 thousand euro per transaction may also be taken into account when entering the detailed information for each business unit in tables B3 to B6 inclusive. The same methodology (with or without the materiality requirement) must be applied for all business units.

    Effective date

    01.01.2016 for parts A1 to A8 and C1 of the previous form
    01.01.2017 for parts B1 to B12 of the previous form
    01.01.2025 for the new form

    Submission deadline

    Same deadline as for corporation tax and non-resident tax returns.

    Royal Decrees of 16 June 2024 - New transfer pricing rules in Belgium

    On 15 July 2024, three Royal Decrees (dated 16 June 2024) were published in the Belgian Gazette. These decrees update the transfer pricing (‘TP’) documentation requirements in Belgium. The aim is to increase transparency at national and international level and to clarify interpretation. The changes apply to qualifying taxpayers for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025.

    The Royal Decrees replace those published on 28 October 2016 concerning transfer pricing documentation (Article 321/4 § 4, Article 321/5 § 4 and Article 321/2 § 5 CIR 92).

    The changes to the Local File (275.LF) are as follows:

    Form – specimen

  • Country-by-country reporting notification requirement

    Which companies are affected?

    Each Belgian constituent entity of a multinational group required to file a country-by-country return will inform the tax authorities, no later than the last day of the reporting period for this multinational group, whether it is the ultimate parent entity, the substitute parent entity or the constituent entity in accordance with Article 321/2, § 2 CIR 92, or if it is none of these, it should indicate the identity of the reporting entity.

    Important note: The notification (275 CBCNOT) should not be made annually, but only when (i) it is an initial notification, (ii) a change occurs or (iii) the group is no longer subject to the country-by-country reporting notification requirement. This change applies to the reference period ending 31.12.2024 (or later).

    Where the ultimate parent entity refuses to communicate the information relating to the country-by-country declaration to the Belgian constituent entity, the latter will nevertheless be required to file a country-by-country declaration on the basis of all the information available to it in this regard and will inform the administration of this refusal.

    Effective date

    01.01.2016 (previous form)


    01.01.2025 (new form)

    Submission deadline

    No later than the last day of the group's reporting period.

    Royal Decrees of 16 June 2024 - New transfer pricing rules in Belgium

    On 15 July 2024, three Royal Decrees (dated 16 June 2024) were published in the Belgian Gazette. These decrees update the transfer pricing (‘TP’) documentation requirements in Belgium. The aim is to increase transparency at national and international level and to clarify interpretation. The changes apply to qualifying taxpayers for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025.

    The Royal Decrees replace those published on 28 October 2016 concerning transfer pricing documentation (Article 321/4 § 4, Article 321/5 § 4 and Article 321/2 § 5 CIR 92).

    The changes to the country-by-country notification (‘CbC’) (275.CBC.NOT) are as follows:

    • tick if the form submitted is a first country-by-country notification, a modification of the previous country-by-country notification or a cessation of the reporting obligation (due to the disappearance of the multinational enterprise).

    Form- specimen
    • New version  country-by-country notification-form – English (PDF, 149.24 KB) (to be used from 01.01.2025)
    • Previous version country-by-country notification-form – English (to be used before 01.01.2025)

  • How to submit the forms?

    More information can be found here.

  • Contact

    Do you have any questions? Please send an e-mail to BEPS13@minfin.fed.be.