BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Aldo Engels, Emile Bauwens, Emma Parduyns and Vincenzo Vilardi, Loyens & Loeff
16. Transparency and Confidentiality 16.1 Publication of Information on APAs or Transfer Pricing Audit Outcomes Unilateral APAs are published on a no-name basis. The Ruling Commission publishes a report annually which includes a summary of the most relevant advance rulings rendered in the course of the year (including negative rulings). Bilateral APAs are currently not published by the Belgian competent authority. The final decision of a procedure under the Dispute Resolution Directive is published in its entirety to the extent that the affected parties agree with such publication. If the affected par - ties or the Belgian competent authorities do not agree with such publication, an abstract of the final decision will be published. A MAP under the Arbitration Convention will only be published if the competent authorities agree to publish the decision and if the affected per - sons consent thereto. A MAP under a double tax treaty will not be pub - lished as the notes of the competent authorities and the decision are deemed to be confidential. The outcome of transfer pricing audits is not published. 16.2 Use of “Secret Comparables” Although there is no legislation or guidance pro - hibiting it, the BTA does not make use of “secret comparables” in transfer pricing assessments.
15.2 Restrictions on Outbound Payments Relating to Controlled Transactions
Belgium does not have legislation on capital controls and does not impose other restrictions on outbound payments relating to controlled transactions (except in exceptional situations, such as with UN sanctions). As previously stated, Belgium levies withholding tax on payments of movable income (interest, dividends, royalties) subject to various exemp - tions and treaty reductions. Belgium also levies withholding tax on certain types of outbound service fees to related companies. Belgian tax law also includes various rules deny - ing the tax deductibility of certain outbound pay - ments in specific situations (eg, payments to tax havens). 15.3 Effects of Other Countries’ Legal Restrictions Belgium does not have rules regarding the effects of other countries’ legal restrictions.
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