Silhouettes of business men and women walking along a passage through glas

Program Law enacted in the Belgian Official Gazette


After Arizona’s coalition agreement in January and policy statements in March, several new tax measures were introduced.

A first package of tax measures is included in the Program law, which was approved by Parliament on July 18, 2025 and published in the Belgian official Gazette of July 29, 2025 (NL / FR).

In our previous Tax Alert, we provided an overview of the tax measures contained in the Program Law. For further detailed information on each new measure, please refer to that alert.

The alert was prepared in accordance with the draft legislation submitted to and approved by Parliament. However, delays encountered during the legislative process affected the initial implementation timeline. While most provisions were originally planned to take effect on July 1, 2025, these delays led to a revision of the effective date, which now aligns with publication in the Belgian Official Gazette on July 29, 2025, unless otherwise stipulated.

The following provides an overview of the tax measures, along with their corresponding revised dates of entry into force.

Tax measure

Date of entry into force

Dividend received deduction (DRD) – introduction of a new qualitative threshold for medium and large Belgian companies

From tax year 2026 - Any changes made between February 3, 2025, and the fiscal year-end date that are not justified by reasons other than tax avoidance will not be considered

Extension of this new DRD condition to the withholding tax exemption (“Tate&Lyle”) applicable to dividends paid to certain foreign corporate shareholders

July 29, 2025

Harmonization of VVPRbis regime and liquidation reserve

Dividends paid or allocated as from July 29, 2025

Exit tax on migrations and beyond

Eligible transactions as of July 29, 2025

Annual Tax on Securities Accounts

July 29, 2025 - The notification obligation is required to be fulfilled for the first time by 31 December 2025, replacing the previously established deadline of 31 October 2025.

Carried interest

The new rules apply to income paid or allocated as of July 29, 2025. They do not apply to income paid or allocated by a carried interest vehicle that was placed into liquidation on July 29, 2025.
 

The restriction on establishing a liquidation reserve under the updated carried interest regulations will take effect starting in the 2026 tax year.

New permanent 6% VAT rate for demolition and reconstruction

July 29, 2025 – The 6% rate is also permitted from July 1 to July 29, 2025, under administrative tolerance.

Exclusion of the 6% VAT rate for the installation of environmentally unfriendly heating systems

July 29, 2025

Procedural measure - No application of a 10% tax increase in case of a first offense and good faith

Assessments, enrolled as of July 29, 2025

Changed “embarkation tax” rates

July 29, 2025

New regularization procedure

July 29, 2025