Belgium: Selected Issues
IMF Staff Country Reports, March 17, 2017
Source details
- Canonical URL
- Belgium: Selected Issues
Other formats
Bibliographic details
- Published: March 17, 2017
- Series: IMF Staff Country Reports
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781475587692.002
Summary
- This Selected Issues paper explores key features of Belgium’s corporate income tax (CIT) regime as background for potential growth-enhancing reform options that also safeguard revenues and limit distortions.
- Comprehensive reform of business and investment income taxation in Belgium is both promising and challenging.
- The challenge arises from the need for fiscal consolidation and the limited scope for shifting the tax burden away from the CIT to other taxes.
- Overall, there appears to be scope for a broader reform that could raise Belgium’s growth potential without undermining fiscal revenues.
Key findings
- The absence of capital gains taxation undermines tax neutrality between different forms of businesses, leading to organizational inefficiencies and a misallocation of capital.
- Belgium’s CIT regime has features that warrant examination as part of a comprehensive reform aimed at enhancing growth while safeguarding revenues.
- Reform design must account for the constraints imposed by fiscal consolidation needs and the limited ability to shift tax burdens to other tax bases.
Policy implications and reform priorities
- Consider comprehensive reform of business and investment income taxation to raise growth potential without undermining fiscal revenues.
- Address the absence of capital gains taxation to improve tax neutrality across business forms and reduce organizational inefficiencies and capital misallocation.
- Design reforms mindful of the need for fiscal consolidation and the limited scope for shifting tax burdens away from the CIT to other taxes, ensuring revenue protection and limiting distortions.
International Monetary Fund. European Dept. "Belgium: Selected Issues", IMF Staff Country Reports 2017, 070 (2017), accessed 9/21/2026, https://doi.org/10.5089/9781475587692.002
Content in this bundle
- Country Report