This is a brief summary of the tax regime applicable to EMTN investors. This summary does not exonerate the investor from the need to contact his or her financial intermediary to find out what tax regime applies specifically to him or her. So it is possible that your financial intermediary is obliged to effect certain notifications such as in the framework of the "Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act" (FATCA).
Additional information is available from the Contact centre of the Federal Public Service Finance.
(Tel.: 0257 257 57, regular rate, available on business days between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.)
The tax on NOTES is governed principally by the Law of 6 August 1993 on operations on certain securities and the Royal Decree of 26 May 1994 on the collection and crediting of withholding tax, as modified under the regime known as the "X/N regime".
The payment of the principal and interest of the NOTES is made without any Belgian withholding tax at source by or on behalf of the Kingdom of Belgium, provided they are held by certain exempt investors in a exempt securities account with the X/N system of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) or with a participant in that system. In cases other than these, there is a withholding tax at source (currently 30%). There may also be an additional withholding tax on income from moveable property.
Exempt investors are the entities listed in Article 4 of the Royal Decree of 26 May 1994, including among others:
- Investors who are not considered residents of the Kingdom of Belgium as regards the Belgian tax regime. Collective investment undertakings governed by foreign law that are a separate fund managed by a management company on behalf of participants may not, however, be exempt unless their units have not been offered in a public issuance in Belgium and are not distributed in Belgium. Investors who are physical persons and non-profit associations are exempt, provided they do not hold NOTES through a Belgian institution as defined in Article 229 of the Belgian Income Tax Code ("CIR/WIB 1992") and do not carry out an activity in Belgium as defined in Article 228, paragraph 2, 4°, of that Code;
- All companies resident within the meaning of Article 2 of the Belgian Income Tax Code 1992.
Exempt investors do not include, among others, investors who are residents of Belgium such as private individuals or certain non-profit associations.
When opening an exempt account with the X/N system of the NBB or with a participant in that system, an exempt investor must provide a certificate of his or her status as an exempt investor in accordance with the modalities determined by the Minister of Finance. There is no obligation of ongoing declaration for exempt investors.
Participants are nonetheless required to make annual declarations to the NBB's X/N system as to the exempt status of each investor on whose behalf they hold NOTES in an exempt account.
Investors who are not residents of the Kingdom of Belgium as regards the Belgian tax regime and who do not hold NOTES through a Belgian institution, who do not carry out any professional activity in Belgium are neither subject to nor liable to any Belgian income tax or capital gains tax or any other tax on the grounds of the simple acquisition, possession or transfer of NOTES, on condition that they hold the NOTES in an exempt account.
