The Special Tax Inspectors (BBI) have lost the last procedural battle in a major case that will cost the state treasury more than 160 million euros. The Finnish state energy company Fortum, which was the subject of the case, has now left our country. De Tijd reports this.
In 2022, the BBI had already been proven wrong by the Antwerp judge in the first instance. The tax authorities decided not to appeal in the procedures regarding the tax assessments for the years 2010 to 2013, but they did so in the procedure regarding the tax year 2009.
After several hearings – in Antwerp, the first time at the Court of Cassation and at the Court of Appeal in Ghent – the case ended before Cassation again. The tax authorities also argued in this filing that the notional interest deduction, a tax benefit that has since been eliminated, was improperly used. But again the BBI supported him: on June 20, the Court declared that their last argument was not allowed.
This was the last attempt to prevent the state’s finances from raising tens of millions of euros more in taxes and moratorium interest during the years that the case had been dragged on. Now that Cassation has rejected the case, the total bill for the Belgian state finances has increased to more than 160 million euros. Philippe Renier, Fortum’s lawyer, confirmed this to De Tijd.
2024-08-15 16:42:52
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