10 minutes read
Liesbeth Hendrix
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The future tax landscape
In 2025, the trend that important new tax legislation originates at an international level, rather than a domestic level, continued. We expect that this trend will continue in 2026 and future years.
The OECD continues to be a large contributor to new international tax legislation with, for example, new Pillar Two legislation and an update to Chapter VII of the Transfer Pricing Guidelines expected in 2026. In addition, the European Commission is expected to release new tax proposals in 2026, to the benefit of taxpayers. This legislation will be part of initiatives to improve the EU's competitiveness and simplify tax rules, including the EU Blue Carpet Initiative, the Clean Industrial Deal and the "Omnibus on Taxation” package. This is a welcome change after years of new tax legislation introduced by the EU with a view to regulating taxpayers (e.g., the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive, ATAD). Beyond 2026, areas to watch are the pending BEFIT proposal, the potential reactivation of the EU's (2018) proposal to introduce a Digital Services Tax (DST) and new (tax) measures to generate revenue to fund the EU's own budget.
At a national level, things have been relatively quiet on the legislative front in the Netherlands. The Dutch annual budget was “policy-light” in 2025, in anticipation of the elections that were held recently (a new Dutch government is currently being formed). In Belgium, the new federal government formed in 2025 is executing an agreement that sets the stage for significant changes in tax policy to enhance Belgium’s competitiveness and to foster its economy. In both Switzerland and Luxembourg, tax legislation continues to be rather stable, outside the implementation of Pillar Two.
In all our home jurisdictions we have seen a sharp increase in tax controversy, including both tax audits and disputes, particularly, in the field of transfer pricing. We expect this trend to continue in 2026 and future years as well. The number of mutual agreement procedures (MAP) lodged has remained high. The same goes for multi-jurisdictional audits. Furthermore, a new dimension has been introduced to tax disputes by taxpayers, namely, the claim that (EU) secondary tax legislation breaches their fundamental rights under primary EU law. It will be interesting to see how the European Court of Justice (CJEU) will address such arguments in pending proceedings on the Pillar Two Directive and the solidarity contribution from oil & gas companies under an EU Regulation.
Finally, expectations regarding (new) tax legislation are closely linked to (geo)political developments. A particular area to monitor in 2026 is the implementation of the trade deal negotiated between the US and the EU about custom duties & tariffs and further negotiations in this respect.
The International landscape
The European landscape
The Netherlands - Domestic landscape
Belgium - Domestic landscape
Luxembourg - Domestic landscape
Switzerland - Domestic landscape
More information
Please contact your regular Loyens & Loeff adviser or one of the contacts listed below for more information on any of the topics covered in this bulletin.
