Topics
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), pillar one and pillar two, and digital economy — your organisation continuously faces both interesting business opportunities and regulatory challenges. Rely on our experts for in-depth exploration of such topics.
Building upon work conducted for several years on how to adapt the international tax rules to an increasingly digitalised economy, the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework proposes a two-pillar overhaul of the existing system as from 2023/2024. While the main policy features are agreed, detailed model rules and draft multilateral conventions are due to be released over 2022.
Tax directors and their teams can already model the impact, prepare for the additional tax compliance burden and assess opportunities for manageable restructurings to mitigate the increased complexity.
In recent years tax authorities have placed more emphasis on combatting the use of abusive and aggressive tax structures by companies operating across borders, to ensure fair taxation. The EU and OECD have provided tax authorities with various instruments such as the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD) and the Multilateral Instrument. The judgements handed down by the CJEU on the Danish cases have also set an important precedent.
However, since entities with no minimal substance and economic activity are supposedly still used for improper tax purposes, the European Commission recently issued a new proposal (ATAD 3). It is highly recommended that taxpayers already assess the possible impact of the proposal and consider opportunities for strengthening their local footprint and/or restructuring.
Sustainability is becoming an increasingly important factor in the decisions of investors, companies, consumers, shareholders and policy and law makers. The broadly supported awareness of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) objectives is reflected in many international voluntary standards as well as in an increasing number of European regulations.
Digital transformation is all about using the latest technology to improve your business model. Digital technology creates new business opportunities which in turn creates a whole new range of tax and legal challenges such as contracting, data protection, privacy questions, intellectual property, consumer protection and competition issues.
The speed at which digital technology has become an integral part of our daily lives has overtaken most legislative processes. In recent years, the European Union, Member-States and international legislative bodies have therefore increased their regulatory efforts.
ATAD2
The anti-hybrid mismatch rules of the EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD2) aim to prevent situations of a double deduction and a deduction without a corresponding inclusion of the income at the level of the recipient resulting from a hybrid mismat
Budget Day 2024
On this page our legal and tax experts provide compelling insights in the lead up to Budget Day and their initial analysis directly after the budget plan is presented.
COVID-19
The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic reach across borders, industries, and legal disciplines. That is why Loyens & Loeff has set up dedicated expert teams - to offer you an integrated answer to all your legal and tax questions related to the cor
Regulatory and Criminal Enforcement
For any enforcement issue, you can rely on our Regulatory and Criminal Enforcement team. The team is comprised of lawyers specialised in investigating possible irregularities and experts that can assist you with implementing remedial measures.
Digital Economy Tax
Politically it is clear that both the EU and other jurisdictions wants to levy more tax from ‘digital companies’. Technically, the current international tax framework does not facilitate this. Fundamental changes seem to be required to achieve the po
Multilateral Instrument
The multilateral instrument (MLI) implements the treaty related anti-tax avoidance measures of the BEPS project in bilateral tax treaties.
Reform of property law
In the Book 3 "Goods" of the Civil Code the main goal of the legislator was to better structure, modernise and integrate the law on goods into a single code. Moreover, the new law on goods had to be functional, useful and flexible.
Reform of contract law in Belgium
The new Book 5 of the Civil Code will enter into force on 1 January 2023 and contains legal provisions on general Belgian contract law. It is a legal development which will not go unnoticed, and which will have a significant impact on contractual rel
New Criminal Code in Belgium
The Belgian Parliament has approved draft bills recasting the first and second books of the Belgian criminal code. This reform aims to achieve several objectives: making the criminal code clearer, enhancing accessibility, and introducing significant
New federal government in Belgium
On 31 January 2025, Belgium's new federal government announced an agenda to revitalise the economy through major tax policy changes and sector-specific reforms.