Belgium's Advance Tax Rulings Service has confirmed that the country's preferential copyright tax regime now covers software, following a legislative change that took effect from 1 January 2026.
Belgium’s Advance Tax Rulings Service (SDA) has issued Newsflash SDA 2026/05, confirming that the country’s favourable copyright tax regime has been extended to computer programs with effect from 1 January 2026.
The extension follows the Law of 15 July 2026 on Personal Income Tax Reforms, which reversed the earlier exclusion of software royalties introduced under the Programme Law of 26 December 2022.
Tax benefit and threshold
Under the regime, copyright royalties are taxed at a flat withholding rate of 15% rather than at standard progressive income tax rates, provided the annual amount does not exceed a set threshold, fixed at EUR 77,220 for income year 2026.
Surge in ruling requests
The SDA said it had seen a sharp rise in ruling requests from the IT sector since the extension was announced. Although the requests relate to a specific sector, the authority said it must continue to handle each one individually and assess it in accordance with the law, despite its limited resources.
Conditions for the regime to apply
The SDA stressed that each application is assessed against the conditions set out in Article 17, § 1, 5° of the 1992 Income Tax Code (CIR 92). This assessment covers the legal characterisation of the rights involved, the originality of the underlying work, the terms of assignment or licensing, how the rights are actually exploited, and the economic valuation attached to the copyright remuneration claimed.
The authority made clear that the regime’s extension to software does not mean all software-related income automatically qualifies for the reduced rate, nor that valuation approaches used in other sectors can simply be carried over without independent review. Each case, it said, will continue to be judged on its own facts and on whether the proposed valuation reflects the genuine economic reality of the rights being exploited.
Retroactive application of rulings
To give taxpayers certainty while these new requests are examined, the SDA confirmed that advance rulings issued up to 30 June 2027 may apply retroactively to copyright remuneration granted from 1 January 2026, so long as all statutory conditions are satisfied.
Next steps
The SDA said it would continue reviewing the matter in light of ongoing legislative developments and the practical issues raised by cases submitted to it, with a view to ensuring consistent application of the copyright regime to computer programs.
