The Belgian Tax Administration has declared the areas that will be the focus of its tax audits in 2014, to encourage taxpayers to correctly fulfill their tax obligations, and to increase voluntary tax compliance in Belgium. The aim is to increase transparency, and to ensure that taxpayers have a better idea of whether or not they are likely to be audited in 2014.
Individuals are at greater risk of being audited if they have wrongly claimed exemption from individual income tax in Belgium, in respect of remuneration or wages received of a foreign origin, or if their file has not been checked for a certain period of time. Companies may be at greater risk of being subject to a tax audit if their turnover to cost ratio suddenly changes radically, or if this ratio is not on a par with that of taxpayers in Belgium in a similar situation.
Businesses are also likely to be audited if their profit margins are too low compared to the expected figure, if they have declared private purchases that are in reality business acquisitions, if an employer has wrongly used the system to gain exemption from payment of professional wage-withholding tax or has wrongly claimed a value-added tax (VAT) credit, or if a corporation’s accounts have not been verified for a while.
