The Federal Public Service (SPF) Finance of Belgium has released the guidance on the Pillar 2 global minimum tax. The guidance outlines the context of the Pillar 2 global minimum tax and its enforcement in Belgium. Furthermore, the guidance also provides references to pertinent EU, OECD, and Belgian documentation/legislation.

In October 2021, the nearly 140 countries of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework (‘IF’) on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) reached a historic agreement on a detailed plan for international tax reform based on two pillars:

• Pillar 1 regulates a different allocation of taxable profits and tax duties between countries for the largest and most profitable multinationals.
• Pillar 2 contains agreements on a global minimum level of taxation, thus ensuring that large multinationals always pay a minimum effective tax rate of 15% on their profits.

Then, in December 2021, the OECD/G20 IF on BEPS adopted the Global Anti-Base Erosion Model Rules (‘GloBE’ rules) (Pillar 2) document, which was adopted by the member states. These model rules to combat global base erosion should ensure that multinational enterprises (MNE) with a minimum annual consolidated turnover of €750 million are subject to a minimum effective tax rate of 15% on their profits at the jurisdictional level.

To ensure that Pillar 2 rules are transposed into domestic law in the same way within the EU (creating a level playing field) and to avoid conflict with European law, the EU issued Council Directive (EU) 2022/2523) of 14 December 2022 on ensuring a global minimum level of taxation for multinational enterprise groups and large domestic groups in the Union. This directive has extended the scope of Pillar 2 to include large domestic groups.

The directive was transposed into national law with the law of 19 December 2023, introducing a minimum tax for multinational companies and large domestic groups (Belgian Official Journal 28/12/2023). This introduced a minimum tax at the Belgian level.

With the law of 19 December 2023, they are subject to the minimum tax rate of 15%: multinational enterprise groups (MNE groups) and large domestic groups with an annual turnover of at least €750 million in two or more of the four reporting years preceding the reporting year tested.

The minimum tax rate of 15% is achieved through three different levy measures: the qualified domestic minimum top-up tax (QDMTT additional taxation), the qualified income inclusion rule (IIR additional taxation) and the qualified undertaxed profits rule (UTPR additional taxation).