Belgium force UK companies to engage a fiscal representative from Jan 2021

13 November 2020

The Belgium tax authorities are contacting UK traders who hold a Belgium VAT account to inform them that they have a requirement to appoint a fiscal representative when the UK leaves the EU VAT regime on 31 December 2020.

A fiscal representative is a local entity that represents non-EU traders for VAT purposes in countries where the traders cannot register directly by themselves. 

As UK companies will be non-EU traders from 1 January 2021, the Belgium tax office has confirmed that they will require a fiscal representative to be appointed in the country, and as a result, will need to provide a bank guarantee to the tax offices as security.

The bank guarantee required by the tax office is usually calculated at three months VAT liability owed by the trader, however, the tax office is offering a special discount for UK businesses that register now as they will limit the guarantee request to €7,500.

Fiscal Solutions has acted as a fiscal representative in Belgium for non-EU clients for many years. If you would like further detail on how this service works then please get in touch here.