On 5 February 2015, the Belgian Constitutional Court rendered a judgement that annuls tax on the conversion of bearer securities, due to its incompatibility with EU law, in particular with Directive 2008/7/EC of 12 February 2008 concerning indirect taxes on the raising of capital.
This judgment follows a decision rendered in case C299/13 in which the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) ruled that Article 5(2) of Directive 2008/7 precludes the taxation of the conversion of bearer securities into registered securities or dematerialised securities, such as those at issue in the main proceedings, and that such a tax cannot be justified under other provisions of the Directive (e.g. Article 6). You can find more information on this decision in the PwC Belgium newsflash of 10 October 2014.
Practically, the judgment of the Belgian Constitutional Court opens up a new six-month period to claim a refund of the tax.
PwC Belgium remains at disposal of its clients to discuss the opportunity and practical aspects of entering into such a reclaim procedure.
Download the judgement:
