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On 21 May 2024, the Belgian Tax Authorities (BTA) provided further practical guidance with respect to the Pillar Two notification obligation for in-scope multinational enterprises and large-scale domestic groups with consolidated annual revenues exceeding €750m in two of the four previous fiscal years.

In-scope taxpayers are required to take immediate action as they need to register no more than 45 days after publication in the Belgian Official Gazette of a yet-to-be published Royal Decree of 15 May 2024 — this publication can be expected imminently. Based on the notification template (and related guidance) published on the BTA's website (only available in Dutch or French, and further referred to as the "P2 Notification Form"), the volume and number of datapoints to be provided is substantial. Once registered, a specific Pillar Two tax identification number (P2 TIN) will be issued that taxpayers will need to use for Pillar Two advance tax payments, reporting and compliance.

Background

At the end of 2023, Belgium implemented Pillar Two legislation in its domestic legislation (as enacted by the Law of 19 December 2023 and as recently amended), including a Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax (QDMTT), an Income Inclusion Rule (IIR) and an Undertaxed Profits Rule (UTPR). (For more information, see these EY Global Tax Alerts: Belgian parliament approves draft bill on Pillar Two, dated 19 December 2023, and Belgium further aligns Pillar Two legislation with OECD's Agreed Administrative Guidance, dated 21 May 2024).

Notification requirement

• Who

Multinational enterprises and large-scale domestic groups with consolidated annual revenues exceeding €750m subject to Pillar Two and with Belgian nexus need to register with the Federal Public Service Finance (FPS Finance) by completing and filing the P2 Notification Form — specifically for Pillar Two purposes — allowing them to make IIR and QDMTT advance tax payments and to submit Pillar Two related notifications and tax returns.

The P2 Notification Form must be submitted by:

• The ultimate parent entity (UPE) if there is only one UPE established in Belgium
• The Belgian UPE designated as agent if there are several UPEs established in Belgium
• The Belgian group entity if there is no UPE and only one group entity is established in Belgium
• The Belgian group entity designated as agent if there is no UPE and multiple group entities are established in Belgium

For the sake of clarity, if an in-scope multinational or large-scale domestic group has multiple Belgian entities, only one Belgian P2 TIN needs to be requested (and thus only one P2 Notification Form needs to be filed).

The agent must be designated via a specific mandate form, which must be digitally signed and submitted with the P2 Notification Form. Note that the specific (PDF) mandate form is not yet available and that, when available, the form will be an official form that cannot be changed.

Taxpayers that do not fall in-scope of Pillar Two are not required to take any action.

• When

The P2 Notification Form must be filed no later than 30 days after the start of the reporting year for which the multinational enterprise and/or large-scale domestic group falls within the scope of Pillar Two.

However, in-scope taxpayers that have already started or will soon start their first reporting year seem to be provided a bit more leniency as they are allowed 45 days to provide notice after the yet-to-be published Royal Decree of 15 May 2024 appears in the Belgian Official Gazette. As of 22 May 2024, this Royal Decree has not yet been published in the Gazette.

• What

The volume of information requested to disclose and submit in the P2 Notification Form is quite substantial and taxpayers might query why this level of information is required at this point in time. An outline of the requested information follows.

Part I — Information related to the multinational enterprise or large-scale domestic group

• I.1. Name of the multinational enterprise group or large-scale domestic group
• I.2. Start date of the reporting year (dd/mm/yy), with the earliest possible date being 31/12/2023)
• I.3. End date of the reporting year (dd/mm/yy)
• I.4. Address of the UPE establishing the Consolidated Financial Statements (CFS) for Pillar Two purposes, including street, number, postal code, municipality, and country (ISO code)
• I.5. Phone number (optional)
• I.6. Fax number (optional)
• I.7. E-mail address (optional)
• I.8. Hyperlink to corporate website (optional)
• I.9. Type of entity (legal entity is automatically mentioned)
• I.10. Legal entity form, being either an "organization without legal personality" (this option is to be chosen if the UPE preparing the CFS for Pillar Two purposes is located in Belgium) or a "foreign entity" (if the UPE preparing the CFS for Pillar Two is located abroad)
• I.11. Details of the individual representing the UPE, including first name, last name, Belgian National Register number or the so-called BIS-number which is a unique identification number for (foreign) individuals not registered with the Belgian National Register
• I.12. Capacity of the multinational enterprise group/large-scale domestic group (pre-populated field)
• I.13. Nature of the group, being either a multinational enterprise group or large-scale domestic group
• I.14. Confirmation whether or not the group constitutes of only a sole legal entity

Part II — Information related to the CFS of the multinational enterprise or large-scale domestic group

• II.1 Type of CFS of the UPE (as defined under Article 10 of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Model Rules or as implemented in domestic law by Article 3, 6° of the Law of 19 December 2023)
• II.2. Accounting standard used for the CFS the UPE, including the corresponding ISO code
• II.3. ISO code of the currency used for the CFS of the UPE
• II.4. Information related to the publication of the CFS of the UPE online (hyperlink)
• II.5. If II.4. does not apply, confirmation that the CFS are not published online

Part III — Information related to the ownership structure of the multinational enterprise or large-scale domestic group

The purpose of this section of the form is basically to map the relevant legal entity ownership structure of the multinational enterprise or large-scale domestic group and corresponding Pillar Two qualification of each entity.

• For subparts III.1 through III.4, the following information should be provided (as known for the first day of the reporting year):
• Name
• Jurisdiction (ISO code)
• TIN (in line with the OECD tax identification number structure, similar to the TIN needed in preparing a Country-by-Country report following the Belgian standard in this respect)
• Global Anti Base Erosion (GloBE) status, which includes the following (note that multiple options are possible): constituent entity, flow-through entity (tax transparent or reverse hybrid), hybrid entity, permanent establishment, main entity, minority-owned parent entity, minority-owned subsidiary, minority-owned constituent entity, investment entity, joint-venture, joint venture subsidiary, non-material constituent entity, excluded entity, ultimate parent entity, partially owned parent entity, intermediate parent entity
• Type of excluded entity (if applicable): governmental entity, international organization, nonprofit organization, pension fund, investment fund that is a UPE, real estate investment vehicle that is a UPE, entity owned by an excluded entity
• Sub-group (if applicable): constituent entity, minority-owned subgroup (specify which minority-owned subgroup), standalone minority-owned constituent entity, investment entities, joint venture group (specify which joint venture group), stateless constituent entity
• TIN of the entity on top of shareholding structure of the sub-group (if applicable)
• Consolidating entity for Pillar Two purposes
• III.1.A. Information in relation to the UPE or UPEs (Belgian or foreign)
• III.1.B. If the UPE is Belgian, the above information should be provided in this subpart for all Belgian and foreign entities under the UPE
• III.2.A. Information related to the Intermediary Parent Entity or Entities (Belgian or foreign)
• III.2.B. If the Intermediary Parent Entity is Belgian, the above information should be provided in this subpart for all the Belgian and foreign entities of each Belgian Intermediary Parent Entity
• III.3.A. Information related to Partially Owned Parent Entity or Entities (POPE) (Belgian or foreign)
• III.3.B. If a POPE is Belgian, the above information should be provided in this subpart for all the Belgian and foreign entities for each Belgian POPE
• III.4. Information related to any other entity established in Belgium

Part IV — Information related to the point of contact

• IV.1. Name of the enterprise that acts as point of contact of the group in relation to the creation of the Belgian P2 TIN (this should be the Belgian entity filing the P2 Notification Form)
• IV.2. TIN of the enterprise
• IV.3. Jurisdiction of the enterprise (always Belgium or BE as ISO code)
• IV.4. Address of the enterprise (street, number, postal code, municipality)
• IV.5. Name of the contact person within the enterprise
• IV.6. E-mail address and phone number of the contact person within the enterprise

• How

Taxpayers must register with the FPS Finance by submitting a P2 Notification Form, in XML format, which will be made available on the digital government platform "MyMinfin." When submitting the XML file, the following items will need to be confirmed:

• Start- and end-date of the reporting period
• Whether the company wishes to make use of P2 related prepayments (note, this is not binding)
• The actual XML file, together with the (PDF) mandate form
• Contact e-mail address

Once the P2 Notification Form is successfully submitted, the FPS Finance will register the multinational enterprise or large-scale domestic group with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (i.e., the Belgian trade register). After that, the specific Belgian P2 TIN for the group will be sent by e-mail to the entity that registered the group.

Implications for businesses

It is clear that the required information to complete the P2 Notification Form requires a good understanding of the Pillar Two scope of the multinational enterprise or large-scale domestic group, including the Pillar Two qualification of each entity.

Taxpayers should therefore take immediate action to gather (if not yet done) and review the requisite information to complete the required P2 Notification Form within the short window of time provided. It is not clear what the consequences will be if this timing is not respected. The yet-to-be published Royal Decree may provide further guidance on this (and other) matters.

Taxpayers who need assistance with completion of the notification form, submission of the electronic form or other more general Pillar Two-related issues should reach out to their tax advisor.