TAX EXEMPTION FOR THE HEAD OF EXPORT department

pictogram

 

The tax exemption amounts to €10,000 (basic amount) per additional staff unit employed full-time in Belgium as 'head of the export department'. Due to indexation, the reduction amounts to €18,720 (assessment year 2024).

If a full-time employee already employed is appointed as head of the export department, the exemption may also be applied provided the company recruits a new full-time employee to fill the vacant position within 30 days of such appointment. This exemption relates to the tax return of the year in which the recruitment took place.

The exemption is temporary in nature: it will be revoked if the staff member concerned no longer performs the stated position.

For companies, this tax benefit has been abolished from assessment year 2021 (for financial years beginning on January 1, 2020 at the earliest) by the Law of December 25, 2017 reforming the corporate income tax (Belgian Official Gazette, December 29, 2017).

WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM THIS EXEMPTION?

Since 1 January 2020, this exemption only applies to sole proprietorships (self-employed).

However, liberal professions are excluded.

Companies that already benefit from this favourable regime will also retain this advantage in the future. From now on, however, it will no longer be possible to issue new certificates to companies that have not yet made use of this tax advantage.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

In order to benefit from this exemption, a copy of the relevant certificate must be added to the income tax return for each taxable period. The certificate can be obtained by means of an annual request by e-mail to the Belgian Foreign Trade Agency, attn. Dennis Gijsbrechts – Rue Montoyer 3 - 1000 Brussels - +32 2 206 35 73 - dennis.gijsbrechts@abh-ace.be. This certificate must be requested within three months from the last day of the taxable period.


Download the application form (Dutch)         Download the application form (French)